Thursday, October 28, 2021
Criminal Minds: Speaking of Dialogue… by James W. Ziskin
Criminal Minds: Speaking of Dialogue… by James W. Ziskin: “Dialogue is often hard to do right,” he said. Give us your tips for writing killer dialogue. 1.) Don’t make dialogue “realistic.” Rather, m...
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder on the Boat Deck (1941) by Vanno
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Murder on the Boat Deck (1941) by Vanno: During the first years of Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, Bruna published two detective novels by an unknown, pseudonymous author, "...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian: Reviewed by Christy Mary Deerfield is a deeply unhappy woman. The twenty-four year old Puritan is the second wife to a seeming...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury: Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade are young boys, aged thirteen years old, and ready for some new experiences. Will is more cautious, Jim is ...
Guest Post: THE POWER OF A WRITING STREAK by Laura Ware
Please welcome Laura Ware to the blog today…
THE POWER OF A WRITING STREAK
Laura Ware
Over
the past few years, I struggled with the most basic part of being a writer –
sitting down and actually writing. It was a frustrating situation for me
because I wanted to write. It’s something I believed I might be good at
and knew I enjoyed.
For
a while, life kept getting in the way. I provided care for both my husband’s
parents over those years, which drained me in all kinds of ways. Six months
after my mother-in-law passed away, while I was still trying to figure things
out, the pandemic hit. Again, I was knocked for a loop.
On
June 29th, 2020, I found myself participating in a “writing week”
with some fellow wordsmiths. According to my records, I wrote 710 words that
day.
And
sometime during that day I asked myself, “What if I just did this every day?”
At
first, I felt apprehensive. I’d tried a streak before, and it eventually
petered out. How long could I go? And would it really make a difference this
time?
There
was only one way to find out.
I
cut myself some slack by not having a minimum word count at first. If I got
words on the page, it counted whether it was 10 or 1,000. One day in July I
only eked out sixty-eight words. But they were new words, so they counted.
What
did I write?
I
worked on a novel or two, not finishing them but making progress. I revisited
my love of short fiction and wrote short stories. I worked on my weekly column,
something I’d maintained for over 20 years.
And
I noticed I wasn’t stopping.
One
thing I discovered in this adventure is that a streak, when it gets long
enough, applies a kind of pressure on you. “You’ve written 100 days in a row,”
it whispers to you when you’re tired and just want to go to bed. “You don’t
want to quit now, do you?”
And I’d grumble and gripe but head to the laptop anyway. And I made words.
At the beginning of 2021, I decided
to up the ante. I participated in a program from a mentor of mine called The
Great Challenge. The challenge? To write a short story a week for 52 weeks in a
row.
I’d
written short stories in a week before. But could I maintain that? Over a year?
Was it possible to come up with fifty-two ideas in a year?
Again,
one way to find out. I took a deep breath and signed up.
The
short story challenge gave me words to write every day. Getting words done every
day helped me get the stories done, though there have been more than a few late
Sunday nights trying to meet the deadline.
As
I type this, I’ve written 477 days in a row. I’ve written when life was good,
and when my father passed away. I’ve written when the words flowed and when I
struggled to express myself. I’ve written during trips. Day after day I’ve
managed to get words in – these days at least five hundred before I quit for
the day.
And
I just turned in my 42nd short story for the challenge. Some of the
stories have come to me with no trouble. For some I’ve had to beg my muse to
give me something. But I’ve pulled it off forty-two times without a miss.
What
have I learned from this?
For
one thing, there is always time to write if I look for it. It may be as little
as 15 minutes, but it’s there. The pressure of the streak helps motivate me to
find that time and get those words typed.
I’ve
also learned I tend to write at night when it’s quiet in the house. Finding
your ideal time to write is a useful tool in getting words out every day. Nighttime
usually works for me, though I also want to train myself to write a little in
the morning to get things started. But writing every day tends to show a
pattern.
And
the words add up. My goal for 2021 was to write 200,000 words. I passed that
goal sometime in August or September. My current goal is to hit 300,000 and
based on my average word counts for the month I will probably pass that, too.
A
streak isn’t for everyone. But if you’re interested in trying it out, here are
some tips to get you started.
n Start small. If I
had begun by pledging to write 1,000 words every day, I would have bailed on
the streak within a week. Maybe you just want to write 10 minutes a day. Or you
want to do a page (about 250 words) 5 days a week. The trick is to find
something within reach and build on it as your streak grows.
n Make it a priority.
There will be all kinds of distractions to take you away from the page. Let
those around you know this is important to you. Guard that time the best way
you can.
n Build a team. A
team helps with tip #2 tremendously. Involve your family and friends. Let them
keep you accountable. And pick people who will cheer your success.
I’m fortunate in that my husband is totally behind me in this. Before he goes
to bed, he’ll ask if I’ve written yet, reminding me to get to the laptop. He
even helped me at a family gathering by informing them that we would return in
a couple of hours after I finished a story that was due. It helped that he backed
me up in that, and my family had no issues with it.
n Keep track. There
are all kinds of way to keep track of your progress. I use two that work for
me.
The first one is a spreadsheet designed by a fellow wordsmith that allows me to
track my word count daily. It has columns for words written and time spent and
calculates total words by month and year. It also lets me know my average daily
word count and time spent and is helpful in charting my progress.
I also have a paper calendar that is on the wall across from my laptop. For
every 250 words I write in a day, I get a foil star for that day. On days I
write several thousand words, I put a few stars and pen in how many others I’d
earned. It is cheering to see those squares fill up with stars day by day,
knowing they represent new words.
There will
probably come a time when my streak will end (my daily streak, that is. I’m
determined to write those last 10 short stories) despite my best efforts. Life happens, and something could come up
that totally derails me. I will be sad when it happens. Then, after a day to
have a pity party, I’ll start a new streak, hoping to beat the old one. And who
knows? Chances are I will.
Streaks can be a
powerful tool, and helpful to any writer trying to kickstart their production. If
you have questions about it, or just need someone to tell you that you can do
it, email me at laura@laurahware.com. And happy writing.
Laura Ware ©2021
Laura Ware’s column, “Laura’s Look,” appears weekly in the Highlands News-Sun and covers news items or ideas she can talk about for 600 words. She is the author of a number of short stories and several novels. Her short story collection Five Female Gumshoes recently came out. Her essay, “Touched by an Angel,” appeared in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Random Acts of Kindness. Laura lives in Central Florida. Check out her website and sign up for her newsletter at www.laurahware.com
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Cattle Kingdom, Boop and Eve's Road Road Trip, Perestroika in Paris, Denali
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Cattle Kingdom, Boop and Eve's Road Tr...: Reported by Garry This week’s Nevermore book club selections included stories about road trips, cattle drives, talking animals and more. C...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in November - no entry fees
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 35 Writing Contests in November - no entry fees: This November there are nearly three dozen contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and short plays. Prizes range from $...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: A USE FOR GENIUS by James F. Sullivan
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: A USE FOR GENIUS: "A Use for Genius" by James F. Sullivan (first published in The Strand Magazine #30, June 1893; included in his collection Quee...
Short Story Wednesday Review: The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods Editor Michael Bracken
The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From
The Panhandle To The Piney Woods opens with a very short introduction
by Editor Michael Bracken before moving on to the stories. First up is “Chasing
The Straight” by Trey R. Barker. Derrick Kruse is a bit different than most
private investigators and knows more than he would like about domestic violence
and abuse. His latest case involving Billie Vogan is a case that came to him
during the weekly poker game. Now that he knows about it, Derrick and the
voices in his head have a problem that must be fixed.
William
Dylan Powell takes readers to 1984 in Corpus Christi in his tale “The Haunted
Railcar.” Our private investigator has his own boat and is working on it when
Dell McClendon shows up. Not only does Dell arrive in full clown make up which
will set the dog off, as he knows, he really should have stopped walking up the
pier when told to stop. Sure, he would still have the problem that caused the
visit to the boat, but Dell McClendon would also still have his own nose fully
intact.
A murder is
rare in Robertson County. They have one this Thursday morning in November at
the Camp Hearne Historical Site. In “The Yellow Rose of Texas” by Josh Pachter,
the local High School English Teacher, Elsie Jordan, is dead and probably from
strangulation. Helmut Erhard, a private investigator, found the body while on
another matter. Finding the body made it very personal for him and he is not
about to just let the local law handle it.
Like her
father before her, Nicky Moran is a private investigator based in Fort Worth who
uses a special bar stool at the legendary Billy Bob’s as the office. “In
Cowtown” by Robert S. Levinson the client is one Mr. Jergens who likes to be
referred to as “Slim.” The client believes that somebody is out to murder him
and is very sure about the identity of the suspect. The suspect has one heck of
a motive and the local law is not moving on the case. Nicky does not come
cheap, the client is more than willing to pay and has the funds, and she is
soon on the case.
Houston is
the setting for “Harvey and the Redhead” by Debra H. Goldstein. In the
aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. It is not necessarily a good thing to be
carrying around the name of “Harvey.” Yet the detective is, and while pretty
much everything the detective owned has been destroyed, the bills still must be
paid. The latest client is Olive Twist, part of the legendary Twist Realty and Developments. A
family with money, contacts, and resources, she wants a painting returned to
her and wants it done discreetly for numerous reasons.
The former
Texas Ranger works now and then as a process server and/or private investigator
after more than thirty-two years as part of the legendary local law enforcement
agency, Texas Rangers. Huck Spence is just trying to stave off boredom in “See
Humble And Die” by Richard Helms. His latest case is to find “Ralph Oakley” and
it should be easy enough to find him.
Sitting surveillance
on a place deep in the night gets boring as one fights to stay awake and focus
on the matter at hand. Such is the situation for the private detective in “No
One Owns The Blues” by Scott Montgomery. The years have passed, and a lot has
happened, but Sharon Turner, still has a hold over him. A singer and a good
one, she has a complicated relationship with her current financial backer. She
wants him checked out in this tale set in Austin.
Colt Colton
just got hired to trace the history of some cars recovered from the Houston
area in the aftermath of the Hurricane. He’s from Gary, Indiana originally. But,
eight years in the Dallas PD working in the Auto Theft Division means he is very
good at tracing cars and finding owners. Tracking down Porter Shackleton of PS Services
in Hempstead should be easy enough though the recovery company has tried the
easy way in “Shaft on Wheels” by Mark Troy.
Michael
Boone sees her long before she makes it to his office. The lady has a problem
and needs a private detective in “Triangles” by John M. Floyd. She separated
from her husband awhile back. More recently, she used her house key and went
into the house to take an item that her husband is very serious about getting
back. Since the item in question may have been acquired by her husband in the
less than stellar fashion, the police are not an option. This remains true even
though she believes her husband is trying to not only get the item back, but
have her killed for what she did.
It is back
to Austin as a setting in “Purple And Blue” by Stephen D. Rodgers. Our narrator
is sitting surveillance on a certain car owned by Gregory and the client. Based
on some evidence, apparently somebody else believes the car is owned by
somebody named “Cynthia.” This misplaced identity has led to a serial tire
killing spree by party or parties unknown and Gregory needs it stopped now.
Houston and
the immediate area is the setting of several stories in the anthology.
Hurricanes by name and not serve as a backdrop to several stories in one way or
another. Such is the case with “Lucy’s Tree” by Sandra Murphy. Hurricane Harvey
is unloading on the area and reminding our narrator of another powerful storm
and his late wife. In the here and now, neighbors need help and, in so doing, a
long ago murder is finally solved.
Unless you
are an attorney licensed to practice in the great state of Texas, or a police
officer, it is best to avoid and all visits to the jail. In “Unwritten Rules”
by Chuck Brownman, private investigator Rafe McAlister is at the jail because it
is hi job to be there as he is an investigator for an attorney by the name of
Bobby Williamson. Their latest client is Tommy Nguyen who is in jail on a
murder charge in the death of Vic Mallory. Racism, the history of the war
between Texas and Vietnamese shrimpers, and more are at work in this tale.
Andy
Wilkins came to Jefferson, Texas, in search of one specific person. In “Blackbirds”
by Graham Powell, his search for Jack Lynch brings the attention of the local
police chief and quite a few other folks. Not all of that attention is of a
positive nature, but Andy Wilkins drove all the way in from Fort Worth and he has
a job to do.
Riley is in
the flood waters and pounding storm of Hurricane Harvey by way of a small
aluminum fishing boat. She sits in the bow with Donald at the tiller as they
navigate flood streets and drowned wreckage in the hunt Carl Vincent Farlow.
Known to the locals as a storm chaser, she believes him to be a serial killer.
A serial killer who uses severe weather events as a cover for his killing spree
over the last twenty five years. In “Weathering The Storm” by Michal Pool,
there are victims to be saved and a killer to be found and stopped.
The weather
is quite a bit dryer in “Trip Among The Blue Bonnets” by James A. Hearn. Trip
is at a certain diner south of Lampasas looking for the spouse of his niece,
Tammy. Everybody in the family hated the guy and that was before Tammy, his
niece, got worried he was cheating on her. Now that he found him a very long
way from home, Trip must figure out exactly what is going on with him as well
as a couple of other things.
West Texas,
specifically the town of Odessa, is the setting for “West Texas Barbecue” by
Michael Chandos. Every town has their own homegrown mobster type and Mr. Oxnum
is the one for Odessa. His wife took cash and some important papers out of his
safe before she run off a couple nights ago. Mr. Oxnum, who prefers to go by
“Mr. Ox” is only really interested in the papers. He wants them back and wants
them back now. He has a very good idea where Mr. Taylor can go to find her and
get them.
Ms. Amanda
Treviño needs the help of private investigator Benjamin Kane in “The Patience Of
Kane” by Bev Vincent. She is far along in her pregnancy and would like to know
the real reason her husband, father to their child, died in a recent car
accident. The crash report blames driver inattention and she believes that to
be nonsense. She also does not understand why he would have been driving where
the car crash happened. She wants to know what did really happen and is not
worried as to what he will find as she has faith in her husband and knows he
wasn’t running around up to no good when he died.
Short biographies
and several ads for other books by Down & Out Books bring the read to a
close.
Edited by
Michael Bracken, The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes
From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods is a very entertaining
mystery anthology. All the stories here are
on point and very good. Unlike many anthologies that have a bit of a
rollercoaster effect due to the inclusion of some weaker stories, here there is
not a weak tale in the bunch. Settings are varied, cases are always complex,
and the authors in the anthology skillfully weave interesting tales. The
Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes From The Panhandle To The Piney Woods is a
mighty good read.
My reading
copy came as an autographed gift by way of many of the involved authors who presented
it to me at Bouchercon 2019 in Dallas. I was stunned to be gifted the book and
am very appreciative of the authors who did this for me.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2020, 2021
Tuesday, October 26, 2021
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix: Reviewed by Christy Grady Hendrix is one of the few authors whose every release I eagerly anticipate (along with Megan Abbott and Gillian...
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Fangs by Sarah Andersen
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Fangs by Sarah Andersen: Reviewed by Ambrea Elsie is three hundred years old, but, throughout her centuries of undeath, she’s never met her match. And t...
Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Thirteenth Tale: Diane Setterfield
Bitter Tea and Mystery: The Thirteenth Tale: Diane Setterfield: Vida Winter is an author who has had much success in her writing. She has also always concealed the truth about her past–her birth, her chil...
Jungle Red Writers: What Scares Writers--Tara Laskowski
Jungle Red Writers: What ScaresWriters--Tara Laskowski: DEBORAH CROMBIE : It's such a treat to have Tara Laskowski here on JRW today! Her debut suspense novel One Night Gone won nearly every ...
Review: UTube: Inspector Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy by Rozlan Mohd Noor
UTube: Inspector
Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy by Rozlan Mohd Noor is the third
read in the police procedural series based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Inspector
Mislan and Detective Sergeant Johan are brought into an ongoing case when a friend
of a sexual assault victim dies.
That is the second
attack in a case that starts when Era Amilia was sexually assaulted. The attack
was video recorded and shared on the internet via UTUBE. Hours later, she died
after a fall the balcony of her ninth-floor apartment at the condo tower. Was
she pushed or did she jump? While The
sexual child abuse investigation division intended to handle that case by
themselves as it was tied into the rape case, when a second rape attack results
in an obvious murder of a friend of the victim, Special Investigations is brought
in and that means Inspector Mislan and Detective Sergeant Johan.
That means the
independent take charge MIslan is forced to work with Inspector Sherry and her
squad. Not only does he have to work with her, the powers that be have decreed
he has to take orders from her. Mislan’s reputation is known to all and with
the intense media focus and political factors, he is not going to be in charge.
Inspector Sherry She is very much by the book and Mislan isn’t. She also is not
going to jeopardize her career by letting Mislan have his usual free reign.
With pressure
mounting and additional attacks and recordings being posted online, the chase
is on to stop at least two, if not more, rapists who believe they are
correcting wayward behavior. Things are very complicated and the case has many
angles to pursue as the officers involved try to find a way to work together.
This is the third
in the series that began with 21
Immortals: Inspector Mislan and the Yee Sang Murders and DUKE: Inspector Mislan and The
Expressway Murders.
Personal details of the lives of Inspector Mislan and several others away from
the job continue here in various established secondary storylines. Therefore, it
is best to read these books in order as previous case are mentioned along with
continuing secondary storylines.
As always in
this series, things are very complicated. UTube: Inspector Mislan and the
Emancipatist Conspiracy is one of those books there is hard to explain
in greater detail without ruining the read. Suffice it to say, these police
procedurals are complicated and solidly good reads with interesting cases and
plenty of detail on sights and sounds that the reader feels like they are there
working the case and eating the food. As in earlier books, there is a lot of
mention of food so be prepared.
UTube: Inspector
Mislan and the Emancipatist Conspiracy
Rozlan Mohd Noor
Arcade CrimeWise
July 2021
ISBN# 978-1950691425
Hardback (also
available in eBook format)
336 Pages
My copy came via
the Martin Luther King JR Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple
©2021
Monday, October 25, 2021
Beneath the Stains of Time: Polaris (2004) by Jack McDevitt
Beneath the Stains of Time: Polaris (2004) by Jack McDevitt: Several months ago, I probed A Talent for War (1989) by Jack McDevitt, an American science-fiction author, who specialized in futuristic ar...
SleuthSayers: Here and Now by Steve Liskow
SleuthSayers: Here and Now: by Steve Liskow A few weeks ago, I gave a short story one last read-through before submitting it, and I found myself wondering, "Would ...
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 17 Noteworthy Writing Conferences in November 2021
Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 17 Noteworthy Writing Conferences in November 2021: This November there are more than a dozen noteworthy writing conferences. You can attend workshops, presentations, readings, discussions, le...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: House Justice by Mike Lawson
Mike Lawson spent most of his career working on
nuclear submarines and ships for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Northwest. When he
retired, he decided to write about what he knew, which was the U.S. Government.
He created Joe
DeMarco, a lawyer and trouble-shooter for the Speaker of the House, as Counsel
Pro Tem for Liaison Affairs, based in Washington, DC. DeMarco has appeared in
15 political thrillers since 2005. Five different titles in the series have
been shortlisted for the Barry Award and a sixth for the Edgar.
In the fifth book about the political fixer, House Justice
(Grove/Atlantic Press, 2010), DeMarco’s at the top of his game, looking for the
person who leaked a story that caused the savage death of a valuable spy in
Tehran. The journalist who scooped the story refuses to cite her source and
she’s imprisoned for contempt of court. From her jail cell, where she’s
planning the book based on her experience and the subsequent television
appearances, she appeals to DeMarco’s hard-drinking boss Speaker of the House
John Mahoney. Either he gets her out of jail or she blows the whistle on their
affair of 20 years before. The CIA is also hot on the trail of the informant,
as well as someone else who keeps tagging behind DeMarco, waiting for him to
find the spiller of the beans.
A fast-moving story that does not lag despite its length. Significant
insider detail gives the story a ripped from the headlines of the Washington
Post feel. The conflict between the two agency directors protecting their
respective territories is most realistic. A slick kidnapping performed by
Russian thugs and an even better escape from a moving car on a mountain road.
The characters are terrific. Mahoney is an underhanded and womanizing politician
who slips out of his office on Capitol Hill to watch the nearby elementary
school baseball games and serve as umpire when one is needed. DeMarco tends to stand
back and watch the circus antics of those around him while he focuses on the job
and ties up loose ends.
Most fans of political thrillers have already discovered Lawson so I am
recommending this title for anyone in need of some good contemporary escapism.
Starred review from Booklist.
·
Hardcover: 388 pages
·
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic Monthly Press; First Edition (June 1, 2010)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 0802119379
·
ISBN-13:
9780802119377
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2021
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works
on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Do Some Damage: What’s It Like Co-Authoring a Book? by Scott D. Parker
Do Some Damage: What’s It Like Co-Authoring a Book?: By Scott D. Parker A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to my cousin and he asked about any upcoming books I’ve written. I mentioned “...
Before You Ask About A Review
Before you query…. you need
to understand a few things. First and foremost, I am buried in more books—print
and eBook—than I could read in a couple of lifetimes. I have books going back
more than a decade and I am much slower now in the wake of events the last four
years. I am also, after a long hiatus caused by those same events and my grief,
trying to find my way back to my own writing and editing work as it is
paramount for me to somehow develop some income streams to at least slow down
the dwindling of my financial resources. A fast turnaround will never happen
here, so if you think I am the key to your marketing plan, you best look
elsewhere.
Second, query preference is
given to authors I have read and enjoyed before. That is not to say I won’t
look at somebody new if I am interested. It is to say that it will take a bit
more effort to convince me to take a look if you are new to me.
Coupled with that fact is the
fact that I do research on new to me authors. If you are one of those folks who
publicly states that reviews do not matter and that you do not read reviews, do
not ask me to spend my valuable time reading and reviewing your work. If you
are one of those people who espouse the nonsensical idea that a review can be
short and can consist of the “I liked it… Best Book Ever” garbage, do not waste
my time or yours in reaching out. You do not want a review. You want a rubber
stamp of approval.
Third, have an idea as to what I read and review. I will not read a horror novel nor will I read something billed as a “medical thriller.” I will absolutely not read your book, fact or fiction, that deals with some idea that Big Pharma is hiding the cure for cancer. I rarely read science fiction/fantasy. I mainly read mystery in all its many flavors as well as crime fiction and noir.
While this policy applies to my review work, it also applies to what projects I will take on editing wise. If you are interested in reaching out, I am at kevinrtipple AT Verizon.net.
Before you query, author or publicist, have some
idea of what I read. Those interested in discussing editing
and other writing projects can contact me at kevinrtipple at verizon.net
Sample Sunday: Excerpt: The Thanksgiving Ragamuffin by Kathleen Marple Kalb
“The Thanksgiving Ragamuffin” starts with the 19th century tradition of New York City children begging for treats on Thanksgiving morning. The first children to knock at opera star Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy Hurley’s Washington Square home are schoolkids playing poor. Then comes the second group:
“Anything for
Thanksgiving?”
These voices were
a bit rougher, and so were the kids. Newsboys, unless I missed my guess. Their
faces were thinner, and the grime was real. And the worn clothes weren’t
hand-me-downs roughed up for the occasion. They were all they had.
Some newsboys came
from poor families, “doing their part in the house,” the way I’d once done with
piecework, and Tommy had with odd jobs in the old neighborhood. Others had no
one. The boys all knew the stories, but they’d never tell them to us. Over time
and hot cocoa in the Holy Innocents rectory, Father Michael would find out and
help where he could.
I didn’t feel the
least bit guilty sending these fellows on their way with two pieces of penuche
each instead of one. Honestly, I’d have given them the whole batch if they
could have carried it.
“Did you recognize
any of them?” I asked Tommy as I closed the door.
He shrugged. “I’ve
seen a couple of them around Holy Innocents. The little one, with the dark hair
and eyes, he’s new.”
Tommy’s gaze lingered
on my face. He knew what I was thinking. The world saw opera diva Ella Shane,
internationally acclaimed, or at least paid in several different currencies,
for my performances in “trouser roles,” heroic men’s parts played by women. But
inside was Ellen O’Shaughnessy, Irish-Jewish orphan made good, with more than a
few scars from my childhood. Tommy knew better than most; we’d been looking out
for each other since my mother died and his family took me in. Just eight, sad
and scared, I’d attached myself to twelve-year-old Toms, even helping him fight
the bullies who called him a “sissy.”
“I’m fine, Toms.”
I took the basket from him and put it back on the small table by the door.
“C’mon. Mrs. G left us some penuche.”
“That’s an
excellent idea, Heller.” He rarely called me by anything but the nickname I’d
earned during our street-fighting years, before he grew half a foot and became
the star of his boxing gym, and I found my mentor and voice teacher Madame
Lentini.
We had just turned
for the stairs when the shouting came from the street.
“He’s dead! He’s
dead and that rotten little newsboy killed him!”
“Let go of me,
lady! I didn’t do anything!”
Tommy and I
stepped outside to see the small dark-haired boy struggling with a sturdy
woman, apparently next to the body of the victim. From across the street on a
cloudy morning, though, the remains looked like nothing but an indistinct
rounded shape lying near the entrance to Washington Square Park.
“I didn’t hurt
anyone! Let me go!”
The child let out
a shockingly loud howl, his face contorted with fear.
Even the
officious, overdressed woman who’d accosted him looked stunned, dropping his
collar and backing off in confusion.
I didn’t think
about it. I just walked over to the little fellow and put a hand on his shoulder.
He looked up at me with tear-filled, bottomless dark eyes.
“Come here,
sweetheart. You’re safe now.” I pulled him to me, and he burrowed into my arms
as my friends’ children sometimes will. As I rubbed his back, I noticed that
his clothes, while grubby, were of good quality and relatively new. Maybe one
of the luckier ones. “Call Father Michael, Toms.”
“And Cousin Andrew
the detective, too, I think,” Tommy added. Andrew Riley is actually Father
Michael’s cousin, not ours, but everyone calls him that, and there was no doubt
that we – and that poor boy – would need a friendly police detective.
“The
Thanksgiving Ragamuffin” is just one of the many stories by the members of the
NY/TriState Chapter of Sisters in Crime in the new anthology JUSTICE FOR ALL:
MURDER NEW YORK STYLE 5, edited by D.M. Barr and Joseph R.G. DeMarco.
Kathleen
Marple Kalb ©2021
Kathleen Marple Kalb is the author of the
Ella Shane historical mystery series for Kensington Books, and as Nikki Knight,
the author of LIVE, LOCAL, AND DEAD, coming February 8, 2022 from Crooked
Lane. She’s a weekend radio anchor in
New York City and a weekday mom in suburban Connecticut.
Saturday, October 23, 2021
KRL This Week Update for 10/23/2021
Up in KRL this morning a review and giveaway of "Daughter of the Morning Star" the latest Longmire book by Craig Johnson https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/daughter-of-the-morning-star-by-craig-johnson/
Just in time for your Halloween reading, mystery author Mary Kennedy shares about 3 mystery series that include ghost sleuths. They are written by Carolyn Hart, Cleo Coyle and Gayle Leeson https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/why-we-love-ghostly-sleuths/
We also have a review and giveaway of "Double Chocolate Cookie Murder" by Devon Delaney along with a fun interview with Devon https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/double-chocolate-cookie-murder-by-devon-delaney/
And a Halloween mystery short story by Elena E Smith https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/who-is-itt-a-halloween-mystery-short-story/
And the latest Queer Mystery Coming Attractions by Matt Lubbers-Moore https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/queer-mystery-coming-attractions-november-2021/
For those who prefer to listen to Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast directly on KRL, you can find the player here for the latest one that features the first chapter of "Murder in the Mystery Suite" by Ellery Adams read by local actor Ariel Linn https://kingsriverlife.com/10/23/new-mysteryrats-maze-ellery-adams/
During the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Clea Simon about her new book "Hold Me Down", you can also enter to win a copy of the book https://kingsriverlife.com/10/20/the-song-remains-the-same/
We also posted another Halloween mystery short story, this one by author Pamela Ebel https://kingsriverlife.com/10/20/the-hound-of-bakersfield-halloween-mystery-short-story/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and giveaway of "Stitch, Bake, Die!" by Lois Winston https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/stitch-bake-die-by-lois-winston.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of another Halloween mystery, "Ghosts, Private Eyes, and Dead Guys" by Jennifer Fischetto, published by Gemma Halliday Publishing https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/ghosts-private-eyes-dead-guys-by.html
And a review and ebook giveaway of another Halloween mystery, "Death by Chance" by Abigail Keam https://www.krlnews.com/2021/10/death-by-chance-by-abigail-keam.html
Happy reading and Happy Halloween,
Lorie
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