Twelve Red Herrings (Spoilers)

[d***@gmail.com]

Has anybody found all 12 "red herrings" in Jeffrey Archer's book of short
stories? I have found a few (below), but was wondering if anybody could
help me out with the others?
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
*
S
P
A
C
E
Story 1: "Trial and Error" - ?
Story 2: "Cheap at half the price" - ? (I thought it might have to do with
the mention of Red Cross on p.74, because herringbone can be a type of
cross-stitch, but this seems a bit weak)
Story 3: "Dougie Mortimer's Right Arm" - ?
Story 4: "Do Not Pass Go" - ?
Story 5: "Chunnel Vision" - the red Dorothy L Sayers book would be her book
"Five Red Herrings"
Story 6: "Shoeshine Boy" - Red Herring is the answer to the cryptic
crossword clue on p.152
Story 7: "You'll Never Live to Forget It" - it mentions the scarlet clupea
hareagus, the latin name for the herring
Story 8: "Never Stop on the Motor Way" - mentions a crimson kipper on p.202
Story 9: "Not for Sale" - ?
Story 10: "Timeo Danaos..." - ?
Story 11 "An Eye for an Eye" - ?
Story 12: "One Man's Meat" - ? (and is there supposed to be a "red herring"
in each ending)?
Also, funny that Archer mentions several stories are based on "known
incidents", when in fact they are in fact based on well know urban legends!
Would love to have any help on this!
Cheers,
Lee

Hi Lee,

I'm glad someone has also noticed those real "red herrings" in the stories - not story twists everyone is telling about, but the mentions or hints about the actual fish :)
The "herrings" I've managed to find are as follows:
Story 1: "Trial and Error" - stargazy pie (a pie with fish heads (and sometimes tails) protruding through the crust)
Story 4: "Do Not Pass Go" - Kirmizi Renga ("red herring" in one of Eastern languages)
Story 9: "Not for Sale" - Krasnoselyodkina ("krasnaya selyodka" is "red herring" in Russian)
Story 10: "Timeo Danaos..." - the name of the restaurant, ρεγγα κοκκινη ("red herring" in Greek). By the way, I've come across an edition where this Greek phrase was simply omitted.
"An Eye for an Eye" - not sure, but it must be the mention of "herringbone suit".
As for the rest of the stories, I'm just lost and hope someone will help us to uncover those mysterious herrings there as well.

Helen

[k***@gmail.com]

Anyone knows the Red Herring in "Shoeshine Boy"?

[Klára Míčková]

Hi all,

Glad to have found this page, we're on the same side. Let me just add the red herring for Story 3 (Dougie Mortimer):
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The twist is in the bishop's name, see the inscription below his own right arm:
H. R. R. DEERING ===> rearrange the letters and there you go, RED HERRING

Anyone else figured Story 1? (Although I'm inclined to think that that one actually contains a "real" red herring, the blonde).

[Hugh Gurney]

Post by d***@gmail.com

Has anybody found all 12 "red herrings" in Jeffrey Archer's book of short
stories? I have found a few (below), but was wondering if anybody could
help me out with the others?
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
*
S
P
A
C
E
Story 1: "Trial and Error" - ?
Story 2: "Cheap at half the price" - ? (I thought it might have to do with
the mention of Red Cross on p.74, because herringbone can be a type of
cross-stitch, but this seems a bit weak)
Story 3: "Dougie Mortimer's Right Arm" - ?
Story 4: "Do Not Pass Go" - ?
Story 5: "Chunnel Vision" - the red Dorothy L Sayers book would be her book
"Five Red Herrings"
Story 6: "Shoeshine Boy" - Red Herring is the answer to the cryptic
crossword clue on p.152
Story 7: "You'll Never Live to Forget It" - it mentions the scarlet clupea
hareagus, the latin name for the herring
Story 8: "Never Stop on the Motor Way" - mentions a crimson kipper on p.202
Story 9: "Not for Sale" - ?
Story 10: "Timeo Danaos..." - ?
Story 11 "An Eye for an Eye" - ?
Story 12: "One Man's Meat" - ? (and is there supposed to be a "red herring"
in each ending)?
Also, funny that Archer mentions several stories are based on "known
incidents", when in fact they are in fact based on well know urban legends!
Would love to have any help on this!
Cheers,
Lee

Hi Lee,
I'm glad someone has also noticed those real "red herrings" in the stories - not story twists everyone is telling about, but the mentions or hints about the actual fish :)
Story 1: "Trial and Error" - stargazy pie (a pie with fish heads (and sometimes tails) protruding through the crust)
Story 4: "Do Not Pass Go" - Kirmizi Renga ("red herring" in one of Eastern languages)
Story 9: "Not for Sale" - Krasnoselyodkina ("krasnaya selyodka" is "red herring" in Russian)
Story 10: "Timeo Danaos..." - the name of the restaurant, ρεγγα κοκκινη ("red herring" in Greek). By the way, I've come across an edition where this Greek phrase was simply omitted.
"An Eye for an Eye" - not sure, but it must be the mention of "herringbone suit".
As for the rest of the stories, I'm just lost and hope someone will help us to uncover those mysterious herrings there as well.
Helen

First borrowed this book from the library in 1999 and couldn't find them then. Picked it up from a charity shop recently and helps to be able to Google these days! Somewhat tentative about #12.

Story 1: as Helen states ... stargazy pie with red peppers (p. 6)
Story 2: "Cheap at half the price" - Salade nicoise (p.71) ... mainly consists of tomatoes i.e. red with pilchards or tuna
Story 3: "Dougie Mortimer's Right Arm" - H.R.R. Deering (p.105) ... the oldest Oxford blue Harold Deering has it on his bronzed arm
Story 4: as Helen states ... "Kirmizi Renga" (p.112) ... Google translate gave me Kirmizi as Red in Turkish with Egyptian Renga (Ringa) being a herring fish paste
Story 5: "Chunnel Vision" - lots of possibles in this one because it mentions red colours throughout - so red herrings of red herrings! However the "Escalope de Turbet" (p.133) is fish in a Gewurztraminer sauce. Although it's a white wine, the berries this comes from are red.
Story 6: "Shoeshine Boy" - The Times crossword clue (p.152) ... "Erring herd twists to create this diversion (3,6)"
Story 7: "You'll Never Live to Regret This" - disguised as a pot plant "scarlet clupea harengus" (p.177) which is actually an Atlantic herring
Story 8: "Never Stop on the Motorway" ..."CRIMSON KIPPER" pub (p.202)
Story 9: as Helen states ... Natasha, the Russian woman's surname (p.217)
Story 10: as Helen states ... the name of the Greek restaurant (p.241)
Story 11: as Helen states ... the herringbone suit (p.250) is the only thing that stands out.

Story 12: "One Man's Meat". There's very little unusual detail in this. I think it's his "RED Ford Fiesta - registration H107 SHV" mentioned on p.288 and 292. People with plates trying to spell names often force things when the letters don't equate to a number. But I think it's somehow meant to be "fi SH" in the middle of it with. In the next ending he has a "blue Rover 600, registration K857 SHV"