Lesa's Book Reviews: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THE SHAMUS SAMPLER

 Lesa's Book Reviews: KEVIN’S CORNER ANNEX – THE SHAMUS SAMPLER

Short Story Wednesday Review: The Shamus Sampler Edited by Jochem Vandersteen

 

From the massively magnificent archive…

 

As author Reed Farrel Coleman writes in the introduction, crime fiction these days has grown far beyond the private investigator. Not that PI novels no longer exist, far from it. But, these days the PI novel does not hold the preeminent position in the world of crime fiction as it used to back decades ago. The classic PI of yesteryear may be gone to a certain extent as no one walks around in trench coats while wearing a fedora these days. But the classic PI is still present in manner and action, though he or she appears in a far different form these days. That idea is very clearly illustrated in the excellent read The Shamus Sampler that features “new detective stories from around the world.”

This highly entertaining anthology begins with one of the hardest stories to explain while not giving away too much. “Mysterious Private Investigations” by Peter DiChellis is one very complicated tale. It involves a jewelry heist, a private investigator, a man in jail for a crime he did not commit, and a search for justice, among other elements.

 

Jake Diamond is up next in “One Hit Wonder: A Jake Diamond Short Story” by J. L. Abramo. If Darlene Roman had answered the phone like she should have instead of ducking across the street for a drink at the health food bar across the street, Jake would not have answered the phone. He did answer and the caller, who didn't give him time to speak, gave the instructions on how he wanted somebody killed. With little to go on, Jake has six hours to find the intended victim somewhere in the city of San Francisco.

 

“The Case of the Derby Diamond” by Jeffery Marks comes next with a classic style PI tale set just after World War II. Mrs. Van Hoskins is a very wealthy woman and exceedingly unhappy as her ring, a seven carat diamond surrounded by a jewel encrusted horseshoe, is missing. She wants it back. PI Donnelly has the chance to find the ring and make some money as The Van Hoskins want things keep very quiet.

 

Gypsy is a call girl and is about to get out of the life. She plans on making Nick Kepler her final client in “Gypsy's Kiss” by Jim Winter. Somebody is not happy with her, or her decision, and is making the point loud and clear. The Cleveland PI will have his hands full trying to keep Gypsy alive and well.

 

Sergeant Thomas Hamilton kept Harry Charters alive during the war and Harry knows he owes him a huge debt. It has been ten years since they saw each other and the passing years have not been kind to either man. Hamilton’s son is missing in “The Smell Of Perfume” by Graham Smith. Hamilton wants Chet found and wants Harry’s help.

 

Jim Wolf, private investigator, lives on a boat in a harbor in Oakland. When he isn't actively working he hangs out at a bar known as “Big Emma’s.” He almost never works for lawyers, but makes an exception for defense lawyer Sandra Jacobs. She needs his help on behalf of a client in “Rage: A Jim Wolf Mystery” by Tim Wohlforth. Wealthy psychotherapist Henry Platt was brutally killed at his outdoor pool. Sandra’s client, his wife Carol, has admitted to killing him, but none of it makes sense.

 

Set in Morris, Oklahoma in 1965 “The Patriot” by Sean Benjamin Dexter is right out of the Cold War with a tale of Russian spies, espionage, and life in small town, Oklahoma. One of the residents thinks he heard somebody who sounded like a “Ruskie” on his amateur radio talking about the local Dow Chemical plant. Local police can’t be trusted so the resident has come to local private investigator, Alex Taylor, for help.

 

He may not be a private investigator as such, but reporter Liam Michael Murphy who goes by the nickname of “Mad Mick Murphy” acts like one in “Drumstick Murder” by Michael Haskins. He is at the annual Key West Songwriters Festival and is supposed to interview the legendary Dallas Lucas. His interview subject is dead and it is very clear it was not a suicide. With Lucas murdered the planned interview feature will now be a piece on his murder--unless the local cops decide the reporter did it.

 

It is always a treat to come across a story from Texas author Bill Crider. Far from the East Texas stomping grounds of his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, “A Matter Of Heart” is set on Galveston Island. The highly entertaining tale features a private investigator working the murder case of one Sue Traylor. It is a complicated case that has links to the past and the colorful history of Galveston when literally anything was possible on the island.

 

 “Christmas Morning” by Stephen D. Rogers comes next where a man is sure his wife is cheating on him. He bases that on how she behaved at the recent holiday party they attended. He wants proof and will use that to convince her to stop. First up, the private investigator has to find proof that his client is right.

 

Keith Dixon takes readers over to the United Kingdom in “The Same Old Story.” Richie Downes is insisting that he be the latest client of a private investigator by the name of Sam Dyke. He is a big physically imposing man who insists that he is not looking for a divorce; he just wants to know who his wife is seeing. All he wants is the name of the person and does not want proof. He is willing to promise not to hurt anyone. Dykes needs the money and reluctantly agrees.

 

“Q” didn't want to have to give up a knife she liked, but considering she just used it to gut a man in the frozen alley, it seemed like wiping and dropping it was a good idea. That dead guy is just one of the many issues going on in the complicated “The Dutch Connection” by Kit Rohrbach.

 

Fred Zackel is next with his tale set in San Francisco titled “Mario and Cheryse.” A streetwalker named Cheryse should lead to Mario Rosales. His grandmother wants him found and convinced to turn himself in before the cops find him. She would much rather have Mario alive and in jail as opposed to being killed in the streets by the cops.

 

Editor Jochem Vandersteen brings the book to a close his own tale titled “Hired From The Grave: A Noah Milano Short Story.” Noah Milano is a security specialist/ investigator who got a phone call from a man named Mark Beck who wanted to hire him. He would explain why when Milano cane to his Burbank area apartment. When Milano arrived, he found Beck dead in what could be construed as an accidental auto-erotic asphyxiation. Milano doesn't buy it and soon is working the case as a murder.

 

Each of the fourteen stories in “The Shamus Sampler” features a small introduction to the piece that provides context to the story as well as an author bio at the end. Each of the author bios makes a point of mentioning titles of other works by the author as well as the name of the publisher. The tales in this anthology are not only very good ones, but are often very complicated and provide plenty of twists right up to the end.

 

Material supplied by a good friend for my use in an objective review. 

 

Kevin R. Tipple © 2013, 2022

FREE BOOK--- "The Shamus Sampler" Editor Jochem Vandersteen

For the weekend The Shamus Sampler edited by Jochem Vandersteen is free over at Amazon. The synopsis there is:

"An anthology full of exciting PI fiction and an essay written by popular names like Reed Farrel Coleman, Bill Crider, James Winter, Fred Zackel, J.L. Abramo, Keith Dixon, Jochem Vandersteen, Sean Dexter and some newer names like Kit Rohrbacher, Peter DiChellis and others.

This is the perfect anthology to pick up if you want to get introduced to all the great PI writers out there, all recommended by Sons of Spade (http://sonsofspade.blogspot.com) blogger and author Jochem Vandersteen."


If you are still not convinced, check out my spoiler free review of this very good book here on the blog from last November.  Pick it up---you will be glad you did.

Good News-- Mark Troy Edition

Mark reports here on his blog that his story IFCH has been accepted for volume 2 of The Shamus Sampler. Volume One was very good. My review from last November is here if you are interested.

You can also read an interview with Mark at the Sons of Spade blog here where he talks about his new series featuring Ava Rome.

Review: "The Death Business: A Noah Milano Novella" by Jochem Vandersteen

The Death Business is a short novella by Jochem Vandersteen features Noah Milano, security specialist. Back in the day he did some bad things thanks to being raised in a family that was a major player in organized crime, but these days he is trying to do better. His best friend, the stunningly beautiful Minnie, works at the Medical Examiner’s office and she wants and needs Noah's help.

Back in college Minnie had a roommate by the name of Carol Dickinson. They were very close back in the day. As often happens, they had pretty much lost touch in recent years. Carol recently died of a heroin overdose in the bathroom stall of a local Hollywood club. While a fellow colleague in the office thinks the death is nothing more than the typical junkie death, Minnie is sure Carol never used drugs and would not have risked her soaring career as an entertainment journalist. When Noah points out as gently as he can that maybe she changed, Minnie explains that even if that were true, she was left handed and would not have shot herself up in the left arm.

While Minnie is absolutely sure it was murder and wants his help, investigation isn't what Noah usually does. He considers himself as a security specialist move along the line of threat assessment and bodyguard type stuff. But, he has been solving murderers as Minnie reminds him and he owes her for more than he can say. Noah would do just about anything for her and pretty sure he is getting the details and considering how to proceed.

Noah undertakes an odyssey through the club scene with occasional forays into his criminal contacts to find out what story Carol was working on and who wanted her dead. She had a reputation for getting the story. As Noah digs into the story she may have been working on it becomes clear that Noah is going to need help and his own fast reflexes to stay alive if he hopes to catch those responsible.

The editor of the very good The Shamus Sampler author Jochem Vandersteen hits all the right notes with his primary character Noah Milano. Reminiscent of classic pulp fiction as numerous others note in the blurbs in the front of the book, the storyline features plenty of babes, broads, guns, violence, and the occasional flash of sarcastic humor. Along the way the truth slowly comes out as Noah works from person to person getting answers often with a great degree of difficulty. A fun read that roars at a fast clip, The Death Business: A Noah Milano Novella is full of rich characters, action, and plenty of clues that lead the reader through a very enjoyable and very complicated case.

The Death Business: A Noah Milano Novella

Jochem Vandersteen

http://www.sonsofspade.blogspot.com

Sons of Spade

ASIN: B00I7QW66U

February 2014

E-Book

74 Pages (estimated)

$2.99

(Currently 99 cents as a Kindle Countdown Deal)

Material supplied by the author in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Sample Sunday: Excerpt from "They Die in Eight Minutes" by Peter DiChellis

Awhile back I read The Shamus Sampler and enjoyed it quite a lot as you can see from the review here. After my review went up in various places, Peter wrote me and thanked me for the review. I made an offer –as I have done with other authors I have read and liked---for him to come be a part of things here with a Sunday Sample. Peter expressed interest and then later followed through (a rarity in of itself) with the below piece. Bit different than what we normally do here…..

They Die in Eight Minutes

by Peter DiChellis

Tick, tick . . . 11:52pm. They die in eight minutes.

Shadows crept across the outside walls of the house. Moonlight. Hand signals. Whispers.

Cops. Three slipped to the front door. Two sneaked to the back.

“Ready.”

Ready just in time, Sheriff’s Detective Benton Hammel thought. They die at midnight the man had promised. Not a second sooner, not a minute later. The man’s ex-wife, stepson, daughter-in-law, all of them. Dead at midnight.

Narcissistic psychopath, Hammel figured. Precise, cold, game player.

“Careful,” he’d whispered to his team moments ago. “The guy won’t kill his family until midnight, but he’ll kill us anytime.”

Tick, tick . . . 11:53.

Hammel had already briefed the team on the suspect, situation, and the isolated location. He had pushed them hard and they’d raced here, to this secluded housing development at the far edge of the county, after an anonymous caller alerted cops to the address. Hammel knew the area, had been house hunting nearby last month. Without that lucky break, and Hammel’s swift reaction, nobody could have arrived in time to save the family.

“Bust it open,” Hammel ordered.

The front door cracked off its hinges. Then the back door.

The cops’ flashlights dotted the pitch-black rooms as they hustled through, searching.

“Clear! Clear!”

“All clear!”

“Check for a basement,” Hammel instructed.

“No basement.”

“Attic.”

“No attic.”

“Backyard, garage, outbuilding, anything!”

“Nothing. Nothing. Nobody here.”

Wrong. They are here, Hammel calculated. All of them. Hidden somewhere in this dark unsold house in an abandoned tract of unfinished new homes. At 427 Maple. A perfect spot for a midnight killing.

Tick, tick . . . 11:57.

End of sample. Click here to read the rest of the story free at Shotgun Honey.

Peter DiChellis ©2014

Peter DiChellis writes short mystery-suspense fiction. His sinister tales appear in a handful of publications, most recently at Shotgun Honey, Over My Dead Body!, and in The Shamus Sampler private eye anthology. (Coming soon: A story in Plan B Mystery Magazine’s Volume III Anthology.) For links to his published stories, visit his Wordpress site Murder and Fries at http://murderandfries.wordpress.com/

Ongoing Market Call-- Shamus Sampler 2

Details for book 2 with a deadline of March 1, 2014 can be found here.

My very popular November 18, 2013 review of the first book can be found here.

Review: "The Shamus Sampler" Edited by Jochem Vandersteen

As author Reed Farrel Coleman writes in the introduction, crime fiction these days has grown far beyond the private investigator. Not that PI novels no longer exist, far from it. But, these days the PI novel does not hold the preeminent position in the world of crime fiction as it used to back decades ago. The classic PI of yesteryear may be gone to a certain extent as no one walks around in trench coats while wearing a fedora these days. But the classic PI is still present in manner and action, though he or she appears in a far different form these days. That idea is very clearly illustrated in the excellent read The Shamus Sampler that features “new detective stories from around the world.”

This highly entertaining anthology begins with one of the hardest stories to explain while not giving away too much. “Mysterious Private Investigations” by Peter DiChellis is one very complicated tale. It involves a jewelry heist, a private investigator, a man in jail for a crime he did not commit, and a search for justice, among other elements.

Jake Diamond is up next in “One Hit Wonder: A Jake Diamond Short Story” by J. L. Abramo. If Darlene Roman had answered the phone like she should have instead of ducking across the street for a drink at the health food bar across the street, Jake would not have answered the phone. He did answer and the caller, who didn't give him time to speak, gave the instructions on how he wanted somebody killed. With little to go on, Jake has six hours to find the intended victim somewhere in the city of San Francisco.

“The Case of the Derby Diamond” by Jeffery Marks comes next with a classic style PI tale set just after World War II. Mrs. Van Hoskins is a very wealthy woman and exceedingly unhappy as her ring, a seven carat diamond surrounded by a jewel encrusted horseshoe, is missing. She wants it back. PI Donnelly has the chance to find the ring and make some money as The Van Hoskins want things keep very quiet.

Gypsy is a call girl and is about to get out of the life. She plans on making Nick Kepler her final client in “Gypsy's Kiss” by Jim Winter. Somebody is not happy with her, or her decision, and is making the point loud and clear. The Cleveland PI will have his hands full trying to keep Gypsy alive and well.

Sergeant Thomas Hamilton kept Harry Charters alive during the war and Harry knows he owes him a huge debt. It has been ten years since they saw each other and the passing years have not been kind to either man. Hamilton’s son is missing in “The Smell Of Perfume” by Graham Smith. Hamilton wants Chet found and wants Harry’s help.

Jim Wolf, private investigator, lives on a boat in a harbor in Oakland. When he isn't actively working he hangs out at a bar known as “Big Emma’s.” He almost never works for lawyers, but makes an exception for defense lawyer Sandra Jacobs. She needs his help on behalf of a client in “Rage: A Jim Wolf Mystery” by Tim Wohlforth. Wealthy psychotherapist Henry Platt was brutally killed at his outdoor pool. Sandra’s client, his wife Carol, has admitted to killing him, but none of it makes sense.

Set in Morris, Oklahoma in 1965 “The Patriot” by Sean Benjamin Dexter is right out of the Cold War with a tale of Russian spies, espionage, and life in small town, Oklahoma. One of the residents thinks he heard somebody who sounded like a “Ruskie” on his amateur radio talking about the local Dow Chemical plant. Local police can’t be trusted so the resident has come to local private investigator, Alex Taylor, for help.

He may not be a private investigator as such, but reporter Liam Michael Murphy who goes by the nickname of “Mad Mick Murphy” acts like one in “Drumstick Murder” by Michael Haskins. He is at the annual Key West Songwriters Festival and is supposed to interview the legendary Dallas Lucas. His interview subject is dead and it is very clear it was not a suicide. With Lucas murdered the planned interview feature will now be a piece on his murder--unless the local cops decide the reporter did it.

It is always a treat to come across a story from Texas author Bill Crider. Far from the East Texas stomping grounds of his Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, “A Matter Of Heart” is set on Galveston Island. The highly entertaining tale features a private investigator working the murder case of one Sue Traylor. It is a complicated case that has links to the past and the colorful history of Galveston when literally anything was possible on the island.

 “Christmas Morning” by Stephen D. Rogers comes next where a man is sure his wife is cheating on him. He bases that on how she behaved at the recent holiday party they attended. He wants proof and will use that to convince her to stop. First up, the private investigator has to find proof that his client is right.

Keith Dixon takes readers over to the United Kingdom in “The Same Old Story.” Richie Downes is insisting that he be the latest client of a private investigator by the name of Sam Dyke. He is a big physically imposing man who insists that he is not looking for a divorce; he just wants to know who his wife is seeing. All he wants is the name of the person and does not want proof. He is willing to promise not to hurt anyone. Dykes needs the money and reluctantly agrees.

“Q” didn't want to have to give up a knife she liked, but considering she just used it to gut a man in the frozen alley, it seemed like wiping and dropping it was a good idea. That dead guy is just one of the many issues going on in the complicated “The Dutch Connection” by Kit Rohrbach.

Fred Zackel is next with his tale set in San Francisco titled “Mario and Cheryse.” A streetwalker named Cheryse should lead to Mario Rosales. His grandmother wants him found and convinced to turn himself in before the cops find him. She would much rather have Mario alive and in jail as opposed to being killed in the streets by the cops.

Editor Jochem Vandersteen brings the book to a close his own tale titled “Hired From The Grave: A Noah Milano Short Story.” Noah Milano is a security specialist/ investigator who got a phone call from a man named Mark Beck who wanted to hire him. He would explain why when Milano cane to his Burbank area apartment. When Milano arrived, he found Beck dead in what could be construed as an accidental auto-erotic asphyxiation. Milano doesn't buy it and soon is working the case as a murder.

Each of the fourteen stories in “The Shamus Sampler” features a small introduction to the piece that provides context to the story as well as an author bio at the end. Each of the author bios makes a point of mentioning titles of other works by the author as well as the name of the publisher. The tales in this anthology are not only very good ones, but are often very complicated and provide plenty of twists right up to the end.

The Shamus Sampler

Editor Jochem Vandersteen

Sons of Spade

http://sonsofspade.blogspot.com/

November 2013

ASIN: B00FJ1DN68

E-book

178 pages (estimated)

$2.99

Material supplied by a good friend for my use in an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2013