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The letter M conjures up many wonderful words for mystery writers. As the theme of these 22 short stories from 22 best-selling and award-winning authors, those words became ideas that range from dark and dangerous to quite humorous.Rosemary Aubert’s haunting “Midnight Boat to Palermo” journeys to a past filled with secrets. The main character’s life ebbs and flows like the ocean tide until her adult self unravels a secret from her childhood.
“M is for Moolah” is Melodie Campbell’s humorous tale of a retired bookie’s nightmare when he’s hospitalized and family members help by replacing his lumpy old mattress with a whole new bed. Uncle Tony didn’t trust banks. Need I say more? Where the story goes from there is a treat.
Shifting direction, “If You Should Fall” is Donna Carrick’s contribution. Marlene and Jim McDougall’s sugarbush farm is ready for sale, but plans for a placid retirement are put to the test when thieves try to steal their ready-for-delivery loads of maple syrup. Resilience, patience, a rifle, and a dog’s protection are all Marlene has against two men shooting at her.
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| Image Source Carrick Publishing |
Lisa de Nikolits takes us to a cold, dark place with “In a Cold Country.” A weekly message forms a poem that threatens to reveal a secret from Cinders’ past. But who is the sender? Why now? Cinders was not a nice person, yet we feel her anguish as each line of the poem comes through week after week. And now, it’s time to pay the price for her sins.
Lynne Murphy shifts the tone in “Scamming Grammy.” It’s the grammy scam—phone call, young relative being jailed and needs quick bail money—taken to a new level. Charlotte regrets telling her senior friends she was almost scammed, but they have an idea. And the fun takes off from there!
“A Hollywood Tale” by Ed Piwowarcyzk introduces us to gossip columnist Eve Brooks and 1930s Hollywood. Bill Alden’s many affairs complicate solving his murder. Add a potential starlet, overbearing mother, and more than one player who intends to marry Alden, and the moving pieces create an engaging story. Eve is in the middle of it all, as she is also one of his occasional liaisons.
Cat Mills contributed “The Buttercup,” in which a mystery from Edith’s past is brought into the present through an envelope containing a pressed flower. She has worked the same diner job since high school, with no ambition to change or move forward. Nothing ever happens in Edith’s life, and she is content. Except that something did happen, once, and now Edith’s routine is disrupted. Memories flood back. Edith receives a final flower, not flattened … not in an envelope … and her life will never be the same.
Dr. Anthony Cook’s body, crushed beneath a twelve-foot sign of the letter ‘A’ at SOS Signage, drops us into “27” by Blair Keetch. Con man Cook was a long-time client of the firm and had scrawled the number 27 in his own blood before dying, leaving detectives their only clue. Cook’s client list? Twenty-six names. Twenty-six potential suspects. With humor and wit, Keetch teases the reader with multiple options as to how the number 27 solves the crime.
In a darker turn, Catherine Astolfo’s “My Baby Just Wrote Me a Letter” brings us to an alligator-laden swamp where Hammett’s Airboat Rides is both sanctuary and tourist attraction. Zack’s secret, unrequited love for Saylor Hammett prompts his return after an absence. The place is different, as is the alligators’ behavior … and Saylor’s. They become lovers, and Zack will do anything for her. Anything. Everything.
Hatcheck girls … speakeasy … castle on an island midway between Canada and the U.S. on the St. Lawrence River? Therese Greenwood’s “Hatcheck Bingo” brings us the burly bouncer types, politicians who don’t mind bending the law, a former athlete missing a limb from his war service years, and gangsters. Our two, somewhat inexperienced hatcheck girls’ codebreaking days in the Argonne Forest come into play. Their antics and quick thinking get them into trouble. Can they get out of it as well?
The bullies come out of the woodwork in “On Moon Mountain” by Lorna Poplak. But rather than the fierce predatory aspects of an owl, Ozzie “Owl” Ottley has the nature of a mouse. Wendall Williams, on the other hand, is a predator. He targets Ozzie, and the trio of Katy, Collin, and Tania who befriended Ozzie on his first day and protected him, as best they could, ever since. Wendall targets each of his enemies when no one is around to say what really happened. Wendell’s ready to strike against Katy when Ozzie appears.
A vacation whale watch turns into something more in Madona Skaff’s “The Bells Toll Once Again.” But who would believe that former-grifter-turned-PI Lennie saw a ghost ship? Except someone else not only saw it, he’d drawn sketches after seeing it a month earlier. Lennie’s curiosity drives him to return alone to the site, where he meets female ghost-pirate Carter, aka the Marilla’s party ship organizer. Carter claims she was murdered, and Lennie’s investigation takes a few twists and turns that keep the reader guessing.
Sylvia Maultash Warsch serves a grim, haunting tale in “Where Are You, Marilyn?” Ninth-grader Marsha Palmer dreams of being a hairdresser to the stars in Hollywood. But not to just any star—Marilyn Monroe. Is she mimicking her mother’s dream of Hollywood stardom? Marsha hasn’t heard from Alice Palmer since she left for Hollywood years ago. Monroe’s death triggers Marsha to suddenly start looking for her mother, and the reader wonders if Marsha’s dream was simply a desire to find her.
In a trip to days past, Caro Soles bring us “Chops and the Dough Re Mi.” Jazz-saxophonist and PI Chops sees trouble when the “Babe” sashays into the club. In his office the next day, she hires him to find a purloined pink diamond ring. There’s probably a mobster behind the theft, and this kind of trouble Chops doesn’t need, but the dough she flashes will cover quite a few bills. Question is: was the ring stolen from her, or did she steal the ring first, and then it was stolen again? Chops is led in circles earning his Dough Re Mi.
Luella Cruikshank’s death is “under investigation,” Toronto detectives tell Pat Tierney, in Rosemary McCracken’s “One Helluva Lady.” Pat is Luella’s former financial advisor and knew Luella and her family, daughter Caroline and son Arnie, well. She didn’t know Mary, Luella’s new housekeeper, and is surprised at her young age when they finally meet. A missing painting points to robbery-turned-murder, but something feels off. Tierney looks more closely at Luella’s home, the family, Mary, and Arnie’s friend Zach, searching for the truth to her friend’s demise.
Abby’s visit with twin aunts Pearl and Ruby, in “Sweet Coral Bells” by Jane Burfield, is interrupted by her brother Ian and his friend. The land and old farmhouse the aunts have lived in most of their lives belong to Abby and Ian with the provision that the aunts can live there as long as they want. Its decay is distressing. Ian wants to sell to a developer. Abby wants the aunts to have what they want and not be shuffled off to a retirement community. Abby resists Ian and his friend’s efforts to sway her, despite Ian’s need for immediate money, which has become routine. Will Ian’s greed win out, or does Abby save her precious aunts from their worst nightmare?
Cheryl Freedman takes a lighthearted, fantasy turn in “The Curse Scroll.” Private investigator Princess Goslin of Arkady is technically no longer a princess. Her partner Marlowe is a being, perhaps a prince—Goslin isn’t sure—turned into a ferret that longs for opposable thumbs. They accept her fairy godmother’s request to find a cursed scroll that has made King Raoul impotent just before his next marriage. From there it gets more amusing and interesting as our PIs discover nuances about the relationships between fairy godmothers, their godchildren, and each other; and King Raoul’s dalliances that created this mess.
In “Learning to Lie” by Rosalind Place, a young girl’s parents have left her and older brother Eddie, who becomes her surrogate parent. Jo believes her mother’s annual letters that promise she’ll return, but Eddie has been protecting her from the parents whose life on the road was an unending stream of blackmail scams. Jo’s life had been a lie—her mother’s lie, to be sure. A lie that tainted everything Jo had aspired for—to be rejoined with her mother. Eddie goes on to live his dream—until one day his life falls apart. Their roles reversed, Jo steps into the protector role. But a life built on lies is difficult to repair.
Kevin P. Thornton’s “The Malevolent Masterpieces” is a locked room mystery sure to keep the reader guessing. Dead artist Silas Tomkins’ art collections are controversial. This latest set gives Sergeant Benderby and Corporal Delorme at least two hundred potential suspects to whittle down to one. Figuring out who killed Tomkins and how the room was locked from within is a clever puzzle for Benderby and Delmore.
What if a machine, given enough data and precise questions, could predict the future … including how one will die? That’s what Melissa Yi delivers in “Cardiopulmonary Arrest.” After years of kowtowing to his father’s demands and conditions, Rainier Hetherington is given such a machine by his dying father and wrestles with how to use it to his advantage.
In M.H. Callway’s “The Boy in the Picture,” Helen Pierce discovers, hidden behind the lining of her dead mother’s keepsake box, an envelope containing a letter written in Polish and a photo of young boy. The box triggers Helen’s dreams and desire for missing memories, leading her to a forgotten past. Returning imagery tugs at Helen, who learns her hated father is still alive. Her quest to learn who the boy in the photo is and how he connects to her youth is a tough, touching journey you’ll take in the final story.
These 22 authors waste no time getting right into the love, hate, laughter, glee, pathos, greed, and downright murderous intent behind their characters’ actions. From humorous to grim, with a ghost ship thrown in, modern day to ancient, real-life to fantastical, each story entices the reader to continue to the next.
To enter to win an ebook copy of The 13th Letter, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line "13th,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 11, 2025. US residents only and you must be 18 or older to enter. If entering via email please include your mailing address in case you win. If entering via comment please include your email address so we can contact you. You can read our privacy statement here if you like.
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Claire A. Murray writes crime, mystery, fantasy, and sci-fi short stories and novels. She also writes reviews, hosts Zoom write-ins for aspiring and experienced authors, and is completing a suspense fantasy novel so she can return to her trilogy and two other novels awaiting revision. Play the Hand You’re Dealt is her crime and mystery short story collection. Find her at cam-writes.com.
I love short stories and can not wait to add this collection to my TBR pile.
ReplyDeleteLaura N
Dlcnason1@msn.com
Great sounding anthology. Count me in!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this fabulous review of The 13th Letter! I'm the author of In a Cold Country, and yes, it's a very cold, dark place! I'm very glad you connected with Cinders' anguish, as awful as she was! I had great fun writing this story story, particularly when it came to penning the poem! So glad you loved all the stories in the anthology - I concur - the range of content and style makes for a wonderful read!
ReplyDeleteEntering to, hopefully, win.
ReplyDeleteEntering to win, hopefully.
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