Murder On Wheels: Eleven Tales Of
Crime On The Move features short stories where various
wheeled modes of transportation past and present serve as a key part of each
tale. The tales come from six authors known as the “Austin Mystery Writers” as
well as two award winning authors outside the group, Earl Staggs and Reavis Z. Wortham.
Edited by Ramona DeFelice Long, the short stories that follow a brief
introduction by Kaye George feature a lot of variety in style and complexity.
The stranger in town has quite the
effect on people. While the men see him as trouble, that same quality is a
serious attraction for the fairer sex. That is especially for Rosemary, a fifteen
year old looking for a way out of her small town life. Whether or not Campbell
Reed is the answer to her dreams is the question in “A Nice Set Of Wheels” by
Kathy Waller.
Running moonshine has gone on for
decades in the bottom lands of northeast Texas. In “Family Business” by Reavis
Z. Wortham illegal liquor has paid the bills as well as caused a lot of
problems and heartache. It is the business of the Caissen family and comes with
a cost.
Fourteen year old stowaway Tim Brooks
thought he would hide on the merchant ship until it arrived in port in
Charleston. He picked the vessel Rota
Fortunae to hide aboard and that was a serious mistake in this tale of the
same name by V. P. Chandler. There is a secret in her hold and one that can’t
be explained easily. Out of all the tales in the book this one of adventure, and
the mystical was my personal favorite.
It is just after World War II in
Hollywood as “Mome Rath, My Sweet” by Gale Albright begins. Private Investigator
Grimm has a major problem as Joey Dormouse is dead and Grimm is being
blamed. He should have known the woman billing herself as “Miss Wonderland”
who claimed she wanted nothing more than her sister found would be nothing but
trouble. After all, Mome Rath is the biggest gangster on the west coast and
more famous in all the wrong ways than Al Capone.
The route from Knoxville to D. C. is
usually simple enough. The bus is one of those jumbo buses that have two
levels. People take the ride, look at the scenery, and have fun. A difficult
passenger can change things in “The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round” by Kaye
George.
As the rest of the family has
repeatedly pointed out, Mary should have never married her Italian husband, Marco.
Her family is Irish and there are cultural issues. Then there is his behavior
and his insistence on joining the family business in “Buon Viaggio” by Laura Oles.
Faye and her husband, Fred, are at
opposite sides in their marriage. He loves riding his bicycles and is all about
fitness. He now even wants to go vegan. Faye understands they have grown older
and would prefer they stay home together and be cool and comfortable in their
house. In “Aporkalypse Now” by Gale Albright the situation is definitely not a
bicycle built for two.
Family stress also takes a major
role in “Have A Nice Trip” also by Kaye George. Prissy has a difficult, to say
the least, mother-in-law named Abigail. While Prissy’s husband, Trey, is aware
and agrees they should go on their long delayed honey moon, one wonders if he
truly understands Prissy’s needs.
There is an old adage about how one
should write what one knows. Earl Staggs knows all about driving school buses.
One hopes he does not truly know about dead men on school buses. In his story
“Dead Man On A School Bus” being Police Chief in the suburb of Southlake was
supposed to an easy gig after thirty years of hard work on the police force
over in Fort Worth. The chief has seen a lot of dead bodies, but the one found
early this morning on a school bus is a new experience.
It is not a good thing when one
walks into the kitchen and finds elderly Mom stirring in ground glass in the
lemon meringue pie filling. Something has to be done to make sure Mom does not
get thrown into prison in “Hell On Wheels” by Kathy Walker. The family has to
have a plan and that means they have to work together.
Billy Ray Bryant always has one
thing going wrong or another and needs a favor from Red Clark. Such is the case
in “Red’s White F-150 Blues” by Scott Montgomery. Billy needs to hide his truck
in Red’s garage to keep it away from the local repo man, Jerry Coonts. Red has
been married long enough to know that the coming argument with his wife Britney
over hiding the truck will be shorter if the dead is already done before she
gets home.
A two page biography of each author
brings the book to a close.
Slipping back and forth in time and
set in various locations in Texas and elsewhere the eleven tales in this book
are all good ones. Some are more adventure orientated than straight mystery and
at least a couple are very noir like in their situations. Murder On Wheels: Eleven Tales Of
Crime On The Move is a solidly good anthology from eight talented
authors and one that is well worth your time.
Murder On Wheels: Eleven Tales Of Crime On The Move
Editor Ramona DeFelice Long
Wildside Press LLC
April 2015
ISBN# 978-1-4794-0554-1
Paperback (also available in eBook
format)
152 Pages
$12.99
Material supplied by the publisher
some time ago in exchange for my objective review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2016
Posts
5 comments:
Thanks for posting this great review. I was thrilled to be invited by the Austin Mystery Writers to submit a story for this anthology. All the stories are great and it's an honor to have one of mine included.
Thanks for the great review. It was a pleasure to be part of the great adventure of putting Murder on Wheels together.
As the others have said, thanks for the good review! Glad you liked it.
As the others have said, thanks for the good review! Glad you liked it.
Excellent review. Thank you for recognizing Murder on Wheels.
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