This
story was written especially for the "Winter's Crimes vol
8" anthology, originally published in 1976 (and again in
1977 by the Book Club Associates).
It is a splendidly well thought out piece of detective work
- not for the down-at-heel policeman who so frustratingly
fails to get his man! - but for the reader who can sit and
revel in the ingenious twists and turns of the author's
thinking.
Just when you think you have figured out 'whodunnit', just
when all the evidence points in one direction, it switches
and points the other way. Re-reading the story to pick up
on all the nuances you missed the first time round shows
that they were indeed there all along.
The title of the story explains a lot - that is all I will
say. Though whether you believe one suspect or another was
the culprit hardly matters. This is a 'word' game, written
by an author who didn't usually write this sort of thing,
just proving that he could if he wanted to.
(A lot of web-sites mis-quote the title of this story as
“Mouths”. They are incorrect.)