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Wingding Killer by Thomas Butcher - Short, Comedy - A detective finally gets a break in a decades old cold case with a little unexpected help from his granddaughter. 2 pages - pdf format
It’s a nice idea - kid innocently helps her out of touch grandpa solve a crime. But, comedy or not, it’s a big leap of faith to believe that in 25 years no-one thought to read the wingdings. Presumably Slater wasn’t working this case alone? How is it a 10 year old is smarter than a whole police department?
Writing-wise, a couple of nitpicks, but it's stuff that can help smooth the read and keep it concise:
Is it dark or is there a dim light? You use space setting one image up only to alter it within the next sentence.
How would we know he’s wearing a white button-down shirt and khaki pants if he’s wearing overalls - don’t they go over all?
You’re not helping the story by having Slater talking to himself about the case. It’s just not a natural way of getting the backstory across. He’s not talking to himself - he’s talking to us, the audience, which is rarely believable.
I can get with the concept - little girl inadvertently cracks the case, but for me, the wingding angle is just too great a suspension of belief.
All the best,
Steve
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