"Murder Mnemonic," by Loretta Sue Ross, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, May/June 2023.
A very silly story, but satisfying. (Hey, what's that but about? Let's say and satisfying.)
Here's the start:
Gilbert DuPont fell off a cliff and landed someplace really weird.
In fact Gilbert has been murdered and now he is being reincarnated. He remembers his past life - parts of it anyway.
By the time he turned three he was talking in complete sentences, though he still lacked the fine control to properly pronounce R and L. So when he told his mother about being "Gibbewt" and being "moodood" he did it in a matter-of-fact little high-pitched voice with an adorable lisp.
How does a family adjust to having a reincarnated murder victim in the nursery? And what happens when he believes he sees the people who killed him?
A very clever story right up to the satisfying last paragraph.
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