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A series of events linking one to another by a common mysterious situation can be strung out by having each event seem to reveal the answer to the mystery and then when the reader thinks he/she has it figured out – that the answer is clear: suddenly what seemed to be the answer turns out to be a “red herring.” The author has deliberately miss led the reader who must now come up with a new theory.
In Gas Light a series of events leads to an assumption that someone is systematically killing off members of a certain family. But who? A wealthy man with no direct progeny but a number of secondary family members is a victim of psychological abuse. In a series of illustrations we see relatives who are potential heirs are systematically killed; supposedly in accidents. Various members of the extended family could conceivably be the perpetrator. But as gradually the most likely candidates die off the question becomes clearer: there is some other element involved.
