Short Story Wednesday Review: Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10

After a brief introduction by editor Michael Bracken, Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10 opens with “The Last Gasp” by H.K. Slade. With the department short staffed and three gang related shootings that morning, Senior Detective Ambrose Broyhill is out in the heat at a murder scene that hardly has any police presence. Once officer, who looks to be the same age as his young grandson, is out on the street and a second officer is the house with the suspect and the dead body. The officer inside is Friday Hampton, daughter of the department legend, Tony Hampton. She’s young, smart, and has a gut feeling that the Broyhill believes is important. She just has not put all the clues together yet.

 

“Spook” by Emilio DeGrazia comes next where the narrator is pretty sure that they saw Rondel Collins on Sunday night just outside of Chisolm. Problem is that allegedly he was not in Minnesota Sunday night as he was killed by police in Alabama Saturday night. This happened just a few hours after he supposedly killed Ginny Gunderson. The police there said he was barricaded in a stall inside a barn. He would not come out. So, since they had no idea what weapon or weapons he had, they shot him dead in self-defense. That means that, somehow, a black outsider originally from Detroit with no car, killed a local gal, and then a few hours later and more than a thousand miles away, dies in a barn in Alabama. Does not make sense at all and that is not the only local weird thing going on.

 

Getting dumped the week before Thanksgiving hit her hard in “Out of a Fog” by Barb Goffman. It takes her some time to plan after she realizes the depths of his betrayal. She has the time to plan since she does not have a boyfriend anymore. One way or another, he’s going to get his.

 

Captain Ernesto Guillén hates the new posting, but when you embarrass a major businessman and political donor to the mayor, you get yourself banished to the hinterlands. In his case, he was sent to Manglaralto, a tiny Ecuadorian fishing village where it is too damn hot and humid and his clothing constantly itches and scratches because of it. Everything combines to irritate his senses as does the increasingly vocal villagers clustered outside the small station. They are demanding the police release the suspected killer to them so they can deal with him directly. That is not going to happen and not just because Captain Ernesto Guillén is sure that the arrested suspect did not do the crime in “El Pescador Zurdo” by Tom Larsen.

 

Rebecca Sweeney had it coming for what she did. That means Allison has a problem in “A Blue Umbrella Sky” by R.S. Morgan. Part of her problem is guilt and embarrassment. Part of her problem is that she is going to have to talk to the Kentucky State Police. It is karma at work, after all.

 

“Death Will Give you A Reason” by Elizabeth Zelvin is next and death certainly explains why Cindy had to cancel her dinner plans. A floater found by professional dog walkers who compromised the scene is the first of several problems with the case. Her sobriety is going to be tested in a new way as the floater is Shane Dougherty and a man she knew long ago when they were kids. She intends to find out why he wound up in the river and then on a morgue table in New York City.

 

Marc is in hiding somewhere in the very northern reaches of New England. He has been sent to see Woody at a house at the end of a winding dirt road that does not show up on any maps. It is a sanctuary, in a sense, in “The Mannequin Graveyard” by Gregory L. Norris.

 

“Saving the Indiana Dae” by Vicki Weisfeld comes next where Bruce Pritchard loves his new get away home. It used to be the schooner Indiana Dae before the ship was thrown on to land during a storm in the late 1880s. The old ship had eventually become a tourist attraction by the sixties and then had fallen into considerable disrepair. In the here and now, Mr. Pritchard spent a lot of money fixing it up to be livable and a cozy weekend getaway. He isn’t the only one invested in the old schooner and things are about to take a strange turn.

 

While the past was a major piece of the preceding tale, the future and what can be done with technology is a major piece of the story. Securing the border so effectively means that the local economy cratered and what crime there is mainly involves the personnel working out of the security towers. Most of the staff has computer chips installed in their earlobes. The fact the body is missing both ears thanks to clean cuts that no predator could duplicate means that the dead person is probably somebody on staff. That makes it his case in “The Control Tower” by Janice Law.

 

Many of us suffered the hunt for X in algebra and very well understand why Tiffany hates it all so much. Algebra certainly does nothing to help her ADHD. Her inability to understand algebra and her ADHD are two of several things her Dad does not understand in “Slow Down” by Steve Liskow. He also does not understand how music is a such a great help to her at all times and especially when she is stressed.

 

Competitive eating is a thing these days, thanks to ESPN and other outlets. The national media folks may not have made it to “Burnin Butt, Texas” for the jalapeno eating contest yet, but they might next year. A murder at the contest gets the attention of a lot of folks in this tale by Mark Troy.

 

The issue closes with “The Affair of Lamson’s Cook” by Charles Felton Pidgin and Jim Taylor. The tale originally appeared in The Chronicles of Quincy Adams Sawyer, Detective back in 1912. In this case, Quincy has not been having a lot to do lately so his reserves, mentally and physically, are in good shape when Herbert Lamson shows up in his touring car looking for him. Lamson wants him to take a ride out to his country home where his cook has been found dead that morning. Her name was Mrs. Elizabeth Buck. Known to be a shrew when not cooking, Lansom has no idea who would killer her.

 

Edited by Michael Bracken, Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10 is another solidly good read. The twelve mystery tales included in the new issue showcase a wide range in author styles, time periods, and mystery flavors. Some are cozy style while others have a slightly harder edge. Once again, some folks deserved their killing. Suitable for readers of nearly all age groups, Black Cat Mystery Magazine #10 is another comfortable and fun mystery read.

 

  

I purchased this in eBook format last month after I received an Amazon gift card from an online friend for my birthday.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2021