Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Short Story News: Kathleen Marple Kalb

The Thanksgiving Ragamuffin (mystery)


Kathleen Marple Kalb


On Thanksgiving Day, 1899, opera star Ella Shane and her cousin Tommy Hurley help a poor newsboy who is wrongly accused of a crime because of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic prejudice, and end up solving a second case as well.


The theme of this year’s NY/TriState Sisters in Crime anthology is social justice. In the Ella Shane books, nativist, religious, and class prejudice are key issues, so when I found out about the tradition of New York City’s “Thanksgiving Ragamuffins” begging for treats on the holiday, it was the perfect start for a short story.

 

  

Kathleen Marple Kalb also contributed this recent post about writing short stories during the pandemic.

2 comments:

D.M. Barr said...

This is a terrific story and a great peek into Kathleen's other novels.

Kathleen Marple Kalb said...

Thank you so much! It's a true honor to be included in this amazing anthology.