"A Rat Tale," by Mark Thielman, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, November/December 2022.
Mark Thielman, my fellow SleuthSayer, is having a good year This is his third appearance on my list in 2022 and his ninth overall, which I believe has him tied at the top. It is also the second story in this series to make my best-of-the-week list.
Bernard de Vallenchin is a sixteenth century French attorney with an odd specialty. Medieval law allowed animals to be tried for their alleged crimes.In this case the farmers of a region are demanding that rats be punished for ravishing their crops. Our advocate faces penalties if he can't find an adequate defense.
What follows is what they refer to in TV legal dramas as "winning on a technicality," as de Vallenchin embraces the skewed logic that says rodents can be taken to court. A very funny story, based on an actual case.
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