Review: Jack Hardway's Crime Magazine: Volume 1 Issue 1

The first issue of Jack Hardway’s Crime Magazine is an intriguing mix of short stories, music, a video, and a novel. The novel is Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliot Chase. I previously reviewed Jack’s version and highly recommend it if you have not read it.

The audio recording is the 1945 broadcast of Sorry, Wrong Number as produced by Suspense! The video is of The Big Combo. Unfortunately, my internet connection is a very shaky these days due to a number of factors including incompetent painters who cannot paint worth a damn, but can very easily damage the outside wiring of our apartment building. Therefore, I was not able to pursue either item.

My main interest was the six crime short stories.  Those I was able to access well enough at various times to eventually read them all.

Kaye George kicks things off with “Elk Island.” Adele, married mother of twins, considers herself discerning while her friends think of her as picky. While it can take her many months to make a decision as she compares things, her husband Jem can quickly make a decision. Letting her husband pick their vacation spot may have backfired for her as he wants to go hike Rockies in Grand Teton National Park.

Devlin used to work with Elliot Ness and there was action all the time. Sitting and watching two very boring crooks is not how he would handle things. But, as his partner Billings has pointed out before, watching is all the chief wanted them to do in “The Room Across The Street” by Jack Bates. Manchester, New Hampshire is the location where Lonny Evans and Eileen Washburn holed up. You just know something will soon end the agent’s boredom.

Nick Sweeney takes readers to Warsaw, Poland for his short story titled, “Man Seeks Dog.” While others in the city are looking for a missing medallion linked to Pope John Paul II, Teodor Krol just wants his beloved dog back. His history makes him a suspect ion many things and those who talk to him don’t believe his story about being retired and just looking for his missing dog.

Like the agents in “The Room Across The Street” Molly Sullivan is on a stakeout.  In her case, not only is she an amateur sleuth she is also all alone in “Nifty Shades of Gray” by John H. Dromey. Her surveillance target is a certain average looking woman known to steal credit cards, empty bank accounts, and more.

Despite issues at home, when a client calls and has a serious problem you have to go deal with it. Alyssa’s problem is that she has a stalker in “They Stalk Because They Can” by Stephen D. Rogers.

It begins with a murder confession in the final story titled “Handful of Stars’ by Jack Hardway. Chris just wanted to check his tomato plants on the roof of the apartment building before he went to work. Now some guy by the name of Deglin wants to tell him about how he killed his wife as well as a few other things.

This debut issue of new market is a good one featuring a very nice mix of works in a variety of formats featuring crime and mystery of many different flavors. Issue One covering November and December 2014 is good stuff. The next edition is scheduled to go live on January 1, 2015. One hopes Jack Hardway’s Crime Magazine will stick around as this first one was very good and well worth it.

Obligatory FTC Disclaimer:

Jack put his first issue up and I read it because of my interest as a reader and a writer as well as for the purposes of this review. At this time I have no work under consideration by him for a future edition. That could change if I can stick to my plan of getting back to focusing on my own work first and book reviews second.
 

The information above is designed to comply with the nonsensical mandatory FTC reporting requirement aimed at us dangerous book reviewers as well as to appease meth heads, soccer Moms, and our coming simian overlords.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014