Short Story Wednesday Review: Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 5, Summer 2022

 

Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 5, Summer 2022 opens with “Blood Loss” by Trey R. Barker. Diane Cooper and John Blood knew each other way back in high school. They were very close. Especially their senior year. Now he is a private investigator, her daughter was raped and murdered, and Barefield PD has done nothing. She wants John Blood’s help to settle some scores in a tale where everyone has old wounds and lot of baggage.

It isn’t the first time Mr. Walker has suddenly become a widower. So, he is sort of used to talking to investigators. In “Tale of Two Wives” by Christine Eskilson, there were witnesses in the area this time when his wife fell to her death off the bluff so that fact should help.

When you are about to get bashed to pieces by folks who do not tolerate errors or failure, you get desperate. In “Edwin Gets an Idea” by Susan Oleksiw, the aforementioned Edwin is exactly in that situation. It is desperate times indeed. Edwin thinks that knowing something about a secret regarding a local art dealer might be worth avoiding further violence against his person.

Publisher and Editor Brandon Barrows is next with “Double or Nothing.” Ed Naden is a gambler and is not very good at it. Ed has a reputation as a dead beat gambler. Rackham has a reputation of not tolerating those who don’t pay their debts. Now he is hiding out in Marky’s bar as he owes eight grand and has no idea how he is going to pay the bill. One can see the obvious problem.

When you take retirement early and cash your IRA and stock in so that you can buy a magnificent old mansion overlooking Lake Erie, you want peace and quiet. You don’t want neighbors from hell. That is what he got in “A Mischief of Rats” by Robb White. Rex McCloskey and his kin are awful neighbors and they need to be permanently gone.

Wayne is on a mission to clean the world, one stripper at a time. He isn’t the only one on a mission in “Mercy Killings” by Marie Anderson.

It is going to be a meal from hell in “Lunch” by Dustin Walker. Barry makes every new buyer eat whatever he cooks as a test. Going in, the narrator tries to explain just how bad it is going to be to pass Barry’s test, but Mac is not getting it. The meal was the easy part. Things got way worse afterwards.

The issue concludes with the true crime piece by Anthony Perronti. “The Eden Prairie Heist” explains the facts around several armored car heists in the late 80s and early 90s where the thieves placed what appeared to be a bomb on the hood of the armored vehicle before fleeing the scene. A piece of history that does not get much notice these days.

Guilty Crime Story Magazine: Issue 5, Summer 2022 is another with ranging issue of crime fiction. A lot is packed into each tale. No cardboard character cutouts need to apply. While I had my own personal preferences, variety is key, and there is plenty here to satisfy any reader.

 

My reading copy was a purchase of the eBook last summer by way of funds in my Amazon Associate account.

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2023