The Hard Word: THE TRUTH IN MURDER: DENISE MINA'S THE GOOD LIAR
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
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Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: "I Am Not Fluffy" by Liza Cody
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Little Big Crimes: Fancy Car Lover, by Ed Teja
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Short Story Wednesday: Three Strikes-You’re Dead! Edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley
After an interesting introduction by SJ
Rozan that points out the parallels connecting sports and crime, it is on to
the fourteen stories that make up the anthology, Three Strikes-You’re
Dead! The entering anthology edited by Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman, and
Marcia Talley was published in April 2024. While it has been in my massive TBR
pile for months, that is only because I am way slower in everything I do these
days.
One thing that has never changed is I
read anthologies straight through from front to back. I have always believed that,
even when I don’t necessarily see it, and editor or editor has a plan and thus the
stories are set up in the sequence they want readers to read the book.
So, the stories I briefly cover below
are my personal favorites in the order that they appear in the read. All the
stories in the anthology are very good. These are just the ones that resonated
with me the best.
P. J. “Bulldog” Johnson provided the heroics
that propelled his team to victory and their shot in the World Series. He then
went and died at the plate in “Murder At Home” by Alan Orloff. Now the Mets
General Manager, George Willingham, wants to know what happened and has tasked Assistant
Hitting Coach Rick Baines with the job of finding out.
Elspeth Mead knows what she knows about
bounty hunting from watching some videos and extensive reading of the Stephanie
Plum series of books by Janet Evanovich. (Editorial note---the early books are
good and then the series got way too predictable and I dropped it.) She lives
in Massachusetts and found her own bail bondsman to work for by the name of
Antonio Raffagino. As the short story, “The Ultimate Bounty Hunter,” by Sherry
Harris begins, she is doing better than her idol in one respect—no cars have
blown up to this point in her career. But, she is freezing as she lies on the nearly
frozen ground at 11:30 at night as she watches a house and waits for a sign of
Culver Krantz.
Detective Paddy Doyle is grinding out
his last few weeks on the job as carefully as he can so that he can get his
pension. Kennedy and Johnson are now in office, things are looking good for the
country, and his plan is to keep his head down and not rock the boat. Then the
journeyman boxer walks into the precinct and finds his desk. Johnny “Tag”
Rowley shows up and wants to get his name cleared. Considering what he did,
that is nearly an impossible task.
Instead of trying to fix a reputation,
getting even is the theme of “Runny Interference” by Kathryn Prater Bomey. Elena
Martinez deserves her moment as the star of the band show. With that now in
jeopardy, Kinsey Kennedy plans to even the scales of justice.
Though sports are involved, “Of Mice And
(Murdered) Men” by Rosalie Spielman is a bit of a departure from what is
expected. It is also highly entertaining. Zooey isn’t human. She is a member of
a large group that calls themselves “Transfigurateurs” or “Tfigs.” Basically,
she is a shape shifter, and has the power to shape shift into any creature. That
ability means she can go places and see things while being ignored by people
unless she does something really obvious. So, you know she is going to
witness a murder, right?
Back in the day, Mitchell Street was a
cop. These days he runs a dojo and also works as a private investigator. That
means he knows how to work the case when his friend, Sister George, comes to
him about a serious problem. She has known Rory Alvarado since he started
coming to the local community center many years ago. In the here and now, he
was about to be called up to the majors. But, he failed a drug test. Sister
George is sure he isn’t using steroids and wants Street to prove it and clear
his name in “Cui Bono” by F. J. Talley.
No doubt your favorites would and will be
different from mine. Regardless of that simple fact, all the stories in the
anthology are good ones. Three Strikes-You’re Dead! is a mighty good read and is sure to score with you.
What? You thought I would not make at
least one sports related Dad joke? It had to be done. Put the whistle away.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3H9aQ5p
I bought this read in digital format many
months ago using funds in my Amazon Associate Account.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
SleuthSayers: Frittering
SleuthSayers: Frittering: There are too many hours in the day, and I sometimes fritter them away. When I haven’t enough to do, I do even less, often spending my avail...
Review: Fog and Fury: A Haven Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall
Fog and Fury: A Haven Thriller by Rachel Howzell
Hall is the first book in a new series where former LAPD Homicide Detective Alyson
“Sonny” Rush has moved to Haven, California, to start fresh. She left Los Angeles
and a host of problems behind to move to Haven and go to work for her godfather,
Ivan Poole. He runs a one-man private investigator agency, Poole
Investigations, and promises a change of scenery and career will do wonders for
her.
He did not really warn her that there
would be fog. A lot of fog. Fog that brings back a near death experience in Los
Angeles and a weather phenomenon that she hates. Fog is bad, in so many ways.
That job trauma and others are with her
daily and the various mental exercises don’t help that much. She has also
brought her mom with her and that is its own stressor as mom’s grip on reality
is slowly slipping. That battle to be present and not lost in a world of fractured
memories is a daily struggle for both of them.
Truth be told, she doesn’t want to be in
Haven. She still wants to be working the streets of Los Angeles and putting bad
guys in jail. But, that life is dead to her now. This is her life now, whether she
wants it or not.
While Ivan is going out to meet the dad
of a young teen that was found dead earlier this morning, Sonny’s first case is
the hunt for a missing dog. Mackenzie Sutton has come in with her mom, London
Sutton, to report that her dog, Figgy, is missing. Not just missing, but in
danger according to a picture they were sent.
Figgy is a goldendoodle and was given to
Mackenzie six years ago by her dad, Cooper, when she had her appendix taken out.
Mom and daughter had been looking for the dog on their own until they got a
cryptic and threatening text accompanied by a picture of the dog being held
over the edge of a bluff with churning sea water and the coastline below.
Mackenzie has some ideas on the identity of the culprit so Sonny has something
to go on.
She also has a lot of anger to fuel her
hunt for the scumbag that took the dog and is now threating to kill it. Not
just because of the theft and the threat. Things are intensely personal as
Cooper and Sonny have been in what she thought was a very serious romantic
relationship as she believed he was available. Not only did he seem to be a nice
guy who was very much into her, he had shown her divorce papers that indicated he
was very single. Furthermore, he always acted like he was single and gave her
every indication that things were good and they had a fantastic future.
He lied.
He isn’t the only one lying to her in Fog
and Fury: A Haven Thriller by Rachel Howzell Hall. But, he might be the
only one not trying to kill her as this complicated and very atmospheric cozy
style mystery moves forward.
The weather, especially the heavy fog
which is a near daily occurrence, is almost a major character in its own right
as Sonny hunts for the missing dog, gets drawn in to the murder case of the
young teen, and deals with a host of problems, personally and professionally. She
has her hands full constantly and is doing the best she can to hold it together,
minute by minute, day by day. The only time she feels normal is when she is
actively working and that action helps her a lot in this very enjoyable read.
The next book in the series, Mist and Malice, is currently
scheduled to come out May 19, 2026, from the publisher, Thomas & Mercer.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4m974Ys
This read was recently picked up in
digital format as a free read for Amazon Prime Members.
Kevin R. Tipple©2025
Monday, July 28, 2025
Market Call--Guilty Crime Story Magazine
As seen on Twitter....
Guilty Crime Story Magazine
@GuiltyCrimeMag
Submissions for issue #15 are open!
Stories around 4k words have the best chance of meeting our needs this time around, must be set in summer or at least have a summery theme.
Flash subs for the website are also encouraged.
Mystery Fanfare: CHRISTMAS IN JULY: Mysteries set during the Holidays
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Publishing ... and Other Forms of Insanity: 64 Calls for Submissions in August 2025 - Paying markets
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Bitter Tea and Mystery: Books Read in June 2025
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Aubrey Nye Hamilton's Review: Deadly Campaign by Alan Orloff
Deadly Campaign by Alan Orloff (Llewellyn
Publications, 2012) was published 13 years ago but the subject might have been ripped out
of last week’s headlines. The second book in the Last Laff series, about
Channing Hayes and Artie Worsham, co-owners of the Last Laff Comedy Club
somewhere in central Fairfax County, Virginia, near Washington, DC, offers
insight into the operations of a comedy club, the life of a stand-up comic, and
the collusions of a local political campaign. I fear scheming politicos will always
be with us.
Channing and Artie have been
invited by Thomas Lee, owner of Lee’s Palace, a restaurant next door to Last
Laff, to attend a political dinner celebrating Lee’s nephew’s win in the
Democratic congressional primary. After a fabulous meal of Chinese cuisine,
nominee Edward Wong launched into a polished speech. Shortly after it started,
three masked goons dressed in black and carrying baseball bats broke into the
room, crushed the video camera, threatened several people including Channing,
and smashed the plates, platters, and glassware, then left. After police
interviewed the stunned and frightened audience, Hao Wong, Edward’s father, convinced
the detectives not to report the crime for fear of damaging Edward’s campaign.
Hao was a highly influential member of the Chinese community, many of which
were in the room, and he had no trouble pressuring those present to keep the
attack to themselves.
The next day Thomas asks
Channing to investigate the attack, even though Hao has told him through his
wife, Thomas’s sister, to stay out of it. Channing has no real investigative
experience but he begins with the obvious, by looking at Edward’s competition
to see if the attack was politically motivated. Then he asked enough questions of
Edward’s connections to attract the autocratic Hao Wong’s attention, who orders
Channing to come to his office and tells him to stop, which of course only annoyed
Channing and encouraged him to continue.
In between his bouts of
amateur PI work, Channing manages with the daily details of running the comedy
club and he develops new material for his own stand-up act which has hit a dry
streak. He’s anxious to get his performance mojo back.
Many threads add to the
interest and the plot complexity. The multiple references to places and streets
in northern Virginia, my home for 40 years, made the story especially
appealing. The ending has a couple of nice twists.
Particularly for readers of
political thrillers like Mike Lawson’s Joe DeMarco series and for readers
familiar with northern Virginia and its environs, particularly Fairfax County.
Alan Orloff is an Anthony,
Agatha, Derringer, and Thriller award winning author. He has published more
than fifty short stories in numerous anthologies and periodicals,
including Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Black
Cat Mystery Magazine, and five volumes of the Best New England Crime
Stories series. He has served on the editorial selection panel for several
anthologies and writing awards, and he is a member of Mystery Writers of
America (MWA), International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime.
·
Publisher:
Midnight Ink
·
Publication
date: January 8, 2012
·
Language:
English
·
Print
length: 36 pages
·
ISBN-10:
0738723185
·
ISBN-13:
978-0738723181
Amazon Associate Purchase
Link: https://amzn.to/4f8KPQm
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025
Aubrey Hamilton is a former
librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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