Random Shot — Robert James Warner

Random Shot is another Hannable Hathaway Hoe murder mystery. A young woman, Vera Hall, is killed by a random shot that blasts through a window of the Bartell Building on the 12th floor, hits a plaque on a wall then ricochets into Vara Hall's body, killing her almost instantly. The death of Vera Hall is considered a death by an accidental random shot fired by someone unknown.The mysterious Mr. Frost who Hannable first met in Murder in the Key of E Flat, calls again and wants Hannable to investigate Vera Hall's death too, and with another bet that Hannable will fail again to find out who the mysterious Mr. Frost is. Hannable takes the job and the bet.Random Shot is one of the most diabolical, malevolent, and fiendish murder plots Hannable Hathaway Hoe has worked on up to this time. How can a young woman be deliberately murdered in a room on the 12th floor of a building that is higher than the other buildings in the immediate area, which would cause the slug from a rife to shoot almost straight up if shot from the ground, missing the plaque entirely, and, if shot though a window from a nearby building the angle was wrong for a ricocheting bullet from there also, and, if shot from a shorter building's roof that angle would also be wrong. How then can Vera Hall's death be murder? Everybody says it's impossible, but Mr. Frost!Mr. Frost sends an older man, Ethelbert Spoon, to help Hannable. What can Spoon do to help? A great deal as it turns out. Spoon turns out to be somewhat of a magician!