A Killing at the
Copa: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Barry Manilow was a read that
stirred up a lot of feelings for me. As a writer, I knew there was absolutely
no way I could conceive, write, and submit a story for consideration for this
project as my late wife’s love for all things Barry Manilow made it impossible.
One small
example of that reality for me—Back in the day, I changed the song “Mandy” to “Sandi.”
I would often slow dance with her in our apartment kitchen when it came on and
I would sing the song to her. I’m no singer—as a certain Junior High School
music teacher made clear when she very loudly pronounced me “hopeless” and publicly
gave up on me in front of everyone during the mandatory music class one day—so,
I only did it for her in private. That would include coming home from chemo
when it came on the radio as she slept on the nearly hour long drive home.
She was a huge
fan and his music, along with Elton John, Neil Diamond, and a few others, was
interwoven thickly into the fabric of our lives. With her gone, music remains
pretty much dead to me as it is way too upsetting. The music of the 70s
to the early 2000s was the us and Barry Manilow was a huge part of us. It all
seems like a lifetime ago now.
This anthology
by Editor J. Alan Hartman, published by White City Press earlier
this year, plays homage to his music. There are sixteen short stories in the
read. The Copacabana is directly referenced in several of the tales and briefly
mentioned in a couple of others. Diversity on terms of characters and writing
styles is present throughout the read. While all the tales are good ones, I did
have some personal favorites. As always, my brief explanation of my favorite
ones is written in such a way as to not generate spoilers. You can be assured
that I just skim the surface and the tales are far more complicated than they
may appear by my brief description. You can also be assured that, no doubt,
your personal favorites may vary quite a but from mine. Such is the case with
any anthology or short story collection.
Linda Kay
Hardies’s “Rain as Cold as Ice” takes readers to Reno, Nevada, where the
falling water from the sky is nasty. A conversation on a bus stop bench leads
the reader to an unexpected event.
Adam Gorgoni’s “Radical
Boys” is a tale of regret, pain, and what might have been if a different choice
was made decades ago. It is also a redemption story, of sort, and a chance for
a new beginning.
“I Write the
Songs” by Maya St. Clair takes readers on an exploration of a long since
abandoned club. At one time, the place was filled with music legends and
patrons. Now it is full of water, rot and decay, and possibly something more in
this highly atmospheric story.
A police
procedural is at work in “The Daybreak Killer” by Matt McGee. The 30 something
and very dead woman in the Los Angles club, “Flamenco,” is the latest case for Detectives
Parmenter and Bernal. She even has yellow feathers in her hair. A reference
that Detective Parmenter is not picking up on or any of the others that his far
younger partner is pointing out.
“Ready to Take a
Chance Again” by Kurtis Rupé makes extensive use of the current pollical climate
to tell a tale that ius all too realistic. Bad things are happening in Marina
Vista, California, and Geri is slowly putting the pieces together.
There are some
short story writers that always make the read better by their presence. John M.
Floyd is one of those rare breed. “Lonely Together” opens with a Russian and an
American in a crowded nightclub in Moscow. The music and the vodka flows, as
does their conversation that touches on Aristotle’s six elements of drama, and
a lot more.
As you can see,
my personal favorites make up nearly half of the read. That is not to say the
others were not good. They are. I just happened to like these seven a bit more.
A nice touch
here is the fact that each story has a header that explains what song inspired
the tale and what album includes that song. The book closes with a detailed bio
of each of the contributing authors.
A Killing at the Copa: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of Barry Manilow, edited by J. Alan Hartman, is an interesting and entertaining crime fiction read. For those of us of a certain age who can mentally hear each song as a story unfurls, we probably get more out of the book thanks to the memories of what were often better days than the here and now. There is plenty to read and enjoy here and the book is well worth your time.
Amazon Associate
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4mcHiDx
Digital Review
copy provided by the publisher sometime in March with no expectation of a
review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
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