Review: Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery and Suspense Editor Judy Penz Sheluk

 

After an introduction by author/editor/publisher Judy Penz Sheluk that explains the inspiration for the new anthology, Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery and Suspense, it is on to the stories. All are good ones. Some resonated with me more than others. Some of those that struck me more are listed below. My personal choices do not mean that they are better than the others. They just clicked with me more.

 

It is also worth noting that I am one of those rare readers that does not dip in here and there in an anthology. I don’t chase friends or names I recognize. I read from front to back, as I do with a novel. It has always seemed to me that nearly every editor arranges the lineup of short stories in a certain way for a certain reason. Whom am I to defeat that idea by choosing my own path? So, the order below, as always, is the reading order I hit them as they appear in the book and nothing more at all.

 

“Big” John Warmer thinks he has a good system working in “Secretly Keith” by Charlie Kondek. Nick Papke and Rex are pretty sure they can rob the local bookie and get away with it. They have a plan and timing is everything.

 

Hallie writes memoirs and she is very good at it. This time the subject is a woman she has known, off and on, for two decades. They have a complicated past. Sylia Starr is going to be a difficult client in “A Talent for Fame” by Susan Daly.

 

They have a new guy and Michael has to take him out with the crew. Michael will do what the boss says as that is what is done. But, Frankie is going to be a problem. Michael is sure of it. Time will tell in “The Artist” by Linda Bennett.

 

Ellie knows how things are to be done in “Dinner at Angelo’s” by Julie Hastrup. Angelo, her father, sees here as a woman and nothing more. He only has eye for her brothers and has no idea what she does to keep the family, and their business, going.

 

The Oak Creek Retirement Home is a lie in so many ways. There is no creek. There is no oak. There is a crummy courtyard with a broken fountain. The staff, such as it is, are worthless. That means several seniors can, and do, pull off a great escape in “Evening Escapade” by KM Rockwood. Once out, things get very complicated.

 

Hopper McTaggert is about to retire from the FBI. His career is going to go out on a whimper. Unless the tip proves out and he can arrest Alfonso Ancona in “Hopscotch & Pop Tart” by Clark Boyd.

 

After spending 420 days in the Brockville Jail, Mikey has a new skill. He also has plans in “Ticket Out” by Jim McDonald.

 

Ripping off others is also the idea behind the next story, “Ghost Wolves” by Peggy Rothaschild. Finding a dead body in the house was absolutely not part of the plan.

 

Shea died two months ago. There was a funeral and everything. But, she is now back and needs help in “Friendship never Dies” by Beth Irish.  

 

Agatha has a plan and the disguises to pull it off in “Secret’s Unleashed” by Gina X. Grant. But, like all plans, her plan required other people to do their expected part. The human element is screwing her up and there is too much at stake to back out now.

 

While these ten stories were my personal favorites, all the stories in the anthology are solidly good. Plenty is going on in each tale. Misdirection is a theme in many of the tales as well. The result makes Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery and Suspense a highly entertaining read.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3FP1evX

 

 

In the interests of fair disclosure, a digital ARC of the read was provided by author/editor/publisher Judy Penz Sheluk with no expectation of a review. I have a standing policy not to review works that I have a story in as I have always felt it a conflict of interest to do so. My submission was quickly rejected as the stories were cut down from eighty submissions, so I was free to read and review the book.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025