Which red herrings did you find buried in the story? What did you think of them?
While I can’t remember any red herrings, I’m sure they’re there. At some point, I wondered if Atkinson was showcasing any number of classical mystery writers, various plots in classic stories, along with the rules of mystery writing. However I’m not enough of an expect to be able to point them out, but I bet they’re there. I took a class on intellectual detecting, and the prof started the class by outlining the x number of rules of all mysteries.
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For sure one of the red herrings was all the dead bodies, particularly nanny falling down the steps. It was hinted at that some of the painting owners may have been poisoned, and nanny had help with her accident.
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That was hilarious, nanny and the body. I figured that had to be from some classic mystery. And the reference to keystone cops, it was like keystone cops all the madcap behavior.
I was intrigued by the red herring mentioned in the chapter titled That’s the Way to Do It! Brodie pondered over whether the painting was a ruse - a red herring - and whether Ian and Hazel were really after the codicil. That made me wonder whether the codicil was hidden in the back of painting inside the frame.
I forgot to add that it struck me odd how Brodie reflected for more than a sentence or two about Ottershall House (p. 70). I marked that page to go back and read later even though it did not seem to fit in or seem important at that time.