Nasty. Brutish. Short.

"Remaindered" by Lee Goldberg

2012-01-04T18:20:00.001-06:00

From: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, August 2001.

Thriller writer Kevin Dangler—whose second and third books sank under the weight of bad reviews—meets Megan, an alluring librarian whose attention entices him into a night of passion.

When Megan proves eager to spread the news of her night with the married Kevin, he snaps and inadvertently beats her to death. Luckily finding a book on forensics among Megan's shelves, Kevin meticulously cleans up the evidence of his crime, but one detail does him in.

"Remaindered" shows off Goldberg's experience in publishing, his wry sense of humor, and the attention to detail that serves him well as author of the Monk tie-in novels. The story is available as a free Kindle download this week only. The ebook includes a link and password to watch a 20-minute short film based on "Remaindered", directed by Goldberg.

Nasty. Brutish. Short. Mobile.

2011-11-22T04:22:00.001-06:00

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"Chin Yong-Yun Takes a Case" by S.J. Rozan

2011-09-25T06:28:00.000-05:00

Currently a free download at Smashwords, this story features the mother of Rozan's series P.I., Lydia Chin. A new, not-yet trusted member of Yong-Yun's mah-jongg circle shows up at her door with her computer programmer son, looking to hire Lydia. The son, visiting New York from Beijing, explains that his infant son has been kidnapped and there are two hours left on a deadline to hand over secret software code in exchange for his life.

Due to the ticking clock, Yong-Yun accepts the case, claiming to work more closely with Lydia than she actually does. The tone of the story is light, yet I worried that Yong-Yun might be in over her head. Lydia does call in at one point, but Yong-Yun deflects her offer of help.

I saw through the kidnapping plot a little before the end, but the real fun of this story is hearing Yong-Yun's voice and seeing how she puts things together.

"Dolls", by Victor Gischler

2011-06-09T07:55:00.001-05:00

From: Three On A Light, 2010.

Dean Murphy used to lead an interesting life. One day at a flea market he'd picked up a Zippo lighter, and ever since then, his one-man detective agency had seen enough vampires, werewolves, and other assorted ghouls to fill a dozen Twilight books.

But now the curse haunting the Zippo has been exorcised, and his life is back to normal, or, more accurately, boring.

Finally, though, he gets off his butt and takes a new case, an odd young woman named Felicia. Felicia just dumped her boyfriend, and when he left, he took something that belonged to her: a red backpack. Felicia wants it back. She wants it back badly.

Back in the swing of things at last, it only takes Dean a few hours to track down the backpack. Unfortunately he finds her boyfried, Sebastian, as well, and he's not jolly or green but he is a giant. Things come to a happy conclusion, for all except the giant, and Felicia pays Dean and sends him on his way.

Before she does, though, he sees what's in her backpack, a book, very old and valuable. Some of the occult symbols on it are disturbingly familiar. Soon enough he realized that this isn't over, not at all.

"Dollls" is the last, longest, and best story in Three On A Light. I'd read several of Gischler's Dean Murphy stories before, but not this one, and it really breaks free of the conventions of the private eye story in a way the others don't. The other stories hew more to private eye conventions, and "Dolls" starts that way, too, before Gischler takes the story into uncharted territory, discarding many PI trappings along the way. By the end you're really wondering if any of the good guys are going to make it.

I'm not saying; you'll have to read it to find out.

"The Unholy Three", by William Campbell Gault

2011-06-07T07:55:00.001-05:00

From: Joe Puma, P.I., Wonder Publishing Group, 2010.

Johnny Delevan is a 12-year-old kid with a problem. This isn't a problem he can talk to his parents about (they're dead), or a teacher, or a priest. Instead he takes this problem to the neighborhood private investigator, Joe Puma.

The problem: he doesn't like his sister's boyfriend.

His sister Eilenn is twenty-three, and the head of the household now, and she's started seeing a slick, handsome character named Jean Magnus. Despite the fact that Puma is on his uppers once again and can't afford to turn down paying clients (Johnny has a paper route), he gently suggests that maybe the kid is a little jealous. Johnny, cheesed off, tells him what's what and storms out.

And that doesn't sit right with Puma. He kept turning it over in his mind, looking at the angles, and finally he decides it won't hurt if he asks a few questions. So he does. In particular, he looks up an old acquaintance, Lenny Donovan, now the house detective at Magnus' hotel.

The next morning, Donovan has disappeared.

William Campbell Gault was one of the leading private eye writers of the 1950s before he began writing sports stories for the juvenile market, which was more lucrative. The stories in Joe Puma, P.I. all date from that decade, and they're excellent. If you like this kind of thing you'll love this book. If not, it might change your mind.

"Eight Mile and Dequindre", by Loren Estleman

2011-03-20T12:40:00.003-05:00

From: Amos Walker: The Complete Story Collection, Tyrus Books, 2010.

Private eye Amos Walker drove out to a little diner on Dequindre where it me Eight Mile Road just to be stood up by a prospective client. He was still there, nursing his coffee and thinking about a career change, when a young guy who looked a bit like Howdy Doody came in, beaming and flashing a picture of the girl he's there to meet.

Walker was just leaving when the two thugs barged in and shot Howdy Doody dead.

So naturally he's obliged to stick around a while longer, until the homicide detectives are all done with him. Much later he's finally crawling into his Chevy for the drive home when something catches his eye - a woman, naturally. The woman from the dead man's picture.

The set-up has obvious similarities to Raymond Chandler's "Red Wind", and it's the first time I noticed a well-known author giving a hat tip to his influences. The rest of the story plays out in the traditional way - nice guy mixed up with the wrong crowd wants out - and is pretty typical of early Walker.

"The Avenging Chance", by Anthony Berkeley

2011-03-02T20:23:00.004-06:00

From: The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories, ed. Patricia Craig. Oxford Univeristy Press, 1990.

Sir William Anstruther went to his London club for lunch, as he did every day, at half past ten. Waiting for him in the mail was a small box of chocolates, along with a letter stating the this was a new product designed to appeal to men, and asking for his opinion. Sir William was rather a man's man and was quite prepared to bin the lot when another member, Graham Beresford, happened by. In the end the chocolates went home with Beresford, to the delight of both men.

Once at home, Beresford had a few of the chocolates before leaving to attend to some business. Upon arriving back at his club several hours later he was taken gravely ill.

His wife had a few of the chocolates, and then a few more, and by evening she was dead.

All this was brought before Roger Sheringham, occasional consultant to Scotland Yard. He could make no more of it than the police. To the essential question, Who would want Sir William dead?, there seemed no good answer. Although the investigation went on, the general feeling was that this was the act of a lunatic, someone unlikely to ever be uncovered.

Until Roger had a chance meeting with a very silly woman on a busy London street. This woman, an acquiantance of his and of the unlucky Mrs. Beresford, mentioned a small fact in passing, the significance of which she did not recognize, though Roger saw it at once. And through tugging on that tiny scrap of string, he unraveled the entire mystery.

One of the greatest short stories of the Golden Age of detection (think Christie, Sayers, et al), "The Avenging Chance" has been reprinted many times, and appears in many anthologies of the best such stories. It strikes an excellent balance between dismay as such a callous crime, and a certain intellectual airiness in treating it largely as a puzzle. To a modern reader it's not as old-fashioned and windy as many of its ilk, and is certainly a landmark of mid-twentieth century crime fiction.

"Cry Silence", by Fredric Brown

2011-02-20T19:29:00.003-06:00

From: The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories, ed. Otto Penzler. Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 2010.

This new anthology of classic stories from Black Mask magazine opens with a long, long-winded story by Erle Stanley Gardner, which, at penny-a-word rates, seemed designed mostly to deposit as many pennies as possible in Gardner's pockets.

The next story, though, is "Cry Silence" by Fredric Brown. It's short, only a couple of thousand words, and it carries an impact that the weight of Gardner's saga can't match.

The nameless narrator, a stranger in town, is sitting at the train station waiting for a connection when he overhears the old "if a tree falls in the forest" argument. Despite his best intentions he's drawn into conversation by the station agent, and soon learns why the man is so intent on the line between sound and silence.

There's another man at the station there, who sits impassively throughout. He claims to be deaf, says the agent, and if he's telling the truth, he's the victim of a terrible tragedy. And if he's not, he's a cold-blooded killer.

The twist ending to this short little shocker is worth the price of admission. Brown was one of the most original thinkers among the Black Mask writers, and this story truly deserves its place among the best stories published there.

"The Gun Also Rises" by Jeffrey Cohen

2010-12-06T03:08:00.004-06:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, January/February 2011

In 1999, trying to find out who gave his six-year-old son Ethan a water gun (with which he squirted a classmate) causing him to face a two-day suspension, suburban New Jersey husband, father, and freelance reporter Aaron Tucker gets a call to cover the death of Ramon Escobar, closer for the minor league Edison Kilowatts.

Escobar apparently died when his teammates piled on top of him celebrating a win. However, Tucker's various sources say it's unlikely the weight simply crushed him. Tucker overhears two of Escobar's Latino teammates talking, but their only words in English are "cream" and "clear".

By setting his story ten years in the past, Cohen cleverly draws attention to three of today's hottest topics. In 1999, pro baseball hardly acknowledged the problem of performance-enhancing drugs, team celebrations were thought harmless fun, and Ethan's disability had yet to be diagnosed as Asperger's syndrome. Tucker's editor at the fanboy magazine Infield isn't interested in the hard news story of a drug-related death. He wants a puff piece lamenting the loss of a talent so young.

Lucky for readers, Tucker keeps digging, and with the help of his multilingual best friend, gets to the bottom of Escobar's death. I enjoyed this story's humor and heart, but also Tucker's level-headed approach to questioning people. Realizing what will set them off, he tries to disarm them and get the answers he needs.

"Neighbors" by Joseph Finder

2010-10-07T11:21:00.006-05:00

From: Agents of Treachery ed. Otto Penzler. Vintage Crime, 2010.

Finder's contribution to an anthology of original espionage stories follows protagonist Matt Parker's suspicions of his new neighbor Jimmy Nourwood. The suspicions seem to start on the level of mild prejudice: "He looks Arab. 'Nourwood'? That can't be his real name." When Matt's computer searches on Nourwood come up empty, you have to wonder what's going on.

As far as he goes to learn about Jimmy, Matt is very guarded about his own life. As I read the story, I measured my own view of Jimmy against Matt's increasing paranoia and aggressive actions. Eventually I found Matt so distasteful I turned away from him—and was blindsided by everything he was hiding.

Whether you gravitate toward Matt or Jimmy, I'm betting you'll be surprised, too.

Passed by Kieran Shea

2010-09-13T09:32:00.003-05:00

Stories by Kieran Shea are bound to be well written and hard edged, so he's fast becoming one of those writers that can get me to spring for a copy of a magazine or open up one of the e-zines. His story "Passed" is in the current iteration of Plots with Guns, and it is well worth the read.

In it, a son gets a call from his death-row dwelling father in the hour before the needle. The son, a full grown man now, only has bad memories and no real desire to talk with his daddy, but then the request the father makes is a simple favor and, well, it is in his very last hour: pick up and deliver some funeral clothes.

The story has a lot of atmosphere and even though I kind of wished for a sligthly different ending, that might just be "Moral-me" talking. Anyway, check it out.

Mr. Alibi by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2010-09-01T08:47:00.003-05:00

Kristine Kathryn Rusch is not known to me personally, but I've admired her career for a while. She writes romance, sci-fi and mystery at an award winning caliber, and her list of credits is amazing. Take a look.

The current issue of EQMM has one of her stories, and I think it is the best PI story I've read in a while. It's called Mr. Alibi and concerns a female PI who is in a bar waiting for a no-show client when she's approached by a man who wants her to alibi him for the night before when he claims to have murdered his wife. At first she thinks he's just using a pick-up line or trying to be funny, but doubts creep in and what follows is a mix of false identities, scams, and Hollywood history.

It's an engrossing story and the legwork the PI goes through felt real. Overall, a great read.

The Uninvited Guest by Jane Hammons

2010-08-21T20:02:00.003-05:00

This story, in my latest issue of Crimespree Magazine is lovely. Okay, it is a really very dark brand of lovely, but it's memorable lovely as well. The prose is neat, the psychology of the characters seems real, the plot presented twists that I wasn't expecting (granted, that's not that hard)In any event, the story deals with a pair of con artists - older male, quite dominant - and a younger female, submissive but also the narrator. They come across a young girl - 8 year old Connie - and the female grifter decides to use the girl in a series of scams which has an unintended result.

Anyway, you won't be disappointed by this one. It is supposedly a cut from a novel Ms. Hammons is working on and if this is the stuff that got cut, I can't wait to read the actual novel.

"One, Two, Three" by Paul Cain

2010-07-13T20:56:00.003-05:00

From: The Black Lizard Big Book of the Pulps, ed. Otto Penzler. Vintage Crime / Black Lizard, 2007.

The unnamed gambler who narrates this story is after a con man named Healey, and with good reason. Healey plays cards but is no good at it, and he has a lot of money. The narrator plays well and wants to relieve him of some.

After cooling his heels in Los Angeles waiting for his mark to show up, the narrator gets a tip he's hiding out in Caliente, Nevada, and he wastes no time getting up there. Pretty soon he and Healey are drinking together, and Healey eventually asks him for a lift to L.A. Unfortunately Healey gets cold feet, as in laid-out-on-a-slab cold, and his money takes a trip of its own. The narrator doesn't like that so much.

He returns to L.A. and starts hunting around, and before long he discovers two other chislers trying to horn in on the action. The three of them do their best to beat each other to the punch, but unbeknownst to them, there's someone else out there ready to knock them all on the head.

"One, Two, Three" is told in Cain's trademark deadpan style, but unlike many of his other stories, there's nothing grim about it. In fact it's blackly humorous and the ending is outright funny. I read Cain's collection Seven Slayers, in which this story apparently appeared, several years ago, but for whatever reason had absolutely no memory of it, even after rereading it in Otto Penzler's mammoth love letter to the pulps.

I was reminded of Cain today when I read the news that one of Cain's stories that had never been reprinted was available. Take a look here for more details. (via Spinetingler)

NBS Special Report: Plainclothes - A Tribute Site to the Original Crimestopper

2010-07-11T13:27:00.000-05:00

Recently assembled by Max Allan Collins, Bruce Dettman, Jim Doherty, Tracy Kazaleh, Kim McFarland, Shelley Pleger, Joe Staton, and Mike Curtis, Plainclothes pays tribute to Chester Gould's iconic police detective, Dick Tracy. The site—featuring web comics, serialized fiction, and feature articles—will be up for a limited time. Check it out while you can.

King by Dave Zeltserman

2010-07-10T11:26:00.004-05:00

This is the current story at Beat to a Pulp. I'm not sure if it is truly a crime story (though there is a crime in it) but it is a nice piece of dark psychology. In it, Mary an elderly lady who may not have every one of her marbles readily at hand, likes to feed pigeons*. She has a nemesis who demands that she stop the practice. He scares her and with good reason. He's very mean. And he's willing to break the law to make sure he gets his way.

What makes the story is how Mary reacts to the man she knows as "The Evil Wizard." Can't say anything about that since I'd like you to go take a look at the story for yourself.

There is a fairytale element to the story (king, wizard, princess) that I could wish had been more fully developed. But that would have taken more pages and one of the downfalls of online publishing, I think, is that it's hard to get readers to read longer work on the screen. Ah well. Still a very worthy story.

"Julius Katz", by Dave Zeltserman

2010-06-30T18:40:00.004-05:00

Available for download from Amazon.com.

Julius Katz is not Nero Wolfe.

Sure, there are similarities. The name, to begin with. The love of fine food. The indolence that means he only works when he has to. And an assistant named Archie, the narrator of the story, who women find utterly charming.

But Katz does not weigh an eighth of a ton; in fact, he keeps himself in excellent shape. He's witty, charming, and irresistible to women. He drinks wine, not beer. He lives in a Boston townhouse, not a New York brownstone, and he ventures out of it frequently. And Archie? He's an artificial intelligence housed in Katz's tie clip.

Likewise, "Julius Katz" is not a Nero Wolfe story, though it obviously draws inspiration from Wolfe, and shares some of the same rhythms. Katz is obliged to take a case from Norma Brewer, a woman in late middle age, and her sister Helen. Their mother is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and their brother Lawrence - her legal guardian - refuses to move her to a nursing home. Norma is afraid that through Lawrence's negligence some harm will come to her mother, especially since Lawrence himself stands to inherit a tidy sum.

So Katz visits their mother, and spends the next few days assiduously avoiding work, despite Archie's protestations. Then they get word of a new development: murder.

"Julius Katz" suffers somewhat from being an "origin" story. We spend almost as much time getting to know Katz as he does investigating the case. And the pacing can best be described as... langourous? Sedate? Fans of Nero Wolfe (as I am) will get the most enjoyment from this story, but anyone who enjoys an old-fashioned tale of pure detection will get their money's worth.

The Alphabet Workbook by Mehnaz Turner

2010-06-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

The Alphabet Workbook by Mehnaz Turner is only three pages long, but it packs a wallop. It appears in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's Department of First Stories, but is so amazingly well written and so ultimately devastating that you'd be forgiven for thinking Ms. Turner is an old hand at the mystery story. I'd forgive you.

The story is only three pages long, so there is a sense in which I can't say all that much without revealing more of the plot than is decent. On the other hand, the power of this tale (and it is powerful) is in the telling - even were I to reveal every plot point, I wouldn't be capturing what makes this story so special. Still, as a reviewer, I'll say this much: it concerns the narrator, a transplant to Los Angeles, and her neighbor, Angela. Angela makes the mistake of knocking on the narrator's door to borrow eggs. Anyway, I fear saying more. I'll just mention that though the narrator is a social worker, she has some anti-social tendencies.

I really don't know how else to say things about this marvelous story. If you'd like my copy of EQMM, leave a comment to that effect, and if you're lucky, you get it. Lucky or the only one to leave a comment... I'll check back in a day or two to see who gets the prize (and this one story does qualify the magazine as a prize).

"Blood and Bone in Bambooland", by Cameron Ashley

2010-06-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

From: Plots With Guns, Issue #9, June 2010.

Apparently Cameron Ashley and I have the same since of humor, 'cause I laughed out loud a couple of times while reading "Blood and Bone in Bambooland". If this story were set in the U.S., it would have to be a Southern Gothic, but even with the Down Under milieu, it's still pretty damn Gothic.

And it has the best Anglo-accented monologue since The Limey.

The plot? Mark is boss John G.'s newest flunky. A couple of his other boys killed somebody they really maybe ought not have, but it's done now, and John G. needs somebody to clean up the mess. So Mark is taking a trip out to the country to see the Eggman, who handles that sort of job. Things don't go exactly as planned, though, and Mark gets caught up in a feud between the Eggman and his horticulturist neighbor, a disagreement that ends badly all 'round.

It's the narrative voice that carries the story, though. Mark is the only one who can see how absurd all the clowns around him are, and sometimes it's a struggle not to laugh right in their faces. The reader, however, is free to laugh with abandon. A dark comedy but one I enjoyed.

"Bronx, Summer, 1971", by Steven Torres

2010-06-22T12:53:00.004-05:00

From: CrimeSpree #35 (March/April 2010).

Ernesto and Celia Santiago, an elderly Hispanic couple living in a modest third-floor walkup, were brutally murdered on the hottest day of the year. What troubled Detectives Woods and Carver was the absence of a motive. It appeared that someone wanted something and tortured the couple to get it. Then Woods spots a picture that gives them a hint: Ernesto and Celia, their arms around a smiling young man. Ray Cruz, a notorious drug dealer.

Cruz himself shows up soon after, distraught to the point where even the cops know he's not faking. The Santiagos were his godparents. Now Woods and Carver have to work fast, because they're not the only ones after the killers.

I'm breaking one of our rules here ("thou shalt not review other members' stories") because I like this one so much. It's told with great economy, with characters sketched out in just a few strokes, but entirely believable. Steven is really good at using unsympathetic characters, or outright villains, as the protagonists of his stories (see his Viktor Petrenko stories for another example), and I understand that Ray Cruz may return in the future.

"The 45 Steps", by Peter Crowther

2010-06-21T09:44:00.002-05:00

From: The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries, ed. Mike Ashley. Carroll & Graf, 2007.

There was only one thing noteworthy about the Regal Hotel in Luddersedge. Not the elegance of its ballroom, which was really rather threadbare; not the quality of it's foie gras, as the cuisine tended towards tradional English; certainly not the long list of distinguished guests who'd stayed there. No, the only reason to remember the Regal was the opulence of the gentlemen's lavatory in the basement.

Arthur Clark's bathroom habits were equally well-known around the village. At ten o'clock every evening he would get up and head to what Max Reger called "the smallest room in the house", whether he were in his own home, or at the Conservative Club's Christmas banquent at the Regal. So regular were his habits, in fact, that they could be used against him, and one of the elegant stalls in the Regal's restroom could in fact become the setting for a locked-room murder.

This rather droll story was original to the book in which it appeared but deserves wider attention. A mixture of dark humor, fair-play detection, and the character of irascable Detective Inspector Malcolm Broadhurst combine to make this a delightful exercise in classic detection.

"How To Jail", by Dennis Tafoya

2010-06-14T20:07:00.004-05:00

From: CrimeFactory, Vol. 2 Issue #3 - May 2010.

When Willis' brother Henry got out of jail, he moved into Willis' small Las Vegas apartment. But he's not out yet, not really. He doesn't talk much, and he doesn't do much. Mostly he sits and looks out the window. Sometimes Henry talks about his dad, a drunk and a jailbird, and how everything he told them about jail was wrong

Kelly lives in an apartment down the hall. Her boyfriend smacks her around sometimes. She comes down to Willis' place to see a friendly face and find some peace.

Henry's friend Dontay is getting out of jail. It's up to Henry to take him out, celebrate a bit. Reminisce about old times.

From these elements author Dennis Tafoya spins a tragedy writ small. These are people and situations we've seen before, but Tafoya's characters are closely observed and carefully drawn. "How to Jail" is a quiet story, not much action, but the ending still carries an emotional impact.

NBS Special Report: A Facelift

2010-06-14T10:24:00.002-05:00

The updated look of Nasty. Brutish. Short. should be easier to maintain with Blogger's new template designer, just out of draft. I went for a cold look fitting our nasty, brutish title—but also a clean look, keeping all the page elements where they were. Enjoy.

"Scenarios" by Lawrence Block

2010-06-03T05:43:00.004-05:00

From: The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors, ed. Jonathan Santlofer and S.J. Rozan. Bloomsbury, 2010.

Block's contribution to this anthology of literary and crime fiction authors begins with a sexual predator looking for his next victim at a bar. Just when I began to guess where the story was going, Block broke the "fourth wall", offering three different ways the story could turn out, one of which was "true".

If you don't mind Block breaking the fourth wall, this story is a fine show of the writer's imagination at work and how many different tales can be spun from the same starting point.

"Everything Tastes Like Whiskey", by Scott Wolven

2010-05-28T19:04:00.001-05:00

From: Plots With Guns, Issue #8 Winter, 2010.

As John walks to work across the University of Idaho campus, .44 Magnum strapped to his hip, no one seems interested in him. He himself has a hard time forgetting that he'd shot a man just the week before. All he's done since is sit at his house and drink beer.

Despite the fact it was self-defense, his boss at the detective agency thinks it would be a good idea if he left town for a while. A rancher named Bill Warner has been having some problems with wolves, and maybe trespassers, and John is dispatched to take care of it. Warner himself is an old man, many years widowed, and a drunk.

John sets up early one morning in a spot where he can spot the wolves if they approach Warner's cattle, but instead of wolves he sees three Mexicans instead, boys or young men. He warns them off in no uncertain terms, but they've brought trouble with them.

What can I say? Another winner for Scott Wolven. The character of John - tough but sensitive - is well drawn, as that of Warner and John's elderly uncle. If you're not a big fan of Wolven's, well, it's time you started.

"I Am Madame X's Bodyguard", by Patricia Abbott

2010-05-26T09:40:00.004-05:00

From: Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Spring 2010.

Lennie, the narrator of "I Am Madame X's Bodyguard", used to be a pro's pro, keeping guys like John Gotti safe from their occupational hazards. But he's not the man he used to be. Recently his biggest job was guarding Joey Bananas during a long, slow death that finally came at age 97.

Now, though, he's got a new job. Not exactly glamorous, but very, very necessary. His new client has one of the most dangerous jobs in the country: she's a book reviewer for the New York Times.

And not just any reviewer, but one who writes lines like "an odious self-portrait of the artist as a young jackass." As it turns out, she's just as critical of her bodyguard.

This story relies on a lot of inside baseball for the publishing crowd. Unless you're a regular reader of Sarah Weinman's review roundups you may not know who "Marilyn" is, for example. But if you're in on the joke, I suspect that you will find this story to be one of the funniest you've read in a while.

"Lapses", by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

2010-05-26T09:25:00.003-05:00

From: The Second Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction, ed. Ed Gorman.
Black Lizard Books, 1988

Ruth Donahue was on her way through the San Joaquin Valley when the pickup ahead of her wiped out, launching a dog into her windshield. Though the dog was killed, Ruth herself seemed to be okay. Maybe just a little... off.

After a trip to the hospital and a night in a motel, she feels ready to return to her home in San Luis Obispo. So she climbs into her rented Ford Escort and gets on the road. A little while later she glances at a road sign - and realizes she's driven two hundred miles out of her way. There's a gas station receipt on the seat beside her. She doesn't remember stopping.

She stops at a roadside church, welcoming a few minutes of peace with the friendly pastor. She sips the coffee he brings. And when she looks up...

Yarbro does a good job bringing Ruth's confusion and panic to the page. As the situations she finds herself in become increasingly bizarre, Ruth wonders Where have I been? What have I been doing? Though it takes a while to get going, "Lapses" is a fine, disturbing short story.

Derringer Winners

2010-05-10T14:16:00.003-05:00

Yes, it's been all over the web. Yes, people are done with congratulations. In fact, some of the joy is probably ebbing from the winners, but... I thought I'd mention that the Derringer winners have been announced:

BEST FLASH STORY (Up to 1,000 Words)

"And Here's To You, Mrs. Edwardson" by Hamilton Waymire
Published in the webzine Big Pulp, November 23, 2009

BEST SHORT STORY (1,001 - 4,000 Words)

"Twas the Night" by Anita Page
Published in The Gift of Murder, October 2009

BEST LONG STORY (4,001 - 8,000 Words)

"Famous Last Words" by Doug Allyn
Published in EQMM, November 2009

BEST NOVELETTE (8,001 - 17,500 Words)

"Julius Katz" by Dave Zeltserman
Published in EQMM, September/October 2009

2010 RECIPIENT OF THE EDWARD D. HOCH MEMORIAL GOLDEN DERRINGER FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT

Lawrence Block

Links to many of the nominated stories are to be found at the Short Mystery Fiction Society website here.

Spinetingler Award Nominees

2010-03-24T10:07:00.001-05:00

Just got word that Spinetingler has posted their nominees for best short story on the web. Take a look.

The Consummate Professional by Graham Bowlin

2010-03-04T12:14:00.003-06:00

The current Thuglit has a nifty story. The profession in this story is that of cocaine vendor. The main character has a problem client and the problem client has a pretty girlfriend. And he beats her. There's not much question that the client deserves to die, but then he's wealthy and no longer susceptible to rat poison... And it's unprofessional to murder your clients. Probably in a cocaine vendor handbook.

The story backtracks to college days and looks forward to a time when the professional can retire, but that can't really happen unless the pretty girlfriend is willing to do her share. Share of what, you ask? Well, read it and see.

The prose is well-polished (though there may be a few excesses - hard to say. The site is called "Thuglit," after all...). The pace is good (not such an easy feat when you're flashing back). Overall, a very good read and when I see Graham Bowlin's name again, I'll certainly take a look.

Kiss Me, Dudley by Ed McBain

2010-03-03T14:01:00.003-06:00

I picked up a copy of The McBain Files at a library sale, and this is the first McBain I read. Kiss Me, Dudley is a seriously deranged story. A woman walks into a PI's office and normal ends there. Her mate has caused her trouble by stealing 10 million and dying leaving her at the mercy of the people he stole from. Before the initial interview is over, the PI has belted his client. Before it's all over, the PI will have struck his client several times (and done worse) and gotten rid of the enemies - all 26 of them. With grenades... Bizarre and well worth the read.

"Drive-Thru" by David Dietrich

2010-02-20T06:09:00.001-06:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May 2010.

Working the midnight-to-six shift alone at the Atlas Burger drive-thru window, the narrator of this story doesn't believe he's being robbed when he hears an unfamiliar man's voice through his piece-of-junk headset. Bored, and perhaps jaded, the narrator engages the would-be robber in conversation.

This isn't how you might expect a crime story to unfold, but it's just right for AHMM's annual humor issue. Disembodied dialogue across the narrator's headset and the drive-thru speaker drives the story yet keeps it unpredictable.

Nowhere to Go by Iain Rowan

2010-02-08T10:46:00.003-06:00

I've been reading Iain Rowan for a long time now going back to the heady days when Shred of Evidence was around. He's a master of creepiness and this AHMM story from the end of last year is not an exception.

Here's the set up: A man with way too much time on his hands witnesses a murder via his laptop. He calls the authorities and gives what information he has, but it appears to be a wild goose chase as far as the police are concerned. There is no evidence to corroborate the story, no missing person who might have been the victim, etc. There's some chance, of course, that the witness is insane, but, well... Isn't that always the case? The man decides to investigate for himself (after all, his sanity is in question, and one likes to clear those issues up) but what he finds out won't at all be what he expected.

Mr. Rowan has put together a tricky story and made it run like clockwork.

Out of Her Depth by John C. Boland

2010-02-05T13:46:00.001-06:00

The December 2009 issue of AHMM includes this story by John Boland, an author whose work I've admired before. In this story, the reader is treated to multiple points of view and voices (complex and a nifty bit of craftsmanship, but never irksome to the reader). A man is dying on a ship in the opening section, but this quickly turns to the hiring of a detective by the potential widow. It seems she and her millionaire husband were in the midst of settling a divorce which would cut her out of his estate unless... unless it turns out her husband died before the divorce was finalized.

Meggie Trevor takes the case and goes to retrace the potential victims last steps.Meggie's voice throughout the remainder of the story is, I think, the main draw. She sounds like the type of person you may want to know - real. Not an easy thing to do in a short story.

The Caretaker by Terence Faherty

2010-02-04T13:36:00.001-06:00

The December 2009 issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine has a story you shouldn't miss by Terence Faherty. The man writes delicately beautiful prose which is not something that can be said for every mystery writer. His care in phrasing and word choice is phenomenal and worth study.

Anyway...

Anne Abbott is taking care of a house in Jackson Hole Wyoming. The place is isolated from society under a big sky, and the only other person for miles around is the caretaker of another house not too far away - a mysterious stranger with a limp. Can't hardly think of anything that could possibly go wrong there...

Except that Anne is not the type of young lady who could let a mysterious stranger simply float into and out of her life without her investigating.

And her investigations turn up what she thinks might be a star-crossed love affair. but what role does a hatchet play in it all? Well, take a look to find out. I'll mail my beat up copy to whoever asks first.

The Hate Tapes by Doug Allyn

2010-02-03T13:27:00.001-06:00

The March AHMM fairly brims with great stories, and this is one of them. The story starts with a rock concert (I've never been to one of those) by an aging band in 1991. Their heyday was about twenty years past and they thought they'd seen it all. Then, during the last song, there's a scuffle on the dance floor and a fan winds up dead.

Nothing to do with the band, right? Well, it turns out the lead singer knows the guy - the stabee, if you will. The police want the singer to stay in town since no one else knows the dead guy. And it turns out that the last words on the dead man's lips were "hate tapes." Is that a reference to the recording medium or a reference to the music that was being played or something else entirely? Figuring that out is a key to figuring out who killed the guy.

Doug Allyn is a favorite at AHMM, though his stories sometimes leave me a little cold. This one, however, was quite good.

"The Messenger" by Wayne L. Wilson

2010-01-03T02:49:00.000-06:00

From: The Darker Mask: Heroes From the Shadows ed. Gary Phillips and Christopher Chambers

Wilson's contribution to this collection of dark superhero tales opens with a man walking along the Venice Beach boardwalk entranced by the best trumpet-playing he's ever heard. Following the music through a thick fog, he encounters a few people who don't seem to hear it. Finally he finds the trumpet player, an imposing figure who oddly seems to have no weight. Realizing the figure is God or an angel, the man has a hard time accepting what he's told, until the spirit of his dead wife appears.

The tone of continued skepticism here nicely balances the more "out-there" elements. Not your typical feel-good story.

The Man Who Was Kicked to Death by Pablo Palacio

2009-11-05T11:00:00.003-06:00

The current Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine has a story that is terribly inventive. Sadly, the author, Pablo Palacio, has been dead for some years. K.j.a. Wishnia has translated and introduced the story and it deserves to be known.

In the story, the narrator reads of a man who was kicked to death. The man had made his way to a police precinct before dying and when the police had asked who had kicked him and why, the victim's story is thin. Since the man dies soon after, the thin story is all there is. Or is it?

The narrator, after waiting a few days to see if more of the story comes out, takes it upon himself to investigate. Of course, he isn't a police officer and doesn't have anything more than the short news article, but he goes through a process of ratiocination (that's right, I said ratiocination...) that would have made Dupin envious. The narrator is clearly crazed, but he also seems to be clearly right in his deductions about the crime.

In any event, this is a story tha deserves to be read by many more and Wishnia and AHMM have done mystery lovers a great kindness. Here's hoping there are more Palacio stories out there.

"I Seen That" by S.J. Rozan

2009-10-25T07:29:00.001-05:00

From: Once Upon a Crime: An Anthology of Murder, Mayhem, and Suspense ed. Gary R. Bush and Chris Everheart

In three pages, Rozan's contribution to an anthology honoring Minneapolis mystery bookshop Once Upon a Crime delivers a New York character as only Bronx-born Rozan could write him. In a one-sided conversation with bartender Frankie, he fills in the backstory behind a woman's murder just reported on the news.

R.I.P. Stuart M. Kaminsky

2009-10-10T09:14:00.000-05:00

Along with the rest of the mystery community, I was saddened to hear of the passing yesterday of former MWA Grandmaster Stuart M. Kaminsky at the age of 75. Kaminsky's prose was so personable, I felt I knew him though we had never met. Click here to read my previous coverage of Kaminsky's work on Nasty. Brutish. Short.

"Ten Gallons of Infected Saliva, or, The Cuckold, Avenged" by Scott Phillips

2009-09-25T17:33:00.005-05:00

From: Uncage Me ed. Jen Jordan. Bleak House Books, 2009.

Leading off an anthology on the many forms of transgression, this story follows Amos, a college kid willing to work at a porno theater to accumulate the hours he needs to join the projectionist's union. Amos's wry narration reminded me of Lawrence Block's Chip Harrison, his voice so engaging as to almost make smut palatable.

One of Amos's friends, Tad, works at a funeral parlor and carries on an affair with his boss's wife, Beth. One night, Tad takes Beth to the theater, followed shortly by a man with a gun. Flustered, Amos lets the armed man into the theater, and he proceeds to shoot himself. Though the man's name is never mentioned, it's implied he is Beth's husband, Tad's boss. That this shooting is the only act I considered a crime in this story testifies to the persuasive power of Phillips's writing.

You can also hear Phillips read this story at Seth Harwood's CrimeWAV.

Homework by Phil Lovesey

2009-09-21T10:55:00.004-05:00

The latest EQMM has a story by the son of one of my favorite short story writers, Peter Lovesey. Phil Lovesey's story, "Homework" is a good crime story told in an interesting way - a tenth grader's homework essay. Now, there is a danger in a tenth grader's essay - to make it seem authentic, the author, no matter how skilled, must make the essay read poorly. In the case of this story, for instance, there are a fair number of run on sentences. Oh, and digressions. And fairly superficial readings of Hamlet. If you've taught English, you know what I'm talking about.

But these things don't ever overwhelm the story. And the story is a good one. The student feels she's been slighted by the teacher who asked for the assignment, and she has learned some details about that teacher that he might not want divulged. Things go downhill for the teacher from there. And he won't know who has devised his doom until he reads the homework assignments. For reasons I won't give away, it might be a while before he gets to them.

Anyway, if you want a good story told in a unique manner, try out the latest EQMM.

The Case of the Piss-Poor Gold by Lee Goldberg

2009-09-17T10:35:00.003-05:00

Lee Goldberg is the author of the Monk novels based on Adrian Monk, one of the more colorful detectives ever put together. If you don't know, Monk is a brilliant man beset by just about every obssessive-compulsive behavior possible. This story, however, is not about ADRIAN Monk. It's about a distant relative, Artemis Monk who solves crimes (in his spare time) in a California gold rush town that's still in its unclean infancy.The story is told by Mrs. Guthrie, his assistant.

The main crux of the story is how a town drunk who literally pisses about town (to Monk's grief) was able to sell a land claim that seems to contain plenty of gold now, but had previously been determined to be barren. As the town's only assayer, Monk can testify about the former barrenness. As Monk, he can figure out what crime was committed to make the land have more gold in it now.

I'll have to say I hadn't thought of the solution ahead of time which is always a good sign, but this story is more than just a good puzzle (or two, Monk also quickly wraps up a murder - his powers are prodigous). It is also a good portrait of a mining town and its inhabitants, paying particular attention to the dirt. More importantly for me, the story had me laugh out loud a couple of times, and that is a terribly difficult thing to do on paper. Most funny lines die once written down, but not in Goldberg's hands. That's magic. Well worth the price of the latest Ellery Queen.

"Discovery" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

2009-08-22T21:13:00.007-05:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2008.

Pia Cardenas, solo attorney in a small New Mexico town, represents Nan Hughes. Nan's husband, Ty, tried to outrun a train in his truck and supposedly died in the resulting crash. Shortly before he died, Ty left a voicemail for Nan, confessing to trying to beat the train. Not only does the evidence seem stacked against her, but Pia also feels overwhelmed by the large law firm representing the railroad.

Leaning toward asking Nan to settle, Pia nevertheless covers all her bases, running down the list of witnesses. Her legwork pays off as she discovers the truth behind the accident. This is a classic David vs. Goliath story livened up by Pia's epiphany that she prefers working solo in a small town to a job with a more prominent firm.

While Pia isn't a private investigator by name, "Discovery" has many of the best characteristics of the P.I. story. I can see why it was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America.

NBS Special Report: 2009 Shamus Award Nominees

2009-08-21T22:17:00.004-05:00

Announced by the Private Eye Writers of America:

For Best Short Story:

“Family Values,” by Mitch Alderman (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine [AHMM], June 2008)
“Last Island South,” by John C. Boland (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine [EQMM], September/October 2008)
“The Blonde Tigress,” by Max Allan Collins (EQMM, June 2008)
“Discovery,” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (AHMM, November 2008)
“Panic on Portage Path,” by Dick Stodghill (AHMM, January/February 2008)

Interview with Blake Crouch

2009-08-10T08:45:00.002-05:00

Blake Crouch is known for his psychological thrillers like Desert Places and his latest novel Abandon.* He's also recently turned his hands at the short story form. I reviewed one of his stories, "Shining Rock," last week after it ran in EQMM and he has another story out sharing space in an anthology, Uncage Me!, with one of my Stoop, the Thief stories. He was kind enough to take time away from work and family and answer a few questions for me:

1 - If it doesn't reveal too much about the plot, can you talk about the genesis of the "Shining Rock" story?

When I was a boy, I did a lot of backpacking with my parents and younger brother, and one of our favorite places to go was Shining Rock Wilderness in the North Carolina Mountains . One summer evening as we were setting up camp in a remote area of the wilderness called Beech Spring Gap, a gentleman came over to our camp and introduced himself. He was a burly fellow in his fifties wearing blue shorts and a vest brimming with camping accessories and various patches. He also had a machete lashed to his back and mentioned in the course of small-talk that he’d fought in Vietnam . The interaction was unsettling and more than a little awkward. I was twelve at the time but found out years later from my father that he’d been terrified, so much in fact that he and my mom had whispered in their tent late that night, debating leaving because they were afraid this man was going to come back and murder all of us while we slept. Obviously, that didn’t happen. My family struck up a friendship with the man (who turned out to be a gentle soul) and we accompanied him on future backpacking trips. But the strangeness of that initial encounter and the fear my parents must have felt never left me, and the experience inspired a short story called “Shining Rock.”

2 - You've also written a story for the anthology UNCAGE ME called "*69". That story has a seriously creepy element to it. Do you work on creepiness or does it spring naturally?

Well, in full disclosure, you have a story in UNCAGE ME called "The Biography of Stoop, the Thief" which I thought was just first-rate and had a real delicate emotional core. Might be my favorite of the collection. Creepiness does tend to infiltrate my writing. I think it's the shady side of human nature that fascinates me (all of us crime writers, right?). So far, I've been devoted to exploring how far down our depravity goes (bottomless I think), but I'm trying as of late, to see the way out. We know we're bad, but so what? What do we do about it? The dicey morality stuff is infinitely harder.

3 - Is short story writing fundamentally different from novel writing for you?

Yes, I think it's much more difficult. With a short story, I'll only start writing one if the idea is very strong, self-contained, and something I'm just dying to do. It's one of the hardest forms of writing I think, because it also has to have a twist, and I don't mean a surprise ending, but a tension between reader expectation and what actually happens, no matter how small. Otherwise it's just like reading the alphabet. I also find that unlike novels, with short fiction, I can put it aside for months at a time, and then come back to it. My stories really benefit from that time away, but if I took off that much time from a novel in progress, I'd lose it. But I love writing short fiction. When it works, it just flat-out works. Like a gut-punch.

4 - Any favorite short story writers in or out of the genre that readers should be aware of?

Well, the old pros...Raymond Carver, Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block. I love Annie Proulx's stuff. Adam Haslett's first short story collection YOU ARE NOT A STRANGER HERE really made me want to start writing short fiction.

5 - Any short stories coming in the immediate future?

My story, "Remaking" just came out in the THRILLER 2 anthology, as well as an audio exclusive called "On the Good, Red Road " that I recorded as a bonus for the Brilliance Audiobook of ABANDON. Of course, there was the abomination called SERIAL I wrote with JA Konrath which is far and away the most messed-up thing I've written. His publisher, Grand Central, made it available everywhere as a free eBook. So with 5 stories out this year, that may be it for 2009. I've got two longer short stories that I'm really happy with, and one more I still need to rework. The two that are finished are on submission, so you know how that goes. Could see them this year, maybe next, maybe never. It's a tough business.

My many thanks to Blake for taking the time.

Shining Rock by Blake Crouch

2009-07-30T08:28:00.003-05:00

The May 2009 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine contains a story by suspense write Blake Crouch. Blake, a friend of mine and stablemate at St. Martin's Press, tends to write stories with a fairly high creepiness factor sometimes accompanied by gore, but not in this case. The suspense is all there. You know bad things are going to happen. It's just hard to tell to whom and who by.

In the story, a couple facing middle age are hiking to a remote area of the woods for their annual camping trip. This is the first time in a long while they've been without their children, and after a few drinks at night, they get a visit from a lonely man with a very sad story. There is an air of menance about him, and the couple is creeped out. When he finally makes his way back to his camp, the couple discuss the man's story and, well... let's just say the story resonates with them in a strange way. Unexpected (at least by me) and the couple decides, after analyzing the story and the coincidence of being encountered in the lonliest part of the woods, that the man is out to kill them. How they react to this tidbit, however, makes the story. Well, that and the last thing the lonely man says.

Anyway, Crouch certainly knows suspense, and this was a grand example. Read the intro to the story at the link.

The Incense Murder by I.J. Parker

2009-07-12T10:58:00.003-05:00

The September 2009 Alfred Hitchcock has a story from one of my favorite mystery short story writers, IJ Parker. Parker's main character is Sugawara (try saying that 3 times, fast) Akitada. The setting is 11 century Japan, Heian-Kyo (modern Kyoto). The stories generally revolve around some aspect of Japanese culture of the period, often they take place during festivals, for instance.

In this case, Akitada is asked to investigate a murder that may just have been caused by burning incense. The person asking him to look into the case had no love for the deceased but thinks the real target was himself. And who himself is is important to the tale - Akitada's cousin, a wealthy man who hasn't hidden his dislike of Akitada's and his mother but, since he is a blood relation, may just leave Akitada and mom a fortune when he dies.

Akitada, always very smart, takes the case, gets to the bottom of things and ends the story pretty much under arrest though with a chance he'll be set free. How he got into this mess is one of the several twists you'll have to read the story to figure out. Another homerun from IJ Parker.

I see from her website that her next Akitada book is on its way to bookstores. It's called "The Convict's Sword" and it has already garnered a rave from Publisher's Weekly: "Besides smoothly mixing action and deduction, Parker gives her protagonist an emotional depth that raises her to the front rank of contemporary historical writers." This is a starred review. Can't wait...

By the way, if you've never read an IJ Parker story, let me help you up from your benighted position. Here's a link.

"The Perfect Sucker", by Leslie Charteris

2009-07-07T19:34:00.003-05:00

From: Thanks to the Saint, Pocket Books, 1957.

Sometimes Simon Templar, better known as The Saint, isn't looking for trouble. Sometimes he just wants to kick back, relax, and enjoy himself. And it's true that there's nothing he likes better than seeing come to a just end, that wears on a man. Sometimes he just wants to go fishing.

Which he does, at a fishing camp on the Rogue River in Oregon. But his trip turns into a busman's holiday when he's taken for a mark by a couple of crafty con men working a sweet scheme. Or so it seems...

The Saint stories have a unique charm and are great entertainment, despite the fact that Simon Templar himself should come across as an insufferably smug English twit. He comes across as a wittier James Bond - a jack of all trades, admired by men, irresistible to women, etc etc, righting wrongs for his own amusement instead of Queen and country. But just this once he nearly puts his foot in it, and badly enough that he'd never forgive himself. As usual, chance smiles upon him, and he eventually finds a way to put things right.

These stories are nearly forgotten today, but I can't recommend them enough. Especially good is The Best of The Saint, Vol. 2, with a forward by Sir Roger Moore.

EQMM and AHMM Giveaway

2009-06-29T11:42:00.002-05:00

I've got a dozen (or more) EQMM/AHMM magazines from the last year or three sitting around clogging up bookshelf space. Anyone want them? Leave a comment to that effect and I'll check back tomorrow. If there's more than one interested party, I'll pick from a hat. Same contest at my blog so you have two chances to win (that is, I've got two boxes of magazines primed for the post office...)

"Guy Walks Into a Bar..." by Lee Child

2009-06-09T04:13:00.003-05:00

Published in The New York Times (June 6, 2009).

Child's contribution to the Times' Summer Thrills fiction series starts with a girl who catches Jack Reacher's eye at a Greenwich Village bar in the wee hours. She's no older than nineteen, Russian, and Reacher's instincts tell him she's about to be kidnapped. Longtime fans balance a trust in Reacher's take on most situations with the knowledge that, sooner or later, Child will upend expectations. When he does it is the surprise.

"Heat" by Toni McGee Causey

2009-06-08T12:45:00.003-05:00

Toni McGee Causey just tweeted about this story, calling it a very hot, sexy prequel to her novel series starring Bobbie Faye Sumrall. I've heard good buzz about Toni's series and have her first book on my shelf, but have yet to get to it, which allows me to give a first-time reader's account of "Heat".

No crime or mystery is at the center of this story. Bobbie Faye's best friend Cam, an LSU quarterback-turned-state policeman, has just helped her out of a bad relationship, and the two of them are preparing a crawfish boil. The story starts from Bobbie Faye's viewpoint. She's annoyed with Cam, wishing he'd see her as more than a friend. Causey then switches to Cam's viewpoint, and it turns out the attraction is mutual. The story ends in a connection that isn't very graphic, but serves to release the sexual tension just the same.

Events are alluded to and enough of Bobbie Faye's voice comes through that I want to read and fill in the rest.

Shanks on Misdirection by Robert Lopresti

2009-05-27T15:15:00.003-05:00

I've just gotten into Robert Lopresti's long running Shanks series, and they're quite cool. The main character, Leopold Longshanks is a professional mystery writer and more than a little crumudgeonly. In the last story I reviewed, Shanks skewered a self-published author. In this one, he has troubles with writer of nasty reviews and a cozy writer who prefers to be called a "traditional" mystery writer. When the cozy writer's husband talks about having his ATM card eaten by the machine, Shanks suspects something more sinister than a simple ATM malfunction.

In any event, the mystery of this story is relatively slight (though those not knowledgeable of short cons might take a tip or two here) but the story makes up for that in attitude. Shanks and his wife have a healthy back and forth as does Shanks and just about anybody else. Getting back at the reviewer is a nice extra in the story.

"Follow Up" by Jo Dereske

2009-05-22T06:17:00.003-05:00

From: The Prosecution Rests ed. Linda Fairstein. Little, Brown, and Co., 2009.

In the middle of a blizzard, Michigan parole board member Jeff Willett comes to the aid of a woman stranded in the snow. He learns the woman is the mother of a possible parolee, Danny Hartman, who served time of holding up a 7-Eleven. Desperate to deliver letters in favor of Danny's parole, Danny's mother breaks from Jeff when his car runs off the road.

Jeff searches for her for a while, but when he meets with Danny, the kid seems unwilling to talk or accept possible help from his mother. I wasn't sure whether Jeff wanted to help Danny's mother reach the parole board or if he just wanted to avoid the complications her letters would bring. Either way, this story is a well-delivered, bleak look at the system.

NBS Special Report: 2009 Best Short Story Edgar

2009-04-30T22:51:00.003-05:00

As Twittered by Sarah Weinman and posted to The Rap Sheet:

Best Short Story: “Skinhead Central,” by T. Jefferson Parker (from The Blue Religion, edited by Michael Connelly; Little, Brown)

Also nominated: “A Sleep Not Unlike Death,” by Sean Chercover (from Hardcore Hardboiled, edited by Todd Robinson; Kensington Publishing); “Skin and Bones,” by David Edgerley Gate (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, October 2008); “Scratch of a Woman,” by Laura Lippman (from Hardly Knew Her; Morrow); and “La Vie en Rose,” by Dominique Mainard (from Paris Noir; edited by Aurelien Masson; Akashic Books)

G. Miki Hayden, Redux

2009-04-20T16:36:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I posted the first part of an interview with one of my favorite short story writers*. Then I lost internet service for a few days, then life got in the way, now I'm back to finish what I started. In fact, what follows is the entire interview. The first two Q&As duplicate what I posted some time ago. Enjoy:

ST: I really love your Miriam Obadah stories for AHMM. I find them moving besides being good mysteries. Do you concentrate on one aspect (emotion) instead of another (puzzle) at different times as you write or do the stories just come together as the reader sees them?

GMH: Thanks so much, Steve.

I don’t concentrate on one aspect and then layer in other aspects of a story when I write. I also rarely restructure. I write and then polish. However, while I certainly think that writing everything at the same time produces a more cohesive piece, I also will suggest that students (I teach for Writer’s Digest at Writers Online Workshops) can layer in elements later on if they aren’t able to provide them in the initial draft.

The most common essentials that students will miss in their writing are emotion, setting, and point-of-view character internals.

The eliciting of emotion is definitely an important fundamental of fiction, but that’s probably the hardest thing for writers to do. So I don’t really mean that, as creating suspense, tension, the onset of romance, or even reader sorrow is extremely difficult. If someone can actually trigger reader feelings—wonderful—she may make a lot of money selling her manuscripts. But if she can’t, then she can at least include the mechanical representation of these sensations. We are always able to write, “His heart thudded in his chest and he thought he would faint.” That will substitute for the real thing in many instances, and a writer does need to have at least some of that to round out any story.

As for setting, I encourage students to sketch in a few specifics, but also to keep the setting alive throughout a scene. For instance, if the characters are in deep conversation in a school cafeteria, let’s hear a little bit of the noise—the crash of trays, the laughter of the kids—and maybe even see someone slide on spilt milk. But I say sketch in these details, because the setting shouldn’t take away from the dialogue. It should simply create part of the reality, the background part.

The other most-often-missing element in fiction by new writers is point-of-view character thought. And some of this can be emotional as well, so I don’t entirely separate the two. The more the writer lets the reader know what’s going on with the character, the fuller the story becomes for his audience. Of course this, too, has to be paced out, and has to be on focus for the scene and the story. As writers, we don’t want to give stream of consciousness, but we also don’t want readers to be in the dark as to what the character believes, in regard to the situation.

I said I mostly don’t restructure, but sometimes I do, and the times when I do, I restructure the opening. The opening, especially of a short story, has to be quick and offer the hook as soon as possible. Writers often feel the need to “develop” or to “set up” the story, but less here is more. We can start quickly and then come back, and through internals give more development and setup.

ST: Do you have any methods either for the generation of short story ideas or for the writing process that you can share?

Ideas are everywhere, so instead of talking about how to generate them, I’ll say that once a writer has an idea and has started a project he ought to stick with that until he’s done. Worse than not being able to come up with an idea is not being able to carry through the writing to the end. I think that’s a chronic difficulty. Trust me, no story idea is significantly better than any other. No idea is “the” idea. The treatment of the idea is what really counts.

With a short story—as opposed to a full-length manuscript—I generally prefer to have a fairly well-formed sense of what I’m writing when I sit down to do the draft. I find that thinking through the logic of the story and knowing where it’s going can make the writing process a whole lot easier.

On the other hand, not everyone works in the same way, and not every piece will proceed along the same path, either. Writers do have to learn to trust their own processes. But I’m suggesting that if someone works out the short story plot in his head before he sits down, he’ll find the writing flows more easily.

That’s harder with a novel of course. Novels are longer. I don’t say that to be facetious exactly, but people do sometimes ask what the difference is between writing a short story and writing a novel. That novels are longer is pretty much my answer as to the difference. The length of the work affects the pacing of the story arc and may even account for the proverbial “sagging middle” of the novel—the segment of the manuscript where the writer herself sags and has no idea what to do next with her characters. (The answer is—push through to the end.)

ST: Your stories have been nominated for and won awards. Care to give the genesis for one or two of them?

GMH: Again, it’s not the idea, really. What makes a story successful is the execution. And believe me, too, a story can be successful and never be published, much less nominated for anything. Selling a story is the goal, but it’s not the actual hallmark of success. I just this year sold two stories I’ve been trying to sell for a number of years. I look at it as having finally found the proper markets. The stories didn’t change, but I found markets that really wanted this exact type of material. These, by the way, are stories with Middle Eastern protagonists—Moslems.

Some of the stories I’ve sold immediately, however, were stories I completely geared to a specific market with very exact requirements. In that case, I sat down and generated the idea and the story based on what the publication or anthology wanted. For instance, I did have a story nominated for a Derringer, and that story appeared in Babs Lakey’s anthology entitled DIME. Obviously she wanted something a little bit on the pulp side. What I did in writing “The Girl in Apartment 2A” was to take an idea and a character I had for a novel and turn it into a story. In this case I already had the character and her particulars and the story was sort of a prequel to what I felt would work for a novel.

I think, in other words, that writers can use short stories to test out characters they might want to write more about. Writers might also want to test a few themes that interest them, such as a period of history or a setting. Or a continuing protagonist.

But let me backtrack a little in explaining the execution side since I’ve mention that a couple of times. What I mean here is that the writer must add something to the story that makes it stand out. What will make a story rise above the rest might be the complexity of the background. Maybe the writer can charge the story up with a Wall Street setting that seems to jump from the pages of the Wall Street Journal. The story is timely and adds a chilling depth of financial detail in describing a multibillion dollar, even deadly, fraud.

Or maybe the story replicates the plot of a well-known novel from another era—but in the end adds an exciting twist. Or the story may bring in rich historical detail, which is something I myself like to do. I had a story published last year that was set in 1826, during the building of Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. ...That was inspired, actually, by a visit some folks from our MWA chapter made to Sing Sing in the company of fellow member, federal Judge Andy Peck.

While I do know of some stories about the spouse buried in the back garden that then flourishes or a rival writer tricked into eating certain foods that have gone on and won prizes, this is the exception rather than the rule. Trite and tried may conquer in the end, but not usually. Generally speaking, we should attempt to present a finely etched, well-developed, different sort of story if we want to compete in a market as crowded as this one for short stories is.

ST: You also write sci-fi. Do you find there's a big difference in how you go about constructing your stories depending on the genre?

GMH: In writing science fiction, unless the setting is a known one into which I introduce changes, I probably do much less research while writing. What I’ve done with a lot of my science fiction stories, however, has been to write them as mysteries—or as crime fiction. The beauty of the mystery story is that with a high-stakes, well-focused situation, the format of the story is in some sense a given and has an automatic power. Here, instead of researching the setting, you can think one up. However, research can actually apply in science fiction in many instances. For instance, an alien species can be based on earthly reptiles or types of insects. Or the intergalactic society we write about might have as its counterpart the culture of a South American Indian tribe. Or we may need to research the latest in particle physics to find a way to explain our multiverses.

The actual construction of the story, however, will be pretty much the same in science fiction or in mystery or even in romance—plotted around a central aim of the protagonist, or a central conflict. The protagonist makes progress, is stymied, makes progress, is blocked, overcomes, and eventually wins the day. How many conflicts then depends on the length of the story. Yes, really.

ST: What short story writers--mystery or otherwise—have inspired you?

GMH: Offhand I can think of three short stories that have really inspired me. One was by Dostoevsky and it simply overwhelmed me with the reality of the character and the protagonist’s situation. The story, “White Nights,” has been adapted for the screen several times, and a new digital version—transposed to L.A.—apparently will come out some time soon. I guess I wasn’t the only one to react to the story.

Another story, and I recall neither the author nor the story’s title, was set in the not-too-distant future in which the earth is simply overcrowded with people. This story featured each of the points of view of all the roommates (several) in one small apartment. I’ve never read a short story before or since with so many protagonists or one that gave such a strong feeling of a realistic, possible future for mankind.

The third story that influenced me I remember exactly nothing about except my impression. This story ran in a major magazine, a market that paid a lot for the story. And reading that story, I understood why it had been chosen—because in the end my emotions were profoundly affected. The story delved much more deeply than most stories do. The author made more extreme choices in the details than we typically do as writers. And thus the story had real impact and was published in a significant magazine.

I’ll add my impressions of a fourth story, one by a well-thought-of mystery writer. The writing was exceptionally skilled, and the story very different. It was, in fact, written in second person, and how often is that done? However, I found the story despicable and pointless. It had no moral, ethical center, and thus was simply, to me, an exercise in inhumanity. Writing that doesn’t do something to raise us all up (even writing about crime from a psychopath’s point of view can fly the flag of the radiant)—writing that doesn’t contribute to the betterment of our common situation on this earth either through pure entertainment or illumination—is to me without purpose. We writers create as well as reflect our civilization; we thus have a responsibility. That well-paid-for, well-published story also inspired me, but in a completely different respect. Even for writers (as with physicians), the motto should be “first do no harm.”

G. Miki Hayden is the author of The Naked Writer, a comprehensive, easy-to-read style and composition guide for all levels of writers.

"In My Hands" by Sarah Cortez

2009-04-07T13:07:00.002-05:00

From: The Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery ed. Sarah Cortez and Liz Martinez, Arte Publico Press, 2006.

This story details the unlikely friendship between go-getter real estate agent Calais and gold-digger Elizabeth. Elizabeth and her handsome husband Winston seem like the perfect couple until Winston leaves her for a younger woman. Distraught, Elizabeth becomes convinced Winston will try to kill her to get out of paying alimony.

One day, Elizabeth goes missing, and her friend Kathy asks Calais to check on her. Discovering what appears to be a struggle, Calais imagines what might have happened and how she can turn it to her advantage.

Cortez meticulously spins the clues into two different scenarios and shows how quickly friends can turn on each other.

Interview with G. Miki Hayden, Part I

2009-03-28T10:07:00.004-05:00

If you've been reading my reviews here, you know I'm a great admirer of Edgar winner G. Miki Hayden's short stories. If you haven't been reading my reviews, then shame on you. SHAME ON YOU!!

In any event, I asked a few questions and she taught a master lesson. Here is part one:

ST: I really love your Miriam Obadah stories for AHMM. I find them moving besides being good mysteries. Do you concentrate on one aspect (emotion) instead of another (puzzle) at different times as you write or do the stories just come together as the reader sees them?

GMH: Thanks so much, Steve.

I don’t concentrate on one aspect and then layer in other aspects of a story when I write. I also rarely restructure. I write and then polish. However, while I certainly think that writing everything at the same time produces a more cohesive piece, I also will suggest that students (I teach for Writer’s Digest at Writers Online Workshops) can layer in elements later on if they aren’t able to provide them in the initial draft.

The most common essentials that students will miss in their writing are emotion, setting, and point-of-view character internals.

The eliciting of emotion is definitely an important fundamental of fiction, but that’s probably the hardest thing for writers to do. So I don’t really mean that THE WRITER NEEDS TO ACTUALLY EVOKE A FEELING, as creating suspense, tension, the onset of romance, or even reader sorrow is extremely difficult. If someone can actually trigger reader feelings—wonderful—she may make a lot of money selling her manuscripts. But if she can’t, then she can at least include the mechanical representation of these sensations. We are always able to write, “His heart thudded in his chest and he thought he would faint.” That will substitute for the real thing in many instances, and a writer does need to have at least some of that to round out any story.

As for setting, I encourage students to sketch in a few specifics, but also to keep the setting alive throughout a scene. For instance, if the characters are in deep conversation in a school cafeteria, let’s hear a little bit of the noise—the crash of trays, the laughter of the kids—and maybe even see someone slide on spilt milk. But I say sketch in these details, because the setting shouldn’t take away from the dialogue. It should simply create part of the reality, the background part.

The other most-often-missing element in fiction by new writers is point-of-view character thought. And some of this can be emotional as well, so I don’t entirely separate the two. The more the writer lets the reader know what’s going on with the character, the fuller the story becomes for his audience. Of course this, too, has to be paced out, and has to be on focus for the scene and the story. As writers, we don’t want to give stream of consciousness, but we also don’t want readers to be in the dark as to what the character believes, in regard to the situation.

I said I mostly don’t restructure, but sometimes I do, and the times when I do, I restructure the opening. The opening, especially of a short story, has to be quick and offer the hook as soon as possible. Writers often feel the need to “develop” or to “set up” the story, but less here is more. We can start quickly and then come back, and through internals give more development and setup.

ST: Do you have any methods either for the generation of short story ideas or for the writing process that you can share?

GMH: Ideas are everywhere, so instead of talking about how to generate them, I’ll say that once a writer has an idea and has started a project he ought to stick with that until he’s done. Worse than not being able to come up with an idea is not being able to carry through the writing to the end. I think that’s a chronic difficulty. Trust me, no story idea is significantly better than any other. No idea is “the” idea. The treatment of the idea is what really counts.

With a short story—as opposed to a full-length manuscript—I generally prefer to have a fairly well-formed sense of what I’m writing when I sit down to do the draft. I find that thinking through the logic of the story and knowing where it’s going can make the writing process a whole lot easier.

On the other hand, not everyone works in the same way, and not every piece will proceed along the same path, either. Writers do have to learn to trust their own processes. But I’m suggesting that if someone works out the short story plot in his head before he sits down, he’ll find the writing flows more easily.

That’s harder with a novel of course. Novels are longer. I don’t say that to be facetious exactly, but people do sometimes ask what the difference is between writing a short story and writing a novel. That novels are longer is pretty much my answer as to the difference. The length of the work affects the pacing of the story arc and may even account for the proverbial “sagging middle” of the novel—the segment of the manuscript where the writer herself sags and has no idea what to do next with her characters. (The answer is—push through to the end.)

****

G. Miki Hayden is the author of The Naked Writer, a comprehensive, easy-to-read style and composition guide for all levels of writers.

Shanks Gets Killed by Robert Lopresti

2009-03-24T08:58:00.003-05:00

Robert Lopresti writes several series of short stories for Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and has been nominated for and won a Derringer Award. Shanks is a mystery writer who winds up solving crimes. Like a lot of real writers, Shanks is a bit on the surly side and with a biting sense of humor. In this story, he has been dragooned into a mystery weekend at a resort where he's supposed to be the celebrity author and get whacked on the first night - this means he doesn't have much to do.

Then the grand prize, a first edition of The Maltese Falcon, goes missing and Shanks is dragooned again. After all, if he's not busy acting a part, he might as well save the resort the trouble and fuss of having the police around bothering guests. Of course, he gets to the bottom of it all, but how he does it and the humor that goes into the interrogations he has to conduct make the story worth the read.

In the process of solving the crime, Shanks gives the reader a glimpse into a subset of the mystery world I hadn't really considered before. Are people really that competitive when they go to a bed and breakfast for those mystery weekends? I hope that's a product of Lopresti's imagination.

Without Anesthesia by Maceias Nunes

2009-03-09T14:15:00.003-05:00

As I often do, I started reading the latest EQMM with the shortest story in the volume - I'm a notoriously slow reader. Short stories can take me days. Anyway, in this case, the story was quite short - about three pages. Still, the author - this is his first fiction - was able to pack quite a punch. The story is about a Nazi hiding in Brazil. In this case, the narrator is offered money to keep quiet about the Nazi. The narrator being poor but principled means this won't be an easy decision. The fact that the narrator is in love with the Nazi's daughter makes it even more difficult. Anyway, what the narrator decides and, especially why, is the twist here.

Then, of course, there's the question of whether you can ever be happy again once you've been propositioned by a Nazi. In any event, the prose is crisp and clear, but I felt the story could have been helped by being longer - I would have liked more development of the narrator. Still, if you're going to err about the length of a story, it's better to be too short than too long. Don't get me wrong. The story is a good read and worthy of your attention. I guess I'd just like it if there were more of it to enjoy.

"The Case of the Extra Ventriloquist" by Ron Goulart

2009-03-06T04:52:00.003-06:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May 2009.

In 1951 Los Angeles, detective comic strip artist Jack Ortega happens upon children's radio host Polly Renfrew, trussed up and gagged in the woods. Smitten, Jack unties Polly and asks how she ended up there. Polly and her dummy, Sally Sawdust, were supposed to entertain at the mansion of famous actress Mona Tardy. According to Ms. Tardy, another ventriloquist showed up in Polly's place and stole $200,000 worth of jewels and bearer bonds.

Polly deduces who's behind the theft by having Jack sketch a likeness of the villainous ventriloquist's dummy, but the next day, Polly goes missing and Jack has to play detective to find her.

I was a fan of the early 90s Tek series, ghostwritten for William Shatner by Ron Goulart. Featuring the same lighthearted humor and distinctive speech pattern, this story was doubly nostalgic for me.

Insurance by Fletcher Flora

2009-02-10T08:25:00.004-06:00

The latest AHMM has a story first published long ago. I've never heard of the author before and, in fact, I almost wrote the name down as Flora Fletcher. Anyway, the story centers around a husband/wife team trying to defraud an insurance company by pretending the husband has died in a barn fire. Of course, to do this, they need a reasonable cadavar and getting that is part of the story.

Then, of course, the real husband has to disappear so the wife can get paid and do her own disappearing act. The way the con would normally go, the husband and wife meet up after the payout and live happily ever after, but I think you can see a myriad ways things could go wrong. For instance, if the insurance fails to pay out. That's not what happens here, but it could have.

In any event, while I think I've seen the outline of the plot before, the story is still worthy of notice - Loren Estleman introduces the story by saying that not a single word is wasted, and I have to admit with a build up like that, I really tried finding wasted words. He's right. They're not there. The prose is sharp as a knife. There are three things that force the reader to keep turning pages and this story certainly has one of them - poetry in nearly every line. A hard-bitten poetry. Poetry of a broken nose. Still, it was a joy to read.

"Buckner's Error" by Joseph Guglielmelli

2009-02-03T10:02:00.003-06:00

From: Queens Noir ed. Robert Knightly. Akashic Books, 2008.

Winner of this year's MWA Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Short Story, "Buckner's Error" is equal parts classic baseball banter and true noir. As the story trundles on the 7 Train from Grand Central Station to Shea Stadium, readers follow an unnamed Mets fan hitman zeroing in on power broker, pervert, and Sox fan Jack Buckner.

Death Inside the Box by John Dirckx

2009-02-03T08:43:00.003-06:00

The latest issue of AHMM includes another story by John Dirckx, one of my favorite mystery short story writers. Dirckx is well known for his Cyrus Auburn stories, but this one is a change of pace, and I'm not totally convinced it works as well.

For those who don't know, Auburn is a homicide detective in Baltimore, quite cerebral, good at his job. This new story features a coroner named Mary Deventer.
Deventer si called out to a power plant where a veteran worker has managed to electrocute himself. Accident or murder? Suspicion arises because it was a rookie mistake that killed the victim. Well, this turns out to be a crime and, of course, it is solved. No real problems there, but...

Hopefully, what follows isn't a spoiler.

I'm used to my Cyrus Auburn where there is a motive made plain. I didn't really get a motive for murder as far as I could see. Of course, a coroner may not be concerned with motive so it is true to life, I suppose, but then, that truthiness doesn't necessarily make the story moving or interesting. The Cyrus Auburn stories are always that.

Anyway, grain of salt time.

Silverfish by SJ Rozan

2009-02-02T09:06:00.003-06:00

This neat little story is part of Ellery Queen's Black Mask department and fits in well as it deals with prostitutes, johns, and pimps.Silverfish is the name of a pro with a heart of gold. She takes into her care a less experienced, naive prostitute who happens to have a nasty pimp named Roach. When Roach needs dealing with, Silverfish is there, but, of course, it isn't like she can do anything overt. She can't just shoot him or anything. So how will she get her friend out from under his thumb? Well, let's say she's a trickesy one (pardon the pun).

As with all of SJ's writing, the prose is smooth, the dialogue snappy. Her novel THE SHANGHAI MOON comes out tomorrow.

"Skinhead Central" by T. Jefferson Parker

2009-01-30T07:35:00.003-06:00

From: The Blue Religion ed. Michael Connelly. Little Brown and Company, 2008.

This Edgar-nominated story is told from the viewpoint of Sally, who has moved with her retired cop husband Jim from Laguna Beach to Spring Lake, Idaho. Shortly after the move, a 19-year-old skinhead named Dale shows up looking for work. Jim begrudgingly gives him some, but when Sally's jewelry bag goes missing, it's easily traced to Dale. The next day, Dale's younger brother Jason returns the bag and takes a beating from Dale for his trouble.

Calling on a network of contacts stretching back to California, Jim learns that Dale and Jason's father is an abusive ex-con. Jim and Sally take an unusual interest in the boys' future.

"Skinhead Central" is written so crisply, in a voice so knowing, I read it aloud.

The Lost Girl by Robert Barnard

2009-01-29T16:14:00.004-06:00

The latest Ellery Queen has another Robert Barnard story. He publishes there with great regularity, and I've read several of his stories over the years, but they all affect me the same way - in short, I don't like them.

If you don't know, Robert Barnard has won a slew of awards over the decades, and he has the respect of the mystery reading/writing world. He has my respect as well. His prose is impeccable. He can make you care for the characters he puts before you. What he hasn't been able to do, especially with the short stories but even with the one novel of his I've read, is give me a satisfying ending. In one story, a character presented with a dilemma chooses the path no one I have ever encountered in my life would have chosen. In other stories, the ending just fizzles. So with this story.

The story (which is only about five or six pages) starts off well - a teenaged girl is missing, she might have crossed paths with a pedophile, and the Inspector follows leads and questions witnesses. In every way, the story is set up perfectly, and I truly expected to finally like a Barnard story at long last. Then came the ending. Fizzle. In faact, it took me three readings just to figure out what it is I think went on at the end. But once I figured things out (I think) I found as many loose ends as there were tied up ones.

SPOILER ** SPOILER ** SPOILER**

Notice the SPOILER sign? Your last chance to turn back.

Okay. You asked for it.

The lost girl is, as far as I can tell, still lost at the end of the story. And the pedophile ist kaput. Presumably she killed him. Was she related to him? Not sure. If she killed him, what, precisely was her reason? No idea.

Oh well. The prose is nice.

The Rules of Evidence by Steve Gore

2009-01-28T18:30:00.003-06:00

This story all takes place in the interrogation room in dialogue between a career criminal named Irish and a homicide detective named Pacheco. Irish is a suspect in the murder of Mucker, one of Irish's former partners. The problem is that no matter what Pacheco thinks, the physical evidence is weak, Irish is seasoned enough to resist breaking, and besides, someone else has already confessed to the murder. Seems like a pretty tough case.

Though there aren't any car chases or shootouts, the dialogue stays crisp. It grips you and refuses to let go.

Pacheco may not have the best case, but he's determined. Is there a way he can make Irish slip up? You'll have to pick up a current copy of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine to find out.

By the way, this is Steve Gore's first published story - kudos to him and I hope others are in the pipeline.

Cheer by Megan Abbott

2009-01-26T14:48:00.003-06:00

In other places, I've talked about Megan Abbott's novels including Die a Little and The Song is You, and they are marvelous things. The stories are interesting and tightly wound, the prose is finely spun - some of the strongest prose you'll find in crime fiction today. The voices of her characters are always pitch perfect. In this story, she continues her winning ways.

"Cheer" has to do with the cheerleading team under the care of a young woman called "Coach." It's told by one of the squad members and even though the narrator is not named, she exhibits a growing sense of...I'm not sure what. Fear? Dread? Anxiety? In any event, nothing good. This happens as the narrator learns more about the coach and her teammates.

In the end, of course, it is a crime story so the narrator has reason to feel ill at ease. I can't tell you what happens or even why it happens, but I can say the story is well worth looking up. Like just about everything else Megan has written, "Cheer" has been nominated for a prize. In this case, it's a Pushcart Prize.

NBS Special Report: 2009 Best Short Story Edgar Nominees

2009-01-16T08:41:00.007-06:00

As presented by the Mystery Writers of America:

BEST SHORT STORY

"A Sleep Not Unlike Death" - Hardcore Hardboiled by Sean Chercover (Kensington Publishing)
"Skin and Bones" – Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine by David Edgerley Gates (Dell Magazines)
"Scratch of a Woman" - Hardly Knew Her by Laura Lippman (HarperCollins – William Morrow)
"La Vie en Rose" - Paris Noir by Dominique Mainard (Akashic Books)
"Skinhead Central" - The Blue Religion by T. Jefferson Parker (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown and Company)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD (Best First Short Story)

"Buckner's Error" - Queens Noir by Joseph Guglielmelli (Akashic Books)

Congratulations and good luck to all.

The full list of Edgar nominees via Sarah Weinman's Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

"Devil Dog" by Dick Lochte

2009-01-13T06:34:00.002-06:00

From: Hollywood and Crime. Ed. Robert J. Randisi. Pegasus, 2007.

One of the contemporary entries in a collection of crime stories set during the history of Hollywood, "Devil Dog" marks the return of Leo Bloodworth. At the behest of Larry King-like media personality Pierre Reynaldo, Leo looks into a woman's claims that her neighbor is a Satanist.

After an eight-year hiatus, it's good to hear from Leo in a story that is equally comedic and tragic.

"Give Till It Hurts" by Donald E. Westlake

2009-01-02T02:42:00.005-06:00

Available in Thieves Dozen by Donald E. Westlake. Mysterious Press, 2005.

Discovered trying to pass himself off as a rich Arab at a coin collectors' convention in Manhattan, John Dortmunder narrowly escapes through a linen closet window and stumbles into a poker game at Otto Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop.

Dortmunder is $240 ahead when the police come calling, investigating the burglary he's just committed. To Dortmunder's surprise, Penzler and friends don't hand him to the cops. Then he realizes they want to win their money back.

Penzler first published this story in 1993 as a Christmas present to the Mysterious Bookshop's mail-order customers. In memory of Westlake, who died on New Year's Eve at age 75, I hope our reviews give readers some idea of his talent and personality.

A nasty, brutish, short Christmas

2008-12-25T23:59:00.001-06:00

In honor of Christmas 2008, our past reviews of Christmas stories:

Gerald So reviews "Dreaming of a Spite Christmas" by BV Lawson

Steven Torres reviews "Hidden Gifts" by Steve Hockensmith

Gerald So reviews "Sanity Clause" by Steve Brewer

Gerald So reviews "As Dark as Christmas Gets" by Lawrence Block

Gerald So reviews "Silent Night" by Marcia Muller

Gerald So reviews "Here Comes Santa Claus" by Bill Pronzini

"Dreaming of a Spite Christmas" by BV Lawson

2008-12-25T23:46:00.001-06:00

From: Mouth Full of Bullets, Winter 2007.

This piece of flash fiction counts down to a shopping mall elf's attempt to poison Santa Claus. Each paragraph is a snapshot of the elf's growing nervousness as the plan moves along and then suddenly runs off the rails.

"Oil Slick" by Jay Brooks

2008-12-13T14:39:00.003-06:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, March 2009

Brooks's first published story follows a con man looking to bilk big money from ex-NFL player Andy Belton in an oil drilling scam. Little does he know Belton is running a con of his own. Tightly told and surprising.

"Babs" by Scott Phillips

2008-12-11T05:27:00.003-06:00

From: Las Vegas Noir ed. Jarret Keene & Todd James Pierce. Akashic Books, 2008.

From the author of The Ice Harvest comes the story of Tate, a good-natured pothead originally from Kansas who, as a favor to his friend Skip, agrees to pick up some crystal meth from Skip's friend Babs, and bring it back to L.A. Babs, described by Skip as "a stripper", is nothing like Tate expects. Falling a little in love with her, he agrees to back her up retrieving the meth from a dealer.

I'm not a fan of first-person present-tense narrative as a rule, but the style works here to set up Tate's sensibilities. I was as disarmed by Babs as he was, even as I realized Tate was getting in over his head.

The Proper Application of Pressure to a Wound by Sherry Decker

2008-11-22T14:16:00.003-06:00

Sherry Decker's story in the December issue packs an emotional punch and as I've said before in this space, that's one of the hallmarks of a great short story for me. (It's a hallmark of a great long story too). Very difficult thing to accomplish in a short space, but this story does it.

The main character is a home nurse for an elderly man she's learned to care about. He dies, and that's not the worst that happens. We learn the nurse has been on a downward spiral having lost a child and a husband and a proper hospital job. When you've lost enough, you think about what you can save, and she couldn't save her patinet.

Still, there are plenty of others who need help in this world, and the story will talk about some of those. The nurse does what she can and rises and rises until some might say she's become a hero. But will the appreciation of others be enough for her?After all, it won't bring her back what she's lost.

In any event, if you're looking for a crime related story that might just move you emotionally, this one is recommended.

"Down Home Blues" by Rob Kantner

2008-11-19T08:56:00.004-06:00

Recently posted to Kantner's Web site, this new Ben Perkins story has Ben attending his great aunt's funeral in Georgia. After the ceremony, Ben's cousin Caroleen asks him to fix the toilet at the cabin she rents out. This he does easily, but he also becomes suspicious when the renters don't seem to be the "lovely folks" Caroleen describes.

I hadn't read a Perkins story in some time, but Ben's voice was instantly familiar. I'm glad Kantner is still writing about him. I found "Down Home Blues" a little long to read onscreen. Print it out and take your time with it, as Ben would.

"Candles on the Corner" by Janet Dawson

2008-11-12T16:08:00.003-06:00

From: Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, November 2008

Dawson's Bay Area P.I. Jeri Howard is hired by the parents of 12-year-old Emily Gebhardt, who died in a hit-and-run accident. With varying witness statements and precious few clues, Jeri proves a tenacious questioner with a knack for educated guesses. She elicits the truth, but is unable to stop a horrific act of vengeance by Emily's father.

A well-plotted, satisfying investigation with a tragic end.

NBS Special Report: Awards Roundup

2008-10-22T10:48:00.006-05:00

A belated roundup of the short story awards announced at Bouchercon, as seen on Jiro Kimura's The Gumshoe Site:

The Shamus (Private Eye Writers of America)

Best P.I. Short Story: "Hungry Enough," by Cornelia Read (in A HELL OF A WOMAN, edited by Megan Abbott; Busted Flush Press)

The Anthony (as voted by attendees of Bouchercon 2008)

Best Short Story: "Hardly Knew Her," by Laura Lippman (in DEAD MAN'S HAND, edited by Otto Penzler; Harcourt)

The Barry (presented jointly by Deadly Pleaures Mystery Magazine and Mystery News)

Best Short Story: "The Problem of the Summer Snowman," by Edward D. Hoch (Ellery "Queen's Mystery Magazine, November 2007)

The Macavity (presented by Mystery Readers International)

Best Mystery Short Story: "Please Watch Your Step," by Rhys Bowen (The Strand Magazine #21, Feb-May 2007)

"The Other Side of the Mirror" by Eric Van Lustbader

2008-10-21T05:14:00.005-05:00

From: Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night ed. James Patterson. Mira, 2006.

This anthology of shorts by thriller writers is up for discussion on DetecToday next month, and I was lucky to find it on Mystery Loves Company's table in the book room at Bouchercon. I was curious whether thriller writers, known for their sprawling plots and over-the-top prose, would succeed at short stories, wherein much has to be condensed and focused.

In Van Lustbader's story, a spy on the verge of a nervous breakdown is hiding from his enemies in a seedy Buenos Aires hotel room. He reflects on how he was drawn to spycraft by his wife's death. As their love story plays back for readers, we realize his love can turn to jealousy instantly. In fact, he turns out to be a most unreliable narrator.

I found that despite the story's relative brevity (twenty pages), it still featured excess verbiage and false-sounding dialogue, the two main traits that turn me off from thrillers. That said, I have to admit I kept reading as the spy's mind slip out from under him.

"Promise" by John Harvey

2008-10-06T12:34:00.002-05:00

From: Murder is My Racquet, ed. Otto Penzler. Mysterious Press, 2005.

Harvey's former footballer P.I. Jack Kiley is hired when British tennis star Victoria Clarke is blackmailed to pay a quarter of a million pounds or have the existence of a daughter she had at age fifteen exposed. While Kiley is an able tough guy who does get to work out some aggression in this story, the resolution is nicely downbeat and plausible. "Promise" is a glimpse into Kiley's life that makes me want to see more.

"Comes Around" by Chris Rogers

2008-09-27T08:20:00.003-05:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, December 2008.

This five-page story from the author of the Dixie Flannigan bounty hunter novels features ex-cop Ford Bradshaw. Now retired, Bradshaw takes it upon himself to be an instrument of justice without judge or jury. Early in the story, Bradshaw suspects Jake McGrew, a newcomer to the weekly poker game, is a killer. Bradshaw's follow-up on his hunches actually obscures the outcome, turning expectation on its ear.

"Accidentally, Like a Martyr" by Reed Farrel Coleman

2008-09-12T10:45:00.002-05:00

From: The Darker Mask. Ed. Gary Phillips and Christopher Chambers. Tor, 2008.

This story from a anthology of noirish superhero tales is told in the frenetic, poetic stream of consciousness of a crack addict who kills a priest to steal from a church poor box. After this encounter, he gains the power to travel through time, taking the sins of others as his own, clearing their paths to heaven while he is cursed with immortality on earth. A Deity with an Irish brogue calls him the Absolver.

"Bottom Deal" by Robert Gregory Browne

2008-08-29T16:09:00.002-05:00

From: Killer Year ed. Lee Child. St. Martin's, 2008.

Ex-cop, compulsive gambler, and amateur Vegas magician Nick Jennings extends himself when his friend Holly Addison calls him out of the blue. He's too late to keep her from being shot to death, but he's determined to find out why she was killed. Browne's Killer Year entry combines engaging characters, a meaty plot, and brisk pace.

"Suicide Blonde" by Brian Thornton

2008-08-25T05:03:00.003-05:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, November 2008

In 1960s Las Vegas, Sean Murphy, a lawyer/fixer on retainer with the outfit, is called when his boss's brother, Eddie, finds his neighbor dead after a night of drinking. Murphy must piece together what happened, who the woman is, and how to keep his clients out of it. A clever hardboiled mystery.

"Friday Night Luck" by Edward D. Hoch

2008-08-22T17:39:00.003-05:00

From: The Blue Religion ed. Michael Connelly. Little Brown and Company, 2008.

Working on a crime-scene cleanup crew, Will Blackstone aspires to be a police detective. His chances dim when he's caught smoking marijuana during a shift as a citizen volunteer, but on a whim he decides not to turn in his uniform and badge, and no one keeps after him about it.

Some days later, while cleaning up an apparent double-murder, Blackstone finds an address book the police have missed. The book leads him to believe the second man isn't dead. Blackstone does his best to investigate, imperiling himself in the process. A well-served blend of optimism and realism.

"The Quick Brown Fox" by Robert S. Levinson

2008-08-17T04:47:00.002-05:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, October 2008.

Mired in the worst dry spell of his career, mystery writer Gus Ebersole is invited to teach creative writing to prison inmates. Taking the chance to be inspired, he accepts the job, and promptly plagiarizes the work of two inmates as his own. From the moment these stories are accepted to Crime & Punishment magazine, Ebersole fears the inmates will find out and take revenge on him.

Any writer can relate to the scenario, and Levinson uses its natural tension to great effect. Ebersole and I got not one, but two nasty surprises.

"Hungry Enough" by Cornelia Read

2008-08-04T20:27:00.005-05:00

From: A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir. Ed. Megan Abbott. Busted Flush Press, 2007.

The fun of this Shamus-nominated story is in the effects of Read's chosen viewpoint and protagonist. Julia is twenty-five years old in 1959, an aspiring starlet turned secretary for a P.I. The story opens with Julia listening to her friend Kay complain about her producer husband's sexual idiosyncrasies. They arrive at Kay's house to find her husband crushed to death by one of his own kinky devices, and Julia calls on her boss, Philip, to try and unravel the mystery.

NBS Special Report: 2008 Shamus Nominees for Best Short Story

2008-08-03T17:30:00.005-05:00

As announced by the Private Eye Writers of America:

"Kill the Cat" by Loren D. Estleman, Detroit Noir (Akashic), featuring Amos Walker.

"Trust Me" by Loren D. Estleman, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2007, featuring Amos Walker.

"Open Mike" by James Nolan, New Orleans Noir (Akashic), featuring Vincent Panarello.

“Hungry Enough" by Cornelia Read, A Hell of a Woman (Busted Flush Press), featuring Philip.

"Room for Improvement" by Marilyn Todd, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Dec. 2007, featuring Lois Hepburn.

"The Pencil" by Raymond Chandler

2008-07-23T23:03:00.000-05:00

Available in: Raymond Chandler: Collected Stories. Knopf, 2002.

To mark the 120th anniversary of Chandler's birth, a review of this 1959 story, written especially for England twenty years after Philip Marlowe's previous appearance in the short form.

Here Marlowe is hired by Ikky Rothstein, a low-level mobster who's been targeted by the Outfit for execution and is looking to excape. Enlisting the help of his lady friend Anne Riordan, Marlowe manages to keep two hitmen off Ikky's trail, but in the aftermath he finds another man identified as Rothstein and himself the target of a hit.

Between the Dark and the Daylight -- Tom Piccirilli, EQMM, Sept/Oct '08

2008-07-22T14:58:00.002-05:00

"Between the Dark and the Daylight" has a great opening, with four men hanging off the ropes leading to a runaway hot-air balloon. How they got there and what happens to them, two of them in particular (not to mention the child in the basket above), is what makes the story. I'll just say that one of them is a bank robber and that it's his son in the basket. You'll want to check this one out because it is indeed nasty, brutish, and short.

The Boy Who Cried Wolfe -- Loren Estleman, EQMM, Sept/Oct '08

2008-07-22T14:52:00.002-05:00

Is there anything Loren Estleman can't do? He's done Holmes pastiches, westerns, private-eye novels, historicals, crime novels, and humor. What we have here is a Nero Wolfe pastiche. Claudius Lyon is the large, eccentric crime-solver (can't afford orchids, to he grows tomatoes) and Arnie Woodbine is the secretary/legman. Arnie, being an ex-con, isn't quite as dapper as Archie, but he's a dandy narrator. When a kid asks Lyon to find his father, the team goes into action. It's a funny take on the Wolfe saga and another smart short from Estleman.

"Mitzvah" by Tod Goldberg

2008-07-11T14:10:00.003-05:00

From: Las Vegas Noir ed. Jarret Keene & Todd James Pierce. Akashic Books, 2008.

Fifteen years into his assumed identity as a Las Vegas rabbi, former Chicago mob hitman Sal Cupertine is fed up with the phoniness and monotony of his new life. After officiating at the fake funeral of policeman Vincent Castiglione, now known as Vincent Castleberg, Sal decides to steal the cop's identity and make a play to return to Chicago.

Showing the complexity of Sal's feelings and the depth of his despair, Goldberg makes readers care about a killer.

8 Across by Leigh Lundin

2008-07-10T06:49:00.003-05:00

I've been meaning to write about this one for several days. It's about a sheriff named Jose and a deputy named Miller and what might happen if eight men crossed the border from Mexico, but it turned out they weren't Mexican at all and the knapsacks slung over their shoulders weren't not stuffed with clothes. What if those men had plans on attacking the Alamo? THE ALAMO! Where John Wayne and Richard Widmark held off thousands of Mexican soldiers with a big knife and a long gun. Where Davy Crockett got kilt.

In any event, Jose is one of the sympathetic and fully drawn characters you'll find in a short story and as regular readers will know, I appreciate any story where fully human characters are drawn. It's not an easy trick, but Mr. Lundin makes it fun here. He also manages to tweak several racial stereotypes. A lot of work for a short story.

Not sure about the picture that was drawn for it, but then Mr. Lundin didn't draw it, so I'll reserve my opinion.

I think the story is more suspense than mystery, but either way it works. You can find it in the April 2008 AHMM.

Davey's Daughter by Russel D. Mclean

2008-06-30T11:37:00.003-05:00

As I've said before, Russel McLean writes some of the best mystery short fiction available through commercial sources. This example in the September 2008 issue of AHMM is a prime example of what I mean. It starts off with a former boxer, Davey, whose sixteen year old daughter has gone missing with some guy who is no good on the surface and might be downright evil at the core. Sam Bryson, former copper and Davey's friend, is called in on the case as Davey has never had much use for the police.

Will Sam be able to track the girl down before she's done in? Will Davey need to ride in to the rescue, fists swinging? Will Sam be able to keep his own temper (prone to sudden flareups) under control? Well, you'll have to buy a copy of the magazine to find out, but this is excellent writing, and in the end your heart will be torn at with sharp cat's claws*.

I should say the issue also contains contributions by John Dirckx and G. Miki Hayden (who finally gets an illustration). Two more excellent reasons to get a copy.

* Okay not the greatest metaphor, but you'll see what I mean if you read the story**.

** Okay, you may not exactly see what I mean, but I promise you'll love the story.

There's a Killer Loose! by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins

2008-06-22T08:02:00.003-05:00

This story marks Mickey Spillane's first appearance in EQMM. It was originally a radio script, but it's been recast into story form by Spillane's posthumous collaborator, Max Allan Collins.

The story opens with Terry Devlin, a hospitalized war vet, trapped by the cops in an abandoned building. You can almost hear the voice-over narration before we get the flashback. Devlin has been having periodic blackouts. And people are being murdered. Lots of people believe Terry's the killer. He doesn't know if he is or not. A former girlfriend has gotten him released and taken him in. He's lived peacefully with her and her brother, but now there's been another murder. Devlin is on the run, and the cops are closing in.

Typical Spillane twists and a fine Old-Time Radio flavor make this one a nice entry in EQMM's new Black Mask section.

Bill Crider

Forget Me Never by Terence Faherty

2008-06-20T18:40:00.004-05:00

The thing about a Terence Faherty story is that you'll always get an emotional payoff, not just the solution to a puzzle. Of course, the solution is there as well, but the stories always succeed in making you FEEL something too.

In this story (EQMM, June 2008), a reporter for the Star Republic is given a human interest story to follow up. It happens that there are several roadside memorials on different roads throughout town all dedicated to the same young woman - a girl named Maria. Since these memorials normally go up at the spot where the person being memorialized died and Maria can't have died in several different places - the newspaper editor wants to know what's the deal. The reporter does too.

Along the way, the reporter comes across people with their own theories including that Maria is not dead at all but is instead being stalked by someone who wants to make her very afraid. The answer, as you'll see when you read the story, is simpler and more poignant.

As always with a Faherty story, the writing is first class throughout.

"Father's Day" by Michael Connelly

2008-06-15T22:56:00.000-05:00

From: The Blue Religion ed. Michael Connelly. Little Brown and Company, 2008.

This powerful story opens with a hospital curtain being pulled over the body of a dead child. The child's father admits to leaving the child alone in his car while he was distracted by business that brought him into the office on a weekend. At interview, Bosch suspects the man is lying and expertly baits him into telling the truth.

"Baja" by Edward D. Hoch

2008-06-14T05:26:00.002-05:00

From: Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, September 2008.

New San Diego police detective Annie Sears is assigned to accompany veteran Sgt. Frank Munson to Baja, Mexico to bring armed robber and cop killer Dunstan Quentis back for trial. Quentis manages to escape custody, and Sears prevents Munson from shooting him dead. As the officers continue pursuit, Sears feels guilty about for her part in the escape, but also begins to sense things are not what they seem.

Readers may guess the basic plot here, but the real joy is in the details expertly laid out by Hoch. As vivid and taut as any of his stories, "Baja" is yet more proof how much he will be missed.