Wednesday, May 20, 2026
SleuthSayers: The Second Time Around
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in April 2026
George Kelley: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #271: THE SPACE OPERA RENAISSANCE Edited by David G. Hartwell and Khatryn Cramer (Section IV)
George Kelley: WEDNESDAY’S SHORT STORIES #271: THE SPACE OPERA RENAISSANCE Edited by David G. Hartwell and Khatryn Cramer (Section IV)
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: THE RETURN OF THE SPECKLED BAND
Short Story Wednesday Review: Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House Editors Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson
When the publisher Down & Out Books went under, it took down a lot of good crime fiction reading. Slowly, those books are coming back with new publishers. Such is the case here as Editor Michael Bracken recently announced on Facebook that the eBook version was now up at Amazon and elsewhere for preorders. So, I thought I would remind you of this great read that is now being published by Audecyn Books. I would also warn you that, at the time of this writing, to ignore the book description at Amazon and elsewhere as it pertains to a totally different anthology.
Edited by Michael Bracken and Stacy
Woodson, Scattered, Smothered, Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction
Inspired by Waffle House is a fun crime fiction read. Some of the tales
are noirish in style while others are more middle of the road crime fiction
reads. There is humor, plenty of food references, and a number of folks who
really should have known better than to do what they did.
There are sixteen short stories in the
read. Every one of them is a good one. The short stories referenced here with
my brief comments are those that really resonated with me. Your choices, no
doubt, would vary.
It should also be noted that I am one of those people who just reads an anthology straight through from front to back. I don’t poke around reading people I know first or anything like that. So, the listing below is in the order that I came across them as I read and not any implied ranking of my favorites.
Alan Orloff’s “Well Done” features a place in a bad way, a need for money, and an arsonist that is willing to work cheap. Of course, the arsonist’s name is “Scorch.” It had to be his name and there is also one heck of a fire.
Win’s Waffles, owned and operated by
Winfred Perkins III, is also having a hard time of things. The long running
family business is going under in “The Price of Blood” by Nils Gilbertson. He
knows the legacy is almost dead. He also knows that Duncan Dudley is an idiot
who is constantly involved in failed money-making schemes. But, his latest
venture is just crazy enough that it could work.
Editor Michael Bracken’s “Windfall”
takes three characters and, on one hand, drops them in the exact right place at
the right time. Another way of looking at it is that the three are in the wrong
place at the absolute worst time. An armored car robbery and human nature is at
work in this tale.
Lucie Heinz has always tried to keep her
brother safe, not that he has listened very well over the years. Her brother,
Carson, has made it very hard in “The Ham & Egger” by J. D. Allen. They have been hiding, for good reason, and
big sister thought that she could indulge her brother’s desire to get out after
being house bound for days. She thought they could safely go out to the Silver
Saddle Saloon for a couple of hours. What had seemed like a good idea, clearly
wasn’t. Hindsight won’t help them now.
“The Heart of Darkness” by Tammy Euliano
also features a sibling who was expected to do everything to protect the
younger brother. When he left, Dad took it hard, and told him to never come
back home. Mom is dead so he is back for the funeral and trying to figure out
what happened during her last days.
Like when Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel shows up in your town, when the Waffle House closes, you know things are really bad. That has happened in Donna Andrew’s “When Even Waffle House Closes.” The winter storm is causing havoc and she is in trouble as the storm could kill her. So could the robbers who are as deadly as the southern snowstorm.
The sixteen short stories that are present here are all entertaining reads. The detailed bios at the end of the book help readers in their quest to read more by these authors.
Scattered, Smothered, Covered
& Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House is an
interesting and highly entertaining crime fiction read. It incorporates a
premise that could easily be used again and again for additional volumes in a
potential series. This reader hopes that happens as Scattered, Smothered,
Covered & Chunked: Crime Fiction Inspired by Waffle House, edited
by Michael Bracken and Stacy Woodson is a mighty good read. It also might make
you hungry
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4tOt12p
Published by Down & Out Books, my
reading copy was a digital edition and purchased by yours truly using funds in
my Amazon Associate Account.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025, 2026
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
Little Big Crimes: It's Complicated, by Nick Guthrie
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED FILM: BEHIND THAT CURTAIN (1929)
Publication Day Review: Ironwood: A Catalina Novel by Michael Connelly
As Ironwood: A Catalina Novel
by Michael Connelly begins, it is approximately one year after the events of Nightshade.
While it is always preferable to have read the first book in a series first,
one could start here as there are minimal references to the past events.
In the aftermath of a police operation
gone horribly wrong, Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department Detective Sergeant
Stilwell of the Catalina substation, is in a world of trouble. At least he is
alive and relatively uninjured. Not that he cares. One of his deputies is dead.
Another is very seriously wounded and may not survive the emergency medical
helicopter ride to the mainland.
Making things worse, if that is
possible, is the fact that the suspects got away. The Department will conduct
an extensive investigation. Every decision and action by Detective Sergeant
Stilwell will be heavily scrutinized and second guessed.
That process begins with the arrival
from the mainland of his immediate boss, Captain Corum, accompanied by members of
a team of investigators. After he is questioned by a number of people over a
multi hour period where he has to go through everything over and over, detail
by detail, Captain Corum finally tells him that he is in the clear, for now. He
is grounded to the substation and on the bench. When he is on duty, he is to
confine himself to the substation for his shift, and to take care of paperwork,
storage concerns, and other issues. He isn’t to involve himself in the investigation
of the events out on the tarmac which allowed a drug plane to escape and left
one deputy under his command dead and another one near death.
As if being told to stay out of it is
going to ever happen. Detective Sergeant Stilwell is used to working around the
bosses. Part of the reason he is out on Catalina Island is the fact that the
Department sends problematic folks out there for various disciplinary reasons. The
posting is supposed to be a punishment. For him, it has grown into a very
positive situation for many different reasons. At his heart, he is still law enforcement,
and isn’t just going to sit around and do nothing.
He knows he chased a suspect down a
hillside even though there is very little proof of that fact. He also has a
pretty good idea of what the suspect looked like. That suspect is probably
still on the island and holed up waiting for the first ferry of the day. Obviously,
staking out the ferry and its passengers is the way to go.
His work leads him to a suspect, an
arrest, and then an incident that gets him deeper into trouble. It also leads
him into a separate cold case murder investigation, a serial killer, and work with
Ballard and her team.
I’m intentionally skimming the surface,
if that much, of this read in order to avoid spoilers. Simply put, Ironwood:
A Catlina Novel is a might good read from the intense beginning right
to the last sentence. Well worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4sPe4h9
My digital ARC reading copy came from
the publisher, Little, Brown and Company, by way of NetGalley, with no expectation
of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Monday, May 18, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: Hero: A DS Walker Thriller by Patricia Wolf
The fifth book in the DS Lucas
Walker series by Patricia Wolf, to be released later this month, is as good as
the earlier titles. Wolf has the gift of creating immersive and original narratives
that immediately pull me in. I raced through this one in a day.
Hero (Embla Books, May 2026) finds
Walker back in Queensland, after being caught up in an internal political
fracas within the Australian Federal Police. He ended up on the Queensland
force, in a tiny town called Katima, an easy drive from his hometown Caloodie,
where he spends his weekends with his family, something he couldn’t do in his
previous job.
The body of a young man
hanging from a tree was the first big case for Walker in his new job. Walker
was suspicious of the supposed suicide arrangement from the start and sure
enough the autopsy revealed the man had died of an overdose. Walker was
attempting to identify the victim when a retired member of the force mentioned
a cold case with strong similarities. The earlier victim was never identified
and it always worried the retiree. A call from the Conroy estate sent the two
cases from Walker’s mind, as Caden Conroy, the professional cricket player and
national hero, had been bloodily murdered in his drawing room. The killing set
off frantic demands for immediate arrests, and political strings were pulled at
all levels. Walker as part of the local police was considered incapable of
handling a major investigation. While he was forced to hand the Conroy case
over to the federal police, he still had the other two cases to work, which
began to show odd connections to the Conroy family and the cricket academy they
ran.
The craze for sports gambling
of all kinds and the potential for its abuse as well as the tendency to hold
sports figures up as objects of adulation are examined thoroughly in this
story. My knowledge of cricket, which is considered to be Australia’s national
sport, is unfortunately limited to a chapter in Murder Must Advertise by
Dorothy L. Sayers where Lord Peter Wimsey displays his skill at the game.
A thread about Walker’s niece
demonstrates his attachment to his family and his desire to stay close to them.
His late grandmother and her house remain deeply important to him, giving him a
depth of humanity not always seen in crime fiction protagonists.
The settings are exotic, the
characters are terrific, and the plots in this series are innovative and well
executed. Fans of outback noir and police procedurals should definitely add
these books to their TBR lists. Readers of the series will be delighted with
this new entry. Recommended!
- Publisher:
Embla Books
- Publication
date: May 20, 2026
- Language:
English
- Print
length: 432 pages
- ISBN-10:
1471422666
- ISBN-13:
978-1471422669
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4nv7Qkx
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 17, 2026
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "Drafted in Deceit" by Simone Stier, along with an interesting interview with Simone https://kingsriverlife.com/05/16/drafted-in-deceit-by-simone-stier/
And week a review and giveaway of "A Crime Through Time" by Amelia Blackwell, along with an interesting guest post from Amelia about the unique premise of her series https://kingsriverlife.com/05/16/a-crime-through-time-by-amelia-blackwell/
And a review and giveaway of "Murder in a Lavender Daze" by Daryl Wood Gerber https://kingsriverlife.com/05/16/murder-in-a-lavender-daze-by-daryl-wood-gerber/
We also have week a mystery short story by Guy Belleranti https://kingsriverlife.com/05/16/mystery-short-story/
Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author John Degan about the setting of his new book "Seldom Seen Road" https://kingsriverlife.com/05/13/is-that-a-real-place/
And another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Nicolas DiDomizio about the movies that inspired his main character in his new book "Murder Most Camp." https://kingsriverlife.com/05/13/a-murder-most-camp/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of "Death Under the Dogwoods" by Neil Plakcy and Joanna Campbell Slan https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/death-under-dogwoods-by-neil-s-plakcy.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Mares and Murder" by Leslie Langtry https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/mares-and-murder-by-leslie-langtry.html
And a review and giveaway of "Wrought in Flesh" by Corinne Price https://www.krlnews.com/2026/05/wrought-in-flesh-by-corinne-price.html
Review: Mist and Malice: A Haven Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall
Mist and Malice: A Haven Thriller
by Rachel Howzell Hall picks up within
hours of the conclusion of the preceding novel, Fog and Fury.
Several of the ongoing storylines from the first book are resolved here in this
second read. There are also ongoing repercussions from that book that are part
of the background to this read.
And while former LAPD Homicide Detective
Alyson “Sonny” Rush needs a break,
working as a private investigator in the small town of Haven, California, means
the cases keep coming. She works for her godfather, Ivan Poole, who now has a
missing person’s case for her. Sonny Rush is now about to be on the hunt for
Emiliano Rivas. He has been missing almost three months, since around Memorial
Day, and his wife, Araceli Rivas, has finally come to them for help.
They are a young couple and money is
tight. He is also undocumented so the police have been little to no help. She
has no idea if he simply abandoned her or if something bad happened. He didn’t
have a work permit. On the plus side, she claims that he has no criminal
history. He did have a job at a local construction site. According to her, he
is very well liked there. All she really knows is that he left one day to go
get a propane tank refilled and never came back home.
She provides a couple of leads and Sonny
begins to work the case while also dealing with a previous unsolved case of
hers, and various other issues, personal and professional. She has a lot going
on, besides the missing person’s case. A case that gets darker as she scratches
the surface. Before long, as they say, she is deep in it, and the lives of her mom
and her are very much at stake.
As Sonny very quickly learned soon after
moving to town, Haven is no Heaven, no matter what some would claim.
This second book in the series is another
good one. About half of this read is devoted to the current missing persons
case and about half is devoted to tying up numerous situations/storylines from
the first book. The result is an entertaining read that gives a lot of answers
to readers of this series. Mist and Malice: A Haven Thriller by
Rachel Howzell Hall is a good read while also providing a satisfying conclusion
to the series. It also provides a possible way forward should the author
continue the series.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4uPx7bP
My reading copy came from the publisher,
Thomas & Mercer, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive
review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Saturday, May 16, 2026
SleuthSayers: It's Still a Mystery
The Short Mystery Fiction Society Blog: SMFS Spotlight: John M. Floyd
Beneath the Stains of Time: Murder in the Air (1931) by Darwin L. Teilhet
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Cinder House by Freya Marske
Scott's Take: The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl series) by Matt Dinniman
The Gate of the Feral Gods
is the fourth book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt
Dinniman and continues the adventures of Princess Donut and Carl. In this
adventure, the Princess Donut and friends must take down four castles in a row
to escape this level.
They start in the desert in a little town being run
by alien camels and being bombed by a bunch of airplane flying gnomes. They
need to find a way to breach the flying castle in the sky to stop the bombings.
If that is not bad enough, they also have the other castles to take down such
as Necropolis, a submarine, and more. Obviously, some of those locations are not
really castles, but they are classified as such for the game.
Carl and Donut also must work with the survivors
assaulting the other castles. As nearly all the other survivors are pretty much
idiots who have somehow still survived to this point, despite the fact that the
AI clearly wants them dead, things are going to get harder for Carl and Donut.
This series remains fun and each book remains an
action packed adventure with plenty of humor. There are things that happen in
this book that should have major ramifications for the series. The print
version still includes a bonus short story which I am still not sure what is
the point of these characters yet.
This series is continued by the Butcher’s Masquerade which is book
five in the series. I am currently reading this in eBook via the library. The
crawlers have reached level six, The Hunting Grounds, so the space aliens who
have been watching the show now can play as well. The space aliens that are now
participating in the game have been classified as “Hunters” and have been
assigned the mission to kill every crawler and their primary target is Carl. He
has pissed off a lot of alien factions who have placed a bounty on his head.
Can he survive this level?
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3Q6maU7
I read the print version of this book by way of a
copy from the Polk-Wisdom Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026
Friday, May 15, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Forgotten Books Friday - The Long Shadow
FFB Review: See Also Murder: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery by Larry D. Sweazy
From the archive....
Living on a farm in Stark County, North
Dakota in July of 1964 is hard, but it isn’t winter and that helps a little
bit. Things are harder for Marjorie Trumaine than most because she is trying to
manage it all pretty much by herself. It has been that way since her husband,
Hank, had his hunting accident that left him blind and paralyzed. He spends his
days, except for a rare trip away from home, lying in their bed unable to care
for himself or the farm they both love.
The Knudsens on the next farm over were
there for Hank and Marjorie long after everyone else in the small community got
on with their lives and forgot about them. Erik, the father, supervised his
sons, Peter and Jaeger, while they did chores on the place after they had
finished work on their own farm. Lida, their mom and Erik’s wife, brought food
for months while Marjorie and Hank slowly adjusted to the catastrophic change
in their lives. Over time that help as well as Marjorie’s ongoing job as a
freelance indexer has allowed them to survive in their new normal post-accident
reality.
The news that Sheriff Hilo Jenkins
brings Marjorie this July morning is hard to deal with on any level, but
especially now after everything that has happened in recent months. Erik and
Lida have been brutally murdered while they slept in their bed. Their sons,
Erik and Jaeger, are physically fine as they slept through the murders in their
home. Sheriff Jenkins does not believe the boys had anything to do with it
though he does intend to question them about the murders. He does believe an
amulet found in Erik’s dead hand plays some role in the case.
Marjorie has a reputation, one that she
has tried hard to control and stifle, as being the smartest person around. She
can’t help using words that many in the area don’t know or understand. Her love
of books and knowledge has only increased the last several years as she has
built a career of freelance work of writing indexes and meeting deadlines. What
began as a source of extra income is now her sole escape from reality as well
as the primary source of income for the
family. Sheriff Jenkins wants Marjorie to figure out what the amulet means so
that he might figure out who killed Erik and Lida. It is his only real clue and
he wants her role in the case kept secret. She reluctantly agrees to help it is
the least she can do for the Knudsens – the living and the dead.
What follows is a very complex and
highly atmospheric mystery by award winning author Larry D. Sweazy. The North
Dakota landscape is a constant character presence in this novel that blends
history and lore, a mystery full of twists and turns, and the role of family
(by birth and other means) into a read that quickly pulls the reader into a
different time and place far from home. Recently published by Seventh Street
Books, See Also Murder: A Marjorie Trumaine Mystery is a highly
addictive read that will keep you reading far past your bedtime. It is very
much well worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3RF8CiV
Material supplied for my use by the good
people of the Plano Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015, 2018, 2026
Thursday, May 14, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
Criminal Minds: Old Dog, New Tricks from James W. Ziskin
Thursday Treats: 5/14/2026
The latest reading opportunities…
Fellow SMFS list member Gerald Elias announced on
the list that his short story collection, Murder on Vacation, is
about to be released by White City Press. Releasing in a
variety of formats, the book contains sixteen crime fiction tales billed as Stories
from the Case Files of Maury Gross, NYPD (Ret.). You can get a copy at
the White City Press
store.
Last October, author Jeannette de Beauvoir was here on the blog to share some background on her book, The Everest Enigma: An Abbie Bradford Mystery. At the time, I set up an Amazon alert on her so that I would get updated regarding her books. I got an alert last week that her latest book, Trafficking In Murder: A Sydney Riley Provincetown Mystery was now out. Published by Becket Books, this 11th book in the Sydney Riley Series, is available in eBook format at Amazon as is the entire series.
An Amazon
alert was also how I found out that O'Neil De Noux also had a new book out this month. Ain't That New
Orleans is now out. This 11th book in the LaStanza New Orleans Police Series is available in eBook
and print formats at Amazon and other vendors.
This week
saw the publication of The Emperor's Palace (The Turner and Mosley Files
by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin. Released by
Severn River Publishing, this is the fifth book in The Turner and Mosley
Files series, and is available in a variety of formats at Amazon and elsewhere. I am way behind in my
reading of this very enjoyable action adventure series.
The latest issue of Black Cat Weekly
also came out. Black Cat Weekly #245 includes short stories by SMFS list
members Teel James Glenn (That’s Shoe
Biz) and Anna Scotti (Man or Bear)
among others. Also in this issue is a novella and a novel. You can pick up the
latest issue of this weekly, multi genre, magazine here.
The latest roundup of publishing news of
members was compiled and posted by SMFS President Joseph S. Walker. Among other
items covered in the post
on the SMFS Blog was the news that the latest issue of Dark Yonder is
now out. Per Mr. Walker, fellow SMFS list members Mark Coggins, Christina
Hoag. Veronica Leigh, and Steve Liskow, all have short stories in the issue.
Yet another deal that I am way behind in reading.
Finally, author and editor Michael Bracken sends word that
Michele Slung (first reader for Otto Penzler) is asking printed copies of
original (i.e., first published in 2026, from January 1st to December 31st)
stories to be mailed —- in paper form only, including all relevant publication
info —- to:
Otto Penzler
BEST MYSTERY STORIES 2026
58 Warren Street
New York NY 10007
[Please understand that such material
arriving in a variety of formats simply is too difficult to deal with.]
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Personal Note: Thank you to those who saw my plea and donated. Much appreciated. I am not sure what the future holds for us as Scott is still home. Today marks one month without work. What was supposed to be just a few days maybe a week has gone on far longer. He is still looking for a job. But, AI has really done a number on the job market in the last two to three months. Things do not look good at all.
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