Today's prompt from Winter Winks 221: a strange and bizarre crime with no obvious solution. I have to say, I enjoyed this one!
"I must say, Holmes," I said, crouching down and examining the body. "This is quite an unusual crime."
Holmes prowled around the crime scene, sniffing at some things, laying down full length to get a better look at others. "Indeed, Watson. I have not encountered anything quite like this before, nor even have a similar crime in my files. This crime seems to be absolutely unique." He paused his investigations, turning to Watson. "Cause of death, doctor?"
I gestured to the bloody imprint in the skull. "This would be the obvious cause of death, but from the bruising, it seems that this happened post mortem, though very soon after, no more than a few minutes. The actual cause would appear to be strangulation...with this." I pulled a long strand of aluminium off the body, showing it to Holmes.
Holmes looked uncharacteristically surprised. "Tinsel?"
I nodded.
Holmes began to pace across the alley, speaking out loud, as was often his wont when it was just the two of us. "The only inhabitants are the mother and her children, none of whom have the strength required to strangle a man of this size, and besides that, there is only one pair of footsteps besides our victim. The killer is clearly a heavyset man, taller than the average, and," he showed me a strand of white fur, held between his fingers, "wearing a fur coat. This fur is much finer than anything that would be found in this neighbourhood, but the footsteps disappear at the edge of the house, suggesting someone familiar enough with the area that they know a way up."
"This wound is an unusual shape too," I interjected. "At first I thought it had been made by a horse, but if it is, the horse was unshod. There are some small characteristic markings missing."
"I believe, Watson," Holmes said, after a moment of thought, "that this will be a three pipe problem. Let us return to Baker Street."
Holmes hailed a carriage, and we left the scene behind. Despite much thought, and a truly horrible quantity of shag tobacco, Holmes never did manage to solve the problem of the Christmas Eve Murder.