Wednesday, November 06, 2024

Little Big Crimes: The Grim, by Donna Andrews

Little Big Crimes: The Grim, by Donna Andrews: "The Grim," by Donna Andrews, in Black Cat Weekly, #165. This is Andrews' second appearance here.  What we have this week i...

SleuthSayers: HVI2, or Heads, You Lose

SleuthSayers: HVI2, or Heads, You Lose:   I subscribe to BritBox and I have worked my way through most of the mystery series I enjoyed ( Jonathan Creek, No Offense, MacDonald and ...

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: A Room For Murder by Michele Pariza Wacek

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: A Room For Murder by Michele Pariza Wacek:     Meet Charlie. Better known as “Aunt Charlie” from the award-winning Secrets of Redemption series. She's back, making teas and solv...

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Dead Man's Shoe" by Floyd Sullivan

Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "Dead Man's Shoe" by Floyd ...:   This story was published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine January/February 2023 . I had not heard of this author before, but he ...

George Kelly: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #200: CRIMES OF CYMRU: CLASSIC MYSTERY TALES OF WALES Edited by Martin Edwards

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Patti Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: "The Best of Everything" Richard Yates

 Patti Abbott: Short Story Wednesday: "The Best of Everything" Richard Yates

Short Story Wednesday Review: Back in Black: An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories


Inspired by songs from the bestselling AC/DC album, Back in Black: An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories, is the resulting anthology. The book features short stories by ten authors all of who are major names. Billed as third in the Music and Murder Mystery Series, music rarely goes beyond the song title used as the story title. 

 

The book opens with “Shake A Leg” by Rick Bleiweiss. In this multi chapter tale, Walker is on the run in Maui after he escaped from killers sent to take out the premier New York City hitman. He takes the time to save a teenage girl from a Hawaiian gang who killed her parents and are hunting her. Where the two go from there is the point of the tale. 

 

Being a hitman and being good at it is the idea of “Let Me Put My Love Into You” by Editor Don Bruns. Ginger Gallagher is dressed to meld into a crowd. That is a good idea when you are going after Tito Tarantino. It is a job and he is good at it. 

 

“You Shook Me All Night Long” by Andrew Child features Jack Reacher. Joe Reacher, espionage, and cold war stuff. Major William Hunt is trying to defect and take a briefcase full of secrets with him to Russia. The Reacher brothers, and others, want to stop that and plug the intelligence leak. 

 

Carl lives out in the desert and is at his adobe when the dog shows up carrying a human body part. The dog has been hanging around the last several days. But, this body part in his mouth thing is new in “Givin The Dog A Bone” by Dave Bruns begins. Carl follows him and finds the rest of the body in a crashed plane. He also finds a lot more. Now he has to figure out what to do. 

 

Candace Stone is a life coach on the radio. She gives out advice to callers who often just are not ready to hear what she is telling them. What is a normal boring shift becomes high stakes when a shooter opens fire and is looking for her in “Rock and Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” by Tori Eldridge. 

 

“Back In Black” by Sandra Balzo comes next takes the readers to a ship in the Tasman Sea. The boat is headed to Auckland, New Zealand. While on a smoke break, Leo overhears a snippet of conversation among several tourists. Minutes later a couple has gone overboard and things are set in motion. 

 

A Story from Reed Farrel Coleman is always a treat. “Shoot To Thrill: A Tale From Gun Church” recounts how one boy, picked on for years, is befriended by others and taught a lot of things. Carter McMillian and Leeza had their own agenda for befriending him. Deceit to your face is way worse than obvious hostility. 

 

A serial killer is working the Los Angeles area and the media is in a frenzy. Conner Marley, ex-marine, assures April, that their place in San Diego means they are safe and not in the killer’s hunting ground. Are they really safe? One wonders, as does April, in “Hell’s Bells” by Heather Graham.

  

Charles Todd takes readers to the western front in April 1916 in “Have A Drink On Me” by Charles Todd. Rutledge is trying to protect his men as they fight in the trenches. Sergeant Sullivan is making promises that he may not be able to keep. 

 

“What Do You Do For Money Honey” by Ward Larsen is the final story. Thomas Driscol is a tech mogul and has been using the services of Burt Torkelson as an investigator and more for five years. The latest subject is Maricia Dahl in this complicated tale of cross and double cross. 

 

The book closes with short bios of the various authors. 

 

Back in Black: An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories is an interesting read of crime and mystery short stories even though the music that inspired it nearly always does not reach beyond the use of story titles. Lots of big names are at work in this playground and the read is worth a look. 


 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3NUdyLO

 

 

My reading copy was an ARC via the publisher, Blackstone Publishing, through NetGalley with no promise of a review.  

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Tuesday, November 05, 2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

Lesa's Book Critiques: The Author’s Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White

SleuthSayers: World Builders

SleuthSayers: World Builders: The November/December issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine proves good to SleuthSayers. Rob Lopresti graces the cover while Ste...

Briefly Recapping Dallas Noir at the Bar


Sunday evening at the Dallas Noir at the Bar at The Wild Detectives was a lot of fun. We had a small crowd due to the weather forecast. Thankfully, the severe weather held off.


I wore my Resident Alien shirt as I have always felt a bit separate from other folks. It also is a cool show. 


I successfully read a part of my short story, The Hospital Boomerang, published earlier this year in the anthology, Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense. Published by Superior Shores Press, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, the read is available in both print and digital formats at Amazon and other vendors. 


My short story is a Texas based crime fiction tale set in a small town. Our narrator is a bit bitter and has gone through some things over the years. He also has a bit of a sarcastic streak as he narrates the story.


If you were not here to hear me, there is an excerpt from it earlier this year here on my blog. 


I also discussed the story and what I was trying to do in it at Art Taylor’s The First Two Pages back in June. You can read that piece here. 


Folks that have read it, seemed to like the story, as it has gotten positive praise. That includes author Rob Lopresti who reviewed it on his Little Big Crimes blog. 


I read for around twelve minutes and did about 80 percent of the story. It seemed to be received pretty well. 


At this point, I am not sure if there will be another event. Even if there is one, with my financial as well as worsening health issues, it may be best not to commit to doing it again. It takes a lot out of me to be in public like that and I am seriously feeling it. If it was my last, at least it ended on a good note. 


From left to right: Graham Powell, Jim Nesbitt, Johnny Wesner, our Mistress of Ceremonies Trang Quỳnh Thị VÅ©, the weird fat man, Scott Montgomery, and legendary Harry Hunsicker. 

Monday, November 04, 2024

Pretty Much Me

 


Lesa's Book Critiques: The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

 Lesa's Book Critiques: The Gardener’s Plot by Deborah J. Benoit

Dark City Underground: Review: 1970s Western Splatterpunk: Six-Gun Samurai & Sloane

 Dark City Underground: Review: 1970s Western Splatterpunk: Six-Gun Samurai & Sloane

The Hard Word: "SOME OF THE MOST ENTERTAINING RESEARCH I'VE EVER DONE": CROOKED'S DIETRICH KALTEIS

The Hard Word:  "SOME OF THE MOST ENTERTAINING RESEARCH I'VE EVER DONE": CROOKED'S DIETRICH KALTEIS

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach:   Reviewed by Kristin Sally Holt was thirteen-years-old when she lost one of the most important people in her life, her big sister Kathy...

In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday 11/4/2024

 In Reference To Murder: Media Murder for Monday  11/4/2024

Kathleen Marple Kalb's Blog: So You Wrote the Book, Now What?: Let's Talk Craft

 Kathleen Marple Kalb's Blog: So You Wrote the Book, Now What?: Let's Talk Craft

Markets and Jobs for Writers 11/4/2024

 Markets and Jobs for Writers 11/4/2024

Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Mr Campion's Christmas by Mike Ripley


I don’t like to rush the holidays that come around in the last three months of the calendar year, but here I am reading a Christmas mystery in October. It feels so wrong! But Mike Ripley’s 12th and last, according to the author’s notes at the end of the book, story in the continuation of the Albert Campion series originated by Margery Allingham is due to be published in early November.

A clever piece of work, smoothly incorporating the components of the classic country house Christmas with assorted strangers, all snowed in by an unexpected blizzard, and adding some original bells and whistles to create a strong plot with some familiar characters and a few new ones.

Albert Campion and his wife Amanda have retired to the Norfolk countryside in December 1962 for the holidays, not far from the British military base where Amanda’s aircraft company Alandel has an office. Son Rupert is home from his first year at Harvard University. Magersfontein Lugg is in fine fettle, serving as the household major domo. They are expecting the usual quiet Christmas with a big Boxing Day celebration. No snow in the forecast until a gray sky gave way to snowflakes on December 27th. They didn’t realize how much snow would fall until the storm was in full swing. Amanda sent their cook and housekeeper Mrs. Thursby home to collect her father to bring him back where they both would be warmer and safer.

They are all settled around the fire when noises outside indicate the arrival of visitors. A touring bus has crashed into the stone pillars of the gate to the driveway and the passengers are desperately seeking shelter. An assorted group: a retired Episcopalian priest, a single lady on a pilgrimage, three American airmen heading to the British base, the frazzled bus driver, a Dutch national, and a pedantic middle-aged professor. The Campions scurry around and find sleeping space and warm food for the group.

Early the next morning Campion finds tracks in the deep snow, two sets leaving the house, and only one set returning. He follows them to find the body of the driver in the tour bus. The snow is so deep there is no hope of bringing law enforcement in for days so ferreting out the killer falls to Campion, Lugg, and some unexpected assistants.

A classic closed circle mystery that pays significant tribute to the original Campion series while pulling in contemporary details to invigorate the story and demonstrate the passage of time. Publishers Weekly starred review. Highly recommended. 


 

·         Publisher: Severn House; Main edition (November 5, 2024)

·         Language: English

·         Hardcover: 272 pages

·         ISBN-10: 1448314712

·         ISBN-13: 978-1448314713

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/48zzmWs

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.

Sunday, November 03, 2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: Bill Crider, Maintaining His Legacy

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Bill Crider, Maintaining His Legacy

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Communicating Door and Other Stories (1923) by Wadsworth Camp

Beneath the Stains of Time: The Communicating Door and Other Stories (1923) by...: Wadsworth Camp was an American reporter, playwright and a noteworthy, often overlooked mystery writer from the 1910s, when the genre began ...

Guest Post: Main Line by Tom Milani

  

Please welcome SMFS list member Tom Milani to the blog today as he explains the background of his short story in the new anthology, Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Aerosmith. Published by White City Press, the book is edited by SMFS list member Michael Bracken.

 

Main Line

 

Good friend Stacy Woodson alerted me to a call on Facebook by editor Michael Bracken for a crime fiction anthology based on the songs of Aerosmith. The parameters were straightforward: the anthology would contain stories based on one song from each album. Several of the band’s hits I was familiar with had already been picked (“Dream On,” “Dude Looks Like a Lady”), but I was aware of Honkin’ on Bobo, a blues album they did some years back. A quick search on Apple Music let me preview some of the songs. The last, “Jesus Is on the Main Line,” is their version of a traditional gospel song as arranged by Fred McDowell. The Aerosmith song consists of two verses and three versions of the chorus (arrangements by other artists have additional verses). There isn’t much of a story (“Jesus is on the main line, tell Him what you want”), but the second verse has a line I latched onto: “If you’re sick and you can’t get well, just tell Him what you want.” The idea of an illness became a plot point, and I was also struck by the wording, which isn’t in the form of a plea but more a request.

Some forty years ago, I helped a friend deliver patio furniture to a woman who lived on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The trip was mostly a bust for my friend—the truck rental company failed to include padded blankets; the fuel gauge didn’t work, and we ran out of gas; the woman didn’t tip—but I was happy simply to hang out with him. While we were driving down a rural road, a church stood off the side. The building was a husk of itself, a stone ruin overgrown with vines. Its presence made a strong impression on me; even at the time, I wanted to go back someday and check it out.

I never did, but I resurrected my memory of it for this story. Here, two women, Gail and Mary, needing money for Mary’s medical care, are to deliver drugs hidden in a truck filled with patio furniture to a church on the Eastern Shore. What happens next strays into the mystical, where past and present collide in the visions of a priest.

Achieving the balance between past and present, sacred and profane, shaped the structure of the story and caused me to look at religious themes in a new light.


Tom Milani ©2024

Tom Milani’s short fiction has appeared in Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, Illicit Motions, Black Cat Weekly, and Urban Pigs Press. His crime fiction novella, Barracuda Backfire, was released earlier this year. His website is https://www.tommilani.com/ 

Saturday, November 02, 2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: What I Ate In One Year by Stanley Tucci

 Lesa's Book Critiques: What I Ate In One Year by Stanley Tucci

Dru's Book Musings: New Releases ~ Week of November 3, 2024

 Dru's Book Musings: New Releases ~ Week of November 3, 2024 

WPN: Approaches to Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith by Avram Levinsky

 WPN: Approaches to Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Aerosmith by Avram Levinsky

SleuthSayers: For You and Me and I

SleuthSayers: For You and Me and I:    I should probably apologize ahead of time, because this post is a complaint, and I learned long ago that nobody likes complaints. My mom&...

Scott's Take: Beyond Mortal by Cullen Bunn, Illustrator Danny Luckert


Beyond Mortal by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Danny Luckert is the first graphic novel in this very dark adult series. This is a horror series even if this reader did not find this book that scary.  I might have a higher tolerance for that than some.

 

In this graphic novel, a league of heroes that are clearly inspired by more famous characters seek to defend their world from Levithan. In this case, the Levithan is a group of evil elder gods that seek to transform and reclaim the earth. They will transform many against their will into serving these gods in their new forms. Can the heroes of this world withstand the power of these gods?

 

There is a lot of body horror, there is a ton of violence, and a lot of death. Heroes fall alongside civilians. This is an action-packed terror fest. This is not a read for young kids or preteens.

 

The art is not the best, in my opinion, but fits this tale. The cliffhanger ending annoyed me especially since a second book has not been announced yet. There are supposed to be more books in that universe next year, but no follow up is scheduled for this title.  I hope that changes and we do not have a Netflix cancellation after Season One of something situation here.



Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/48lZfcn

 

My reading copy came through Hoopla through the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2024

Friday, November 01, 2024

Lesa's Book Critiques: Give Me an “R” Giveaway

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Give Me an “R” Giveaway

Writer Beware: Edioak and House of Pages: Lots of Questions, Incomplete Answers

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A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: An Agent for Judith by Caroline Clemmons

A Writer's Life....Caroline Clemmons: An Agent for Judith by Caroline Clemmons: An Agent For Judith by Caroline Clemmons Buy Link An Agent for Judith is the last of my Pinkerton romances.  New Pinkerton romances are comi...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick

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Jerry's House of Everything: SHOULD THIS BOOK BE FORGOTTEN? -- MURDER ISLAND

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Happiness Is A Book: Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Curse of the Bronze Lamp by Carter Dickson

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FFB Review: Golden in Death: In Death Series by J.D. Robb


The April 2061 day looks to be beautiful in New York City. The weather is balmy and everything is budding out and/or blooming. Dr. Kent Abner has plans for the day and for the evening as well. Unfortunately, he got a package, opened it, and died with seconds.

 

The airborne poison had dissipated by the time the police and the medics had responded when his husband, Martin Rufty, came home and found him down. He tried everything to revive him. He was too late as were the medics.

 

It wasn’t until long after the crime scene had been trampled and numerous folks had touched the body, that Dallas and Peabody arrived on the scene. Dallas is assessing things and realizes the victim opened a package, and then the inner package, and then the very small container inside. It’s seven hours later, which is why they are all still alive. Whatever it was, the substance probably aerosoled, then quickly dissipated, and no long is a threat. Still, one needs Hazmat to check everything and everyone.

 

Soon cleared by Hazmat, Lieutenant Dallas, Detective Peabody, and the team are hard at work chasing a killer. Who? They have no idea as Dr. Kent Abner led a nearly perfect life. They can’t find a single enemy or anyone with a grudge that would do this sort of thing. The man was damn near perfect.

 

Clearly, the killer did not think so. Neither was his next victim, according to the killer who sent another package of poison to victim two.

 

Why stop now?

 

Identifying the poison, the resources to make it, and identifying the killer or killer is the primary priority for everyone as somebody is easily killing people.

 

What follows is another solidly good police procedural. Golden in Death by J.D. Robb spins an all too real tale that pulls the reader into a complex police procedural. One that again throws in a bit of romance (graphic at times) with some misdirection and creates an entertaining tale.

 


 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4empRN6

 

As the digital version was unavailable through the library, I requested the large print hardback. It came from the Vickery Park Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024