I think fans blews it out of proportion, but only because they wanted closure on the issue. And why shouldn't they? It's a minor mystery but still incredibly irritating not to know. Asmodean is one of the Shadow's generals, not some largely irrelevant character like Herid Fel or Tylin - their murders can remain a mystery without so much as a leaf stirring.

I honestly think that RJ would have revealed the murderer in LoC if it hadn't created rampant hysteria in his fans. Even in past interviews at the time, it remained the most popular question before the release of book 6. And I think this is pretty much where I disagree with RJ the most, because I think he deliberately took it twice around the dance floor and milked it for all it was worth. It was almost done again with Adeleas, but luckily she's irrelevant enough that the mystery wasn't such a biggie.

The Asmodean thing has been too much, for too long. We've had so many Graendal PoV's since FoH, and any of them would have been perfect places to insert a small line about her assassination of the man, which now seems to be the most unimpressive and impulsive act with hindsight. Stretching it for eight books has really been a laughable attempt to milk interest and desperation from fans, which I daresay became resent and irritation in the majority of cases.