Thursday, May 28, 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 86 Calls for Submissions in June 2026 - Paying markets
Thursday Treats: 5/28/2026
The latest reading opportunities…
Punk Noir has published, Champagne For My
Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends — Issue 3.This series of
short stories are all free to read online at their website. You can also read
the first issue for free here as well as the
second here.
A few weeks back, fellow SMFS member Judy Sheluk announced that her short story, The Last Detail, was published
online at Brown Hound Press. She also said this was a great publication to work
with and was very enthusiastic about the market for other writers. Fellow SMFS
list member Shelly Jones was equally
enthusiastic when she announced that her short story, Bloom, was published by
Brown Hound Press. You can read the tale, for free, here. A reminder for
fellow writers, this is a paying market.
Fellow SMFS list member Nick Guthrie announced that his WWII mystery short
story, In the Ruins, was published online at Cold Caller. You can read the tale
for free here.
Fellow SMFS list member Christina Hoag announced that
her non fiction book, I Am the Famous Carlos: The Story of the Jackal,
the World's First Celebrity Terrorist, was released earlier this month.
Published by Three Jandals Press, the read is available at Amazon and other
vendors.
According to Amazon, Scenic &
Sinister: An Indiana Landmarks Anthology was released back in April. It
was only this past week when two fellow SMFS list members announced it was out
and that they had stories in it. Michael Dabney (Death—In 9
Innings) and Shari Held (Send in the
Clowns) reported their presence in the anthology published by Speed City Press
(publishing imprint of the Indiana chapter of Sisters in Crime). You can get
the book at Amazon or other
vendors.
Finally, fellow SMFS list member, Michael Bracken, announced that the anthology, Wish Upon
A Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales was now up on Amazon for
preorder ahead of the June 2nd release. Coedited with Stacy Woodson also of the SMFS,
the book features short stories from Donna Andrews, Michael Bracken (editor),
David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, Debra H. Goldstein, James A. Hearn,
Adam Meyer, Tom Milani, Laura Oles, Josh Pachter, Joseph S. Walker, Andrew
Welsh-Huggins, and Stacy Woodson (editor). Published by Level Short (an imprint of Level Best Books), the anthology is available in
both print and digital book versions at Amazon.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 57 Writing Contests in June 2026 - No entry fees!
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "A Touch of Petulance" by Ray Bradbury
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: DRY SEPTEMBER
Tuesday, May 26, 2026
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 47 Glorious Writing Conferences and Workshops in June 2026
Little Big Crimes: Pandora's Bounty, by Gilbert M. Stack
Beneath the Stains of Time: The First Television Murder (1940) by Val Gielgud and Eric Maschwitz
Publication Day Review: Murder by Design: A Thriller by Lee Goldberg
Lee Goldberg’s Murder by Design: A Thriller
is the first read in the new Edison Bixby series. It is also a
bit weird and takes some time getting used to as the story unfolds. This is not
your regular book from the author. Those who choose to stay with it will find a
lot to like about the read.
Start with the basic idea of Sherlock Holmes and
Watson. Now, make it contemporary. Now, replace Sherlock with the brilliant and
often very rude, Edison Bixby. Bixby was a living legend in the LAPD. He solved
murders and did it while being wealthy, eccentric, and a ton of style. He saw
the world very differently. He saw a world where every crime, every human
interaction, every behavior, could be traced back to the design around the
person. That design of the building or whatever played a key role in whatever
happened.
Then he took a bullet to the head. He survived the
traumatic brain injury mostly intact. He still sees everything and everyone
being influenced by the design of everything around them. That bullet did not
take that from him. It did take his job with the LAPD and any mental filters he
had. It also left him with a need for a driver and somebody to try and smooth over
the ruffled feathers of others that Bixby encounters. Watson, if you will.
These days he solves crimes for Triax Global
Insurance. He needs a driver, gopher, communicator, and everything else. He
needs all that and more bundled up in his Watson.
Triax may have found his Watson in an actor that
looking for his break in Hollywood. The guy gets auditions, even gets cast in commercials
for various drugs, and then brings in his idea of the character he is playing
in his role. He creates elaborate backstories and storylines for the minute or
so he is on screen in a commercial. He overthinks each one to an incredible
degree as he sees the world around him full of characters playing their respective
roles. His elaborations tend to annoy directors and others and that results in
being fired a lot. He refuses to change his behavior as he believes he is
building hos craft.
Bixby sees the world as driven by design in very way
possible. Some designs make crime easier and, in a way, encourage it. Our
narrator, the actor, sees the world as a stage, literally, where everyone is at
all times a player in a role. They make quite the duo and before long are
working increasingly complex cases.
Such as the main case of the book where a person
died at the mall. In theory, it is a simple slip and fall where a woman died
because she became impaled on exposed rebar. Bixby is sure that it is far more
than a slip and fall. He sees it as an ingenious murder and intends to solve
the case.
Murder by Design: A Thriller
is a complicated tale and far different in style, tone, and in any other way
than the normal mystery read. Humor is frequently present as are descriptive
explanations of how our everyday world is designed to influence our behavior in
various ways. Several cases are worked in the read and there are numerous
complications. It is also a read that will get you looking at your everyday
world far differently. Especially if you drive by a mall.
Recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4boFMLC
My digital ARC came from Thomas & Mercer, by way
of NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, May 25, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Beneath the Stains of Time: That Thing Upstairs: "The Doctor Sees a Ghost" (1933) by Florence Ryerson and Colin Clements
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Storm Warning: A Dez Limerick Thriller by James Byrne
Storm
Warning (Minotaur, May 2026) by James Byrne is the latest in the very fine
thriller series about Desmond Aloysius Limerick (Dez to his mates), a military
veteran with unusual skills, a smart mouth, and an irresistible ability to make
friends wherever he goes. He’s in New York when this book opens, learning how
to cook in a high-end restaurant and enjoying life when the FBI asks him to
accompany a Department of State executive, her security guard, and a hostage
rescue team to a scientific research center in an isolated part of coastal Newfoundland.
It seems all communications with the town and the research center have been
lost and the assumption is the group is being held hostage, possibly for the sensitive
information held by the multinational scientists working there. Dez’s skills as
a gatekeeper are expected to be needed to enter the facility.
The night
before the rescue team leaves, Dez is approached by a group of thugs who offer
him cash not to go on what was supposed to be a highly secret rescue mission. He
declines but worries about this open indication that someone has a vested
interest in keeping the research center sequestered and has learned about their
plans.
A pair of
competing blizzards with the Canadian east coast as their target complicate the
flight to the remote village where the center and the scientists are. The plane
with the hostage rescue team falls behind and only a small group of diplomats
and security guards reach their destination. Once they land, the action never
stops. As with all of the books in this series, Dez is relentless in his focus
and endlessly creative in achieving his goals.
He's
particularly challenged here as people are not always who they seem to be,
right up to the end of the book. I found my belief of who were the good guys
and which ones were the bad guys was constantly undergoing revision.
Dez does have
a tendency to think he knows what’s best for everyone around him. I was amused
to see his arrangements for one character were politely but firmly declined,
setting him back on his heels for a bit. It was no doubt a salutary experience
for him.
Highly
recommended! This book can be read as a stand-alone but since Dez tends to
acquire friends in each adventure and take them with him from one story to the
next, the reader who wants to fully understand the back story of every title
should probably read the books in order.
Starred
review from Publishers Weekly.
·
Publisher: Minotaur Books
·
Publication date: May 26, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 400 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1250319811
·
ISBN-13: 978-1250319814
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4e1byiA
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, May 24, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Signing up for 20 Books of Summer 2026
SleuthSayers: The Urge to Kill
Review: The Brothers McKay: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson
Pepper McKay is very dead. Hated by
nearly everyone, Pepper McKay ran his life, his family and pretty much
everything and everyone else, for miles around for many decades. While he had
his business interests, his marriage a number of years ago gave him control
over what is known as the “O-Kay Ranch.” Located at the mouth of Crazy Woman
Canyon, the dude ranch, is in Absaroka County, Wyoming. That means his death
has to be investigated by the local sheriff, Walt Longmire.
That means the good sheriff and his
number, two, Victoria Moretti, need to get to the scene as fast as possible. It
does not help that they are stuck in a barely moving traffic jam on the road in
thanks to one of two lightning caused wildfires that started overnight. The
fires are running wild, thanks to drought and dead trees and whatnot, and will
go where they want and when they want.
Eventually, they get to the former
working ranch that is now operated as a dude ranch. For decades it was operated
by the Harris family. Then the granddaughter, BeeBee, turned it into a dude ranch,
then married Pepper McKay, and then he went work taking control and running
roughshod over everyone and everybody.
Pepper McKay, a hard drinker, and pretty
much hard at everything, had gone fishing in Crazy Woman Creek that morning. He
had lunch and other food with him, but hadn’t been seen since. One of the long-time
ranch hands had gone looking for him and had finally found him floating face
down in the water. The ranch hand had pulled the body up onto the bank and then
called 911.
Walt Longmire had a long history with
Pepper McKay going back some four decades. So, the fact that the man was drinking
in his last hours is no surprise. Beyond that obvious fact, as Vic examines the
body, she advises Longmore and the newly assigned to the area Wyoming Highway
Patrol Trooper, Shane Wilson, that the back of Pepper McKay’s head shows
obvious signs of some sort of traumatic brain injury. She also notes the
numerous contusions and abrasions, but those could have happened as the body moved
downstream through the churning waters and hit rocks and such. She also notes
that by how heavy he feels, his lungs are probably full of water.
It is clear to all three of them that an
intoxicated Pepper McKay could easily have slipped and fallen, striking his
head in the process, before drowning. It is also very possible to all that he
might have been hit in the head with a rock and left to drown. So, the question
is—accident or murder?
If it was a murder, it would also be a
very complicated case with a laundry list of suspects. For decades Pepper McKay
lived his life like a human wrecking ball—he smashed through obstacles and
people with wild abandon. That means the suspect list, inside and outside the
family, is a long one and complicated. Some neutral observers, if they knew
what had happened decades ago, might put the good Sheriff on that suspect list
too.
As Walt Longmire spins up outside resources
to assist his investigation, another problem is dumped into his lap by the
newly appointed Wyoming Attorney General, his own daughter. Maxim Sidorov wants
to relocate to Durant. With no parole officer in the area, that would mean that
Sheriff Longmire would have to be his parole officer despite the fact that the
man tried to kill him awhile back. Maxim Sidorov lost an eye in that attempt.
He also gained a lot of respect for him and is trying to help him find a great
aunt, Ruth One Heart.
Maxim Sidorov is soon in town, living in
the jail, and advising Walt on what has turned out to be the definite murder of
Pepper McKay. He is instrumental to the investigation which also manages to bug
the heck out of Longmire. He also briefly annoyed this reader who had an out
loud “Duh” moment when Sidorov pointed things out.
The Brothers McKay: A Longmire
Mystery
by Craig Johnson is a highly entertaining read that keeps the reader turning
pages. Part murder mystery, part survivalist action read, it also sets up what
will clearly be the focus of the next book in the series. Unless the author has
juked and head faked this reader on this too.
Recommended.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4e6xQ3e
My digital ARC came by way of Viking
Penguin, through NetGalley, and with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Saturday, May 23, 2026
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "Gimme Shelter" by Libby Klein https://kingsriverlife.com/05/23/gimme-shelter-by-libby-klein/
Mystery Fanfare: Memorial Day Mysteries // Memorial Day Crime Fiction
Scott's Take: Marvel: What If...Kitty Pryde Stole the Phoenix Force? (An X-Men and America Chavez Story) by Rebecca Podos
Marvel: What If...Kitty Pryde
Stole the Phoenix Force? (An X-Men and America Chavez Story) by Rebecca Podos is the
fourth book in the What If… series, but you could read this one
on its own. This one is a complicated time travel book with multiple timelines
and flashbacks throughout.
Billed as an X-Men and America Chavez
story, the main character is actually Kitty Pryde. Kitty Pryde is experiencing flashes
of another life. One where she had way different friends and is not a servant
of the Hellfire Club (mutant led organization that uses its powers for their
own ends) under Emma Frost. These flashes promise a better life.
Soon, a stranger, Betsy Braddock, finds
her and tells her that she has a psychic trail. A trail that leads into the
past. With her help, she can get back the life she should have led. She also
needs Pryde’s help to fix her own timeline as she too has a life she should
have led.
They are not the only ones seeking a way
to go back into the past and fix the timelines. America Chavez is as well.
They are trying to go back in the past
to where the X-Men have lost Jean Grey due to her murder by Dr. Doom and his
multiversal counterpart, The Whisper. They want to steal the Phoenix Force and
Jean Grey’s status as a Nexus Being. The Whisper knows that if they do that,
they will kill everyone who will ever live in this reality. The Whisper does
not care. The fact that there are two timelines, one of which were the X-Men
are all dead, means the heroes failed to save their teammate. Can the heroes
from the broken timelines save Jean Grey and reality?
This is a book with extensive
connections to X-Men history and is an action-packed adventure with strong
character development and romance. I think this book would be hard to follow
for people not very familiar with the X-Men as this read takes place over many
eras of X-Men history. This is a really good book if you are a fan of Kitty
Pryde or the X-Men.
It ends on a bit of cliffhanger since
there is setup for the last book, Marvel:
What If...The Multiverse Was Doomed? by DaVaun Sanders, which comes
out in August. Do not read the synopsis for the fifth book before finishing
this one.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/48Pq2zc
My hardback reading copy came from the
Central Branch, aka Downtown, of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026
Friday, May 22, 2026
Review: Seldom Seen Road: Burnt River Mysteries by John Degen
These days, there are few books that just grab me
and don’t let go. Seldom Seen Road: Burnt River Mysteries by John
Degen is one of those books. Maybe because I identified so closely to the
central character, Mark Roth. His grief and his isolation very much hit home
for this reader.
Life often happens in unplanned and devesting ways.
Living in the isolated cabin on the north shore of Lake Huron was planned, in a
way. After all, they had bought the cabin and planned to live there a lot once
Mark retired. The two of them aging day by day together. He never contemplated
the unthinkable. Mark never planned on being a widower.
But, he is.
Sara is gone and he spends a lot of his waking time
at the cabin drinking in isolation. His
life has closed down to visits with a police cousin who patrols the area,
fishing, baseball games, an occasional phone call or visit with their academic daughter,
and all the booze one man alone can drink. Their daughter, Stephanie, is a criminalist
and college professor living many hours away in Thunder Bay. He is a lonely man
living at a very isolated cabin deep in the woods and locked in a world of
grief and loss.
As the book opens, Mark Roth is out in his boat and
fishing as the night begins to overtake Lake Huron. By way of his hearing aids,
a Bluetooth connection, and his cellphone, he is listening to the visiting Toronto
Blue Jays take on the Cleveland Indians at the stadium several hundred miles to
the south. It is a nice night and he is deeply focused on the game and the
images he sees of it by way of the audio byplay.
It is only when he can no longer see his bobber
floating in the darkness, and can easily see the lights of a large tanker
coming far too close for his very small craft, that he decides it is time to go
back to the shore. He reels his last cast in, fires up the boat motor and
running lights, and swivels in his seat to look at the nearby shoreline and the
lights of the very small town.
It is only then that he sees the strobing lights of
at least eleven emergency vehicles lined up around the mouth of the river as
well as numerous more flying down the Trans-Canada Highway at high speed. Something
very bad has happened and he realizes he can also hear sirens like crazy. The
small town of Burnt River is hopping tonight.
He heads back in to the marina where he rented the
boat earlier and finds the owner, Madeline Colby. She says somebody was found
in the water, tangled up in the roots of a tree on her shoreline. A kid at the
local diner saw the man and freaked out. Soon, Mark’s cousin, Constable Jeremy
Roth, was first on the scene and jumped into the cold waters to rescue the guy.
Not that he actually needed to do that as the man
had been long dead by the time Jeremy got to him. And it wasn’t just a few
minutes dead either. Snagged in the limbs of a fallen tree, the dead man had
very live lamprey eels feeding off his face. From the way the body appears,
somebody murdered the man, and then came here to dump the body. The killer or
killers most likely expected the body to drift out into the cold deep waters of
Lake Huron to never be seen again. So much for that.
Who is this man and why was he murdered?
Identifying the dead is the easy part. Why it
happened and who did it is a puzzler. Mark Roth has considerable interest as
his cousin, Jeremy, is involved thanks to his actions. Constable Jeremy Roth
may be on the outside of the case looking in, for a variety of reasons, but he
does have some access, and Mark wants all the details.
If Stephanie had her way, her dad would abandon the
isolated cabin and move to her in Thunder Bay or in a home somewhere where he
wasn’t alone. She worries. She always did, but it is way worse with her mom
gone and how her dad is in the aftermath. She is very aware that her dad is
doing little more than marking time. The last thing she wants is for him to
start poking around at the fringes of a murder.
Yet, that case seems to be the one thing that gets
her retired dad going a bit. His life was in music, not police work. But, he is
very interested and wants to bounce case ideas off of her despite the fact that
she is an academic and not an actual investigator. A part of her, whether she
truly wants to admit it, interests her as well. A murder like this just does not
happen in Burnt River.
Yet, it did.
That murder is just the start of things in this
complicated and highly atmospheric mystery read. Shifting in point of view to
follow Mark, Jeremy, Stephanie, and others, the case gets bigger and bigger.
Quite a lot is going on in these characters lives and even more is going on
outside them. The woods may be lovely, dark, and deep. But they hold a lot of menace
and violence as well.
Billed as the first book in the Burnt River
Mysteries series, the foundation is well laid in Seldom Seen Road.
The read is strongly recommended.
Make sure you read the author’s guest post on
setting, Is
that a real place?, at Kings River Life Magazine.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4wY3xCO
John Degan’s website: https://www.jkdegen.com/
My digital ARC reading copy came from the publisher, Latitude 46 Publishing, through
NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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