After a brief introduction to the anthology written
by Pete Hautman, The Minnesota Crime Wave Presents: Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem and
Malice from the land of Minnesota Nice opens with “This Old House” by
Marilyn Victor. Esther spends her days in a nursing home while Justine spends
her days deep in bitterness. When she visits Esther in the home their meetings
are of the past, family secrets, and debts to be paid in this mystery where
sibling rivalry follows to the grave.
“The Dark Under the Bed” by Richard A. Thompson
tells the ultimately harrowing tale of a patient at VA Hospital trying to
survive. Odysseus G. Boosalis, known as
“Oddie” to all, is firmly convinced, for good reason, that sleeping under the
bed is the only way to prevent them from making him disappear during the
night. Something that has happened to
others and it has to be stopped.
As everyone should intuitively know, it is a bad
thing when the getaway car won’t start. Sappo and Dwayne figure that out pretty
fast in “Desperados” by Michael Allan Mallory. Getting away on foot with the
money is going to be way harder than either one ever thought.
Being allergic to certain things means eating
something can kill you in a manner of minutes. It does in “Death by Potato
Salad” by Jess Lourey. How it happens is just a small part of this entertaining
tale featuring Mrs. Berns, a church related weekend retreat, and her quest for
some male companionship.
Poetry makes an appearance by way of two poems by
Mary Logue. “Murder” considers the reverberations for survivors of murder while
“Crossing” talks about writing and the ultimate journey we all face.
It took the creep fifteen years to come up with his
extortion plot for past misdeeds. Now Margo and Jan have hatched a plan to deal
with the problem in “An Age Old Solution” by Lori L. Lake. Both of them properly acting old is just one
of the problems they will face in this tale.
William Kent Krueger comes next with his dark and compelling
tale “Woman in Ice”. Otto Krakauer did the only thing he could think of when he
found the woman encased in ice. He drug with his mule the block of ice
containing the woman to the village. He went right through and didn’t stop
until he got to the church. Fortunately, the priest has ideas on what to do as
well as how to take care of his people.
”A Turn of
the Card” by David Housewright features Mr. G. and his quest for truth. He
isn’t happy that others, including his wife, think he is having an affair. He
isn’t and having one is the last thing on his mind. But, they can’t know the
truth as what he is doing could easily get him killed.
Maren Nielsen is convinced her sister’s ex-husband
had a role in her sudden death. Harper
is dead and Marin plans to prove he did it in “Overstuffed” by Ellen Hart. Even
from beyond the grave Harper is still there for her.
The play is the thing in “The Butler Didn’t” by
Elizabeth Gunn. The butler, or more correctly, the guy playing the role of the butler
in the play “The Importance of Being Earnest” is dead and he certainly didn’t
commit suicide. That makes everyone in the small production company a suspect
where, because they are actors and actresses, being convincingly deceitful is
an art form.
Howard T. Crandall is very particular and obsessed
with routines in all aspects of his life. The fact that his sub shop is out of
honey oat rolls on a Friday is just one sign things are going badly in “Iced”
by Lois Greiman. Another one is that his boss wants to see him after lunch.
Adeline fears the dreaded mother-in-law visit in “Minnesota
Iced” by Pat Dennis. It isn’t just a simple visit. Apparently four time divorcee
Dorothy Nordskov wants to move in for the winter months. Not just the rest of
this winter, but for all winters to come. Something has to be done.
Finally a personal character favorite of mine, Sean
No-Middle-Initial Sean, the diminutive detective makes an appearance. In “The
Horse He Rode In On” by Carl Brookins the detective investigates the death of
Mr. Tom Springfield. The councilmember rode out alone only to ride back in hours
later dead and on a different horse.
Kate and Anna were friends since kindergarten when
Kate rescued Anna from a bully. The years have passed in “Stone Arch Bridge” by
Judith Yates Borger and now Kate has to rescue her again. One way or another
she intends to do because Anna clearly needs help.
The disturbing “Blue-Eyed Mary” by Joel Arnold
concludes the anthology. A long ago pregnancy, an adopted baby, and other family
secrets are just some of the elements in this twisting and good tale.
Featuring 14 stories and two poems the fifteen
authors here all work with the concept of Minnesota residents seen as being
nice in a variety of ways. While the tales are nicely done the actions of the
characters involved are rarely nice. Humor and romance are also often in short
supply in this book where getting even or solving an ongoing potential problem
is the order of the day.
As many characters in these stories find out, they are
not the only one planning deceit and treachery. Agendas and motives abound in The
Minnesota Crime Wave Presents: Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Malice from
the land of Minnesota Nice resulting in very good short story reading
with often dark overtones.
The
Minnesota Crime Wave Presents: Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Malice from
the land of Minnesota Nice
Minnesota
Crime Wave
Nodin
Press
October
2012
ISBN#
978-1-935666-43-1
Paperback
176
Pages
$16.00
Material
supplied by author Carl Brookins in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin
R. Tipple ©2013
Posts
4 comments:
Well, what an interesting bunch of stories! Great variety. Thanks for the review because otherwise I'd never have known a thing about this (not being from USA).
Glad to do it, Vonnie. And Thank you!
Very imaginative stories! I love it when real life gets juxtaposed into fiction.
Morgan Mandel
http://www.morganmandel.com
They are and they are good too.
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