Volume 3, No. 8

They say honest confession is good for the soul. Well, I screwed up. I was bouncing back and forth between two computers when working on this issue, and somehow, I managed to leave off a very well-written story. So please, take a moment and scroll down to the last story (now listed!) and read Devon Green's submission for this issue, The End of the Pier.

Welcome to the twenty-third issue of Crime and Suspense, the ezine for fans of crime, suspense and mystery fiction. August is usually considered the beginning of the Dog Days, a time of oppressive heat. Our authors have turned up the heat as well, delivering seven stories to warm your heart... well, maybe not. In fact, a couple of them gave me a real chill! But with the heat we've had lately, that's a good thing!

This is the final issue in the free-access format. Remember, we are on hiatus for September and October, resuming with the November/December issue for paying subscribers. And also remember that access to future issues of the Crime and Suspense ezine will be only for paid subscribers.

Basically, though, if you wish to receive the new, expanded bi-monthly edition, you need to subscribe. Access to the new issues of the ezine will be only for paying subscribers, including archives of the new version of the 'zine. Archives of issues prior to November 2007 will be available to the public, however.

Write Domains, one of the partners whose sales help to support Crime and Suspense and keep subscriptions free, has recently reduced their pricing for domain names and hosting. AND, they have introduced a new, free service with their hosting packages: Online Photo Filer. If you don't have a web site, you are missing out on a powerful marketing and communication tool. Write Domains provides very reasonably priced domain registration and web hosting—with PLENTY of space and without any of those annoying banner ads or pop-up ads that characterize free web sites.

Forensic University of St. Louis
Sisters In Crime Event
"50 Ways to Catch a Killer"

November 1 - 4, 2007

This Month's Featured Stories...

The Daily Double by Warren Bull Sometimes clients just don't know what's good for them! I was a consultant for a while, and I've had clients to make the craziest requests of me, wanting to pay me to do something patently stupid. It happens... sometimes more than once in a day.

“She’s not dead yet,” said the redfaced sweaty man plopping down across from me in my favorite booth in the diner. “You’ve got to do something. You said you’d take care of it. Tony assured me you were the one to talk to. My wife’s driving me crazy.”

I glanced up from my racing form.

“Whatever you’re selling, I don’t want any. Scram.”

Forever Gone Wrong by Agnes Dee Ponce De Leon wanted it. Botox users want it. Probably the only people who DON'T want it are serving life without parole.

She insisted on taking backroads all the way up from Miami Beach. It irked him. There wasn't much time left to his vacation, and he was impatient for what lay ahead. But he kept driving because of what she had offered.

He met her outside the nightclub that had no walls—tables and chairs seemingly walked out to lounge on the sidewalk, kept in check by a multitude of fashionable party goers. She lounged on a chair, and when she saw him, waved. He thought she was attracted to the white Ferrari. Girls liked the convertible.

Crime Bake New England 2007
Dedham, MA

November 9 - 11, 2007

Legal Services by Jean M. Medeiros The thankless job of being a public defender... egads, I'm glad that's not me, even though would make more money for me than I make now! The stresses, the lying, the dirty looks from the cops when you get a slimeball off on a technicality... not my kind of life.

He knew his client was lying. Jack Mancini burrowed into his basement cubicle for Legal Services almost three years ago and some days, it felt like he hadn’t seen the daylight since.

He wanted to fight for people like Nana, who couldn’t pay $150 to a lawyer to write her will, so when she died, her house got sucked into the state coffers to settle up Medicaid bills. Every hand-painted wall, every renailed floorboard, every peony that lined the sidewalk, siphoned through the system to some guy with a checkbook who read the legal ads in the Journal every morning to snap up cheap property.

Luck of the Shot by Gary R. Hoffman Holmes had the Baker Street Irregulars. And of course, there were Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Brains Benton... all kids who helped to catch criminals. Sometimes they are amateur sleuths, sometimes they just keep their eyes open.

"Looks like the poor bastard just came out on his front porch to enjoy a glass of lemonade and took one in the chest," Deputy Sheriff Eric Sanborn said. The call came from a man driving by and seeing the victim on the porch.

His partner, Deputy Rod Delaney snapped on a pair of latex gloves. He looked at the body slumped in a lawn chair on the front porch of the house just north of Canal Point on Highway 441. "I'm going in the house and see what I can find out about him."

Criminal Pursuits Conference

September 14-15, 2007

Marked Territory by Connie Ferdon Stealing from the boss isn't as always as easy as it may seem to be. Sometimes, the boss isn't as stupid as he looks.

“What do we do now?” Kevin whispered to Trey as they leaned over Mike’s bloodied dead body, lying on the warehouse floor.

Trey wiped his brow with the back of his left hand. His eye twitched as he bit his lip until it bled. “I don’t know. This wasn’t part of the plan.”

“I told you it was too dangerous meeting Leroy here in our own warehouse. Somebody was bound to get suspicious. You know how controlling Mike could be. All this selling on the side was your idea. It was your job to keep Mike off our tail.” Kevin twisted the blood-stained wrench in his hands, his knuckles turning white.

The Great Manhattan* Mystery Conclave!
September 28 - 30, 2007

(*That's Manhattan, Kansas, folks!)

When Samantha Smiles by John M. Floyd Did you ever know anyone who would do almost anything for money? I did, and it was a scary thing, really. I've never known anyone so cold and calculating.

“So if he dies,” Niles said, “I get everything. Right?”

C. Spencer Booth, Attorney at Law,studied him over the top of his glasses, then closed the file folder. “You’d get the company and all its assets. Vice versa if you die first. If both partners go at the same time, since you’re single, his wife gets it all.” Booth handed the folder back. “What’s going on here, Niles?”

“Money trouble. I’m examining my options.”

“I thought you were an investigator.”

Crime and Suspense Anthology: Volume I contains stories from 2005 and 2006 Crime and Suspense issues.

This anthology, released May 1, is intended to be the first of a series of anthologies showcasing stories published in the Crime and Suspense ezine. (And if your story is published in the ezine, it could be in the next Crime and Suspense Anthology. You never know!)

If you'd like a copy, the retail price is $9.95, and many of the authors now have the book. It would make a great gift for that crime fiction lover on your gift list... maybe Mom for Mother's Day or Dad for Father's Day? I encourage you to order from one of the authors, but if they don't have it, go to the Wolfmont Publishing web site or your favorite local bookstore to order your copy.

Art by the Numbers by Rosemary and Larry Mild. I had a friend once who spoke of her rhapsodizing over the works of Marlow (Christopher, not Philip), Shakespeare, Faulkner and so forth, and how it actually excited her sexually to read them. I laughingly accused her of having "Literary Lust." But it's not only books that turn people on. Sometimes art can be just as powerful and sensual as words. (By the way, this story so much reminds me of Poe's "The Telltale Heart" that I almost retitled it "The Telltale Art.")

Lieutenant, why do the police always assume that the beautiful young wife is involved? Yes, I’ve been told my whole life that I’m stunning. Bart says he loves the way my honey-gold hair caresses my cheeks and curls around my neck. I’m thirty years younger than my husband. So what? I adore Barton McNaugh—always have. But now he’s missing, and you think I had something to do with his disappearance. Good grief, Lieutenant, must you straddle our antique Chippendale chair? And please don’t light that cigarette. Bart is terribly allergic to smoke. Thank you.

Where have I been these past two days? I don’t think that’s any of your business. But if you must know, at my health spa. I just can’t abide you people crawling all over my personal things.

The End of the Pier by Devon Green. War, an atrocity even if done for the right reasons, can change a man or woman. Sometimes the calluses that the heart and soul build up for self-preservation, become so strong and hard that they never wear away even after the need for them is gone.

Normally, I don't kill people anymore. I got my fill of slaughter the last time the Europeans got mad at each other. But this woman irritated me more than anyone I knew. Junie talked more and said less than the preacher at the church on the corner which my wife, Terry, made me attend every Sunday until I finally told her I had better things to do with my time - like sleep. So when I quit going, she never mentioned it again.

If this woman hadn't been my wife's sister I would have gotten her drunk and pushed her off the end of a pier a long time ago. Out of respect for my wife, I resisted the urge, but it grew stronger every year of our marriage.

Don't forget the Members' Hall of Fame!

If you are a subscriber to this ezine and have written a crime, mystery or suspense novel, or have been part of a published anthology of such stories, or if you have written a book on the craft of writing, we want to know about it! Send your information, including your name, book title and ISBN. We'll give you some free exposure in the Members' Hall of Fame!