| Chief Editor Tony Burton |
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Editor Intern Reviews Editor |
Welcome to the twenty-eighth issue of the Crime and Suspense
ezine, the ezine for lovers of short crime, mystery and suspense
fiction.
Summer is truly upon us! Heat waves travel across the North American continent, followed by almost-monsoon rains. We hope none of our readers have suffered any losses because of the weather, but if you have, we also hope that maybe the stories in this issue will give you a few moments distraction from that. It's a lot of work cleaning up from all the storms and flooding—plain old nasty, blue-collar work that is absolutely necessary, and I salute those people who slog daily through their non-executive labors.
It's also an election year in the United States, which means flag pins and mud are flying! Add to that the fact that we are involved in a couple of military conflicts (never mind whether wisely chosen or not--that's not our purview!) and you have an extraordinary climate for "patriotism" in all its variants. The red, white and blue are being thrust into our face daily. And from what I'm reading, the blessing/problem of patriotism is not exclusive to the United States of America, either.
Thus, the theme for this issue: RED, WHITE AND BLUE-COLLAR CRIME. We hope you enjoy the issue.
Our fiction authors for this issue are Tom Rinkes, James P. Hanley, Katy Knight, Karina Fabian, Allan Leverone, Robert Scotellaro and Eugene Gramelis.
In the Reviews department, we have reviews of DYING TO BE THIN by Katherine Lilley, DEATH WALKED IN by Carolyn Hart, GAMBIT by Karna Bodman, LOST SOULS by Patricia Gussin, MONEY SHOT by Christa Faust, ONE SMALL VICTORY by Maryann Miller, THE PENGUIN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH by Donna Andrews, ST. BART'S BREAKDOWN by Don Bruns and THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS by Jeff Sherratt.
The audio portion of this issue consists of a performance of a story from a past issue by Larry W. Chavis that fits perfectly with the theme for this issue. The story is "Consider It Expedient." That story was the second-place winner in the Austin Camacho Beltway Crime Writing Contest. It is also one of the featured stories in the soon-to-be released 2007 Crime and Suspense short stories anthology, TEN FOR TEN.
You can learn more about these contributors and authors in the Rogues' Gallery.
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For a selection of sterling silver bookmarks visit PerfectlyEngraved.co.uk. You can also personalize and add a special message to your bookmark by having it engraved, making a fantastic gift.
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In the last issue, you'll recall, we had three giveaways set up for our subscribers (bless their hearts!) Here are the results of those giveaway drawings:
For the $25 gift certificate to Amazon: Connie Horr
For the $25 gift certificate to TBO Tech: Katt Dunsmore
For the tickets to performances at the International Mystery Writers' Festival in Owensboro, KY: Dennis Leppanen
And, special treat: here is an article written by Dennis Leppanen, describing his trip to the festival!
Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, 2008 |
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Oct. 24 - 26, 2008 |
Harriette Austin Writers' Conference |
WriteItNow Creative Writing Software has agreed to give away a full working version (a $49.95 value!) of their very cool, VERY useful creative writing software. As the ad below here says, you can download a free demo version. (It comes in both Windows and Macintosh flavors, folks!)
The people at WriteItNow have agreed to give a full version to some lucky subscriber to Crime and Suspense! If you are interested, here's what you need to do:
That will enter your name in the drawing for the full working copy, which drawing will be held on August 1, 2008.
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LOST SOULS tee-shirt from Lisa Jackson. As you saw above, Lisa's book is being reviewed in this issue, and her publicist very graciously sent a ladies style tee-shirt (sorry, size "ladies XL" only) to give away to some lucky person. If you are interested, email me (before midnight on July 31, 2008) and put the words LOST SOULS in the subject line, and you'll be entered* into the drawing for the tee-shirt, which will be held on August 1, 2008.
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Autographed copy of DYING TO BE THIN by Katherine Lilley! If you are interested in having a signed, personalized copy of this book (reviewed in this issue) send an email to me with the words DYING TO BE THIN in the subject line. You'll be entered* into the drawing for the autographed book, which will also be held on August 1, 2008.
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Review of DYING TO BE THIN -- Like most middle-aged Americans I struggle with my weight, so when Kathryn Lilley’s debut novel, Dying to be Thin, showed up on my doorstep it grabbed my attention. I flipped it over and perused the back jacket cover to decide whether I wanted to give up a day or two of my weekend to read it. The caption at the top read “Welcome to Durham, North Carolina, the diet capital of the world.”
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TEN FOR TEN, the new Crime and Suspense Short Story Anthology from the 2007 issues will be available in July 2008! |
Review of DEATH WALKED IN -- DEATH WALKED IN is the eighteenth entry in Carolyn Hart’s cozy series featuring Annie Darling and husband Max. A theft of two million dollars in gold coins, rare Double Eagles, from the home of wealthy Geoff Grant, and a cryptic call from a woman who claims to have hidden an important package in the house the Darlings are restoring, sets in motion the action that has Annie finding the woman dead, and Max engaged in finding the murderer. Unseen prowlers, shots in the night, and another murder all occur before the case is brought to its conclusion.
We'd love to see one of your stories for a future issue of Crime and Suspense! Check out the themes and guidelines!
Review of GAMBIT -- Karna Bodman’s second novel, Gambit, takes scientist Dr. Cammy Talbot and Lt. Col. Hunt Daniels into another thriller investigation to find out what new, undetected technology shot down American planes. Three destroyed; when will there be another? Talbot and Daniels must work again as a team but fractured hearts get in the way. Will they heal before one is scheduled to fly on the next targeted plane?
Review of LOST SOULS -- Lisa Jackson made me late to work. Twice. I was so engrossed in the story of Kristi Bentz that I lost track of time and when I looked up, I was late. That’s probably not a great thing from my boss’s point of view, but it says a lot for Jackson’s talent. She’s definitely capable of pulling the reader into the world of her characters.
Review of MONEY SHOT -- Angel Dare is a former porn star turned agent. When a phone call asks her to come out of retirement to star in one last film, she figures "why not?" After all what could possibly go wrong? However things don't exactly go to plan. She is raped, beaten, shot and locked in a car trunk. Add the director of movie turning up dead, killed with her gun and she is not exactly in a good place. Finding herself on the run from the police she decides to investigate the murder herself in an attempt to clear her name. Add in a gang smuggling in teenage girls from Eastern Europe to work in sex trade and you have all the elements of a really good pulp-style crime story.
Review of ONE SMALL VICTORY -- Sudden death of a loved one is perhaps one of the most devastating of life’s experiences. The sudden death of one’s child can be crippling. This novel of romantic suspense opens with just such a tragic event: Michael, teenaged son of Jenny Jasick, older brother of Scott and Alicia, is killed in a car crash. That the driver, and not Michael, was under the influence of drugs sharpens the pain. Jenny struggles to hold herself together through the agonizing days leading to and following the funeral, feeling her life as bereft of purpose as her family is of Michael, until she learns of a drug task force being created in her small north Texas town.
Review of THE PENGUIN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH -- You know how sometimes you’re not really hungry, but you want something anyway? Nothing too heavy or filling, just a quick snack, something fast that doesn’t require a lot of thought. Donna Andrews’ THE PENGUIN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH is like that—nothing deep or engrossing here, but it’s a cute, fun book. The story centers on Meg Lanslow, who is about to get married. She and her soon-to-be husband have bought a large old Victorian house and are in the process of renovating it, when they discover a freshly buried dead body in the basement.
Review of ST. BART'S BREAKDOWN -- In Don Bruns’s fourth novel, his character, Mike Sever, travels to a small West Indies island to interview notorious music mogul, Danny Murtz. Mike struggles with a few of his own demons so he’s not too shocked to learn that Murtz is a drug crazed chauvinist who abuses anyone in his path. As you meander down St. Bart’s corkscrew roadways with Mike, you pass by luxurious villas, mingle with the wealthy and/or the ne'er-do-wells and learn a few secrets about the perfect island.
Review of THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS -- Some books you love, some you hate, some fall in between. THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS didn’t make me want to rush right out to Barnes and Noble to find more of the author’s work, but if you’re stuck at the airport in Dayton and this is the only reading material you have with you… there are worse things that could happen. The novel is set in the 1970’s, which explains why the characters keep looking for pay phones. (Gen X readers may be confused.) It centers on Jimmy O’Brien, a former cop turned lawyer.
March/April Readers' Choice Author and Story |
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The readers of Crime and Suspense chose Janice Alonso's story "Beach Week Reunion" as their favorite for the May/June issue of Crime and Suspense. The theme for that issue was "Spring Into Summer." For impressing everyone with her writing, Janice received a lovely basic-black Crime and Suspense t-shirt. Here is a picture of her modeling her new finery!
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We all, I think, have relatives we aren't proud to acknowledge. A distant cousin, perhaps, whose hobby was dousing cats' tails with lighter fluid and setting them alight to watch them run. (That's my own very black sheep and I despise him.) And sometimes it's not the relative whose memory haunts us, but rather the ones they have harmed.
13 Sycamore by Tom Rinkes She haunts me. She deviled me last night and the night before and the night before that. I’m napping in my truck when I hear a noise and I look up from under the brim of my cap and I see her, short and young with long blond hair and wearing a white nightgown. She looks right at me, right through me, like she knows me and I ought to know her and she keeps saying something over and over, “Thirteen”…I can’t make out the rest. Then she disappears and I wake up cold and clammy. Problem is, I’m not sure if it’s a dream or it’s real, but it keeps happening over and over and I can’t figure out why.
Our military folks (I was one for over twelve years) serve us in many ways, and they in turn must be supported by others: the ones who maintain the bases, who run the shopping facilities and so forth. A lot of that is unappreciated work, but it has to be done nonetheless. It's blue-collar work of a special variety, that requires a security clearance!
Frozen Stiff by James P. Hanley Steaks were scattered on the Commissary floor, pork chops were mixed with chicken breasts, and in the open refrigerated bin was the inert body of the butcher. Waved past by the Marine guard at the Norfolk Naval Station,Virginia, Mark Meininger, an employee of the Navy Exchange and Commissary, drove the short distance to the Exchange—the Navy store for clothing, electronics, house and garden supplies, and other items, and the adjacent Commissary—the food store. Mark’s job was to unlock the doors and walk the buildings before the other employees arrived. As he strolled down the Commissary aisles, he re-sorted misaligned cans and straightened out cereal box until he came to the meat section. Seeing the butcher’s body in the freezer, his eyes bulged like a stunned fish in a bucket of ice...
I think most of us know an over-achiever Mom or Super Parent who has to have the most outstanding Christmas displays in the yard, the best and most beautiful roses, the best New Year's Eve party, or they will simply DIE. They love the attention that such things bring to them. But, sometimes, the attention isn't the kind we really want.
The Most Famous Fourth of July Ever by Katy Knight Standing before the fireworks display, JulieAnn Warren filled her basket with multicolored sparklers and various other brightly-hued packages with Chinese lettering. Their contents would become part of the signature bouquets and centerpieces she always made for her annual razzle-and-dazzle neighborhood Fourth of July picnic. Fourteen-year-old Jaime fidgeted by her side. She had come to hate her mother’s parties.
Even if you have a lot of money, live in a mansion, and collect fancy sports cars or yachts, you need the blue-collar workers to keep things moving smoothly. Cooks. Gardeners. Mechanics. They all have a place in your world, whether you like it or not, and sometimes they intrude far more than you would ever expect.
Night Patrol by Roger D. Trexler The streets were fairly silent tonight. Trooper Bob Richardson sat alone in his patrol car, watching the occasional car speed by to some destination within the city. Why would anyone want to come here? he asked himself. A dead end town with no life of its own. A town where there was no emphasis on a job well done. Take Morgan Burmeier, for instance. They’d been partners for nearly a year now, but the fat bastard was off duty more than he was on. Every time he accumulated a sick day, he came down with a mysterious illness.
We seem to have a fascination with "Royals." We titter when they make social mistakes, tsk-tsk when one of them acts as human as we are, and can't resist wondering what goes on inside those royal environs. But to the people ruled by the Royals, it's an act of patriotism to save one from death, or perhaps a fate worse than death!
Royal Scam by Karina Fabian There's a saying in your Mundane world that "It takes all kinds..." Kind of ironic, actually, considering you only have one sentient species--human--while the Faerie world has humans, elves, dwarves, selkie, demigods and even dragons like myself. And we don't have an equivalent phrase. You Mundanes are compensating for something is my guess
Independence. The American colonists fought for it. Teenagers yearn for it. Sometimes it's thrust upon us when we DON'T desire it. And to some people, it is more than just being free to make their own decisions, more than simply not being imprisoned by four walls.
Independence Day by Allan Leverone Chris Milton’s personal Independence Day started out like any of a thousand others. A bland prison breakfast followed by some quiet reading time, an hour of exercising in the yard, another bland prison lunch, and then a trip to the courthouse in his cheap, well-worn suit. He had been to so many pointless parole hearings over the last several decades that they all seemed to run together in his mind. He certainly didn’t expect this one to be any different.
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We pay our taxes... well, most of us do, and most of us pay our fair share or even more. (I'm talking about individuals, not big Corporate America, but we won't go there.) But there's always that deficit to worry about. Churches, schools, civic organizations... they all come up with creative ways to raise money. It's the American way!
Telethon by Robert Scotellaro The moment Frank entered his apartment, the phone started ringing. "Yeah?" he said.
He could hear the faint sound of glass shattering on the other end of the line. Then a soft, unfamiliar voice said, "I'm glad you're home, Frank. I've got a favor to ask."
"Who's this?"
"That's not important, Frank. We can keep this really simple."
As I said earlier, patriotism is not a curse or blessing peculiar to the United States. And sometimes, patriotism can be expressed in unexpected, even apparently illogical, ways. While I'm not an advocate of "The government must know what it's doing so we go along," sometimes...
Ice Fishing by Eugene Gramelis There were far worse places than Domodedovo Airport for a former KGB operative to be posted in the dead of winter, though at the moment Boris Mihailov could not name any off the top of his head—except maybe the Siberian gulags, but even they supposedly had their moments of decorum.
This issue's audio story was written by Larry W. Chavis for the Austin Camacho Beltway Crime contest last year, and was the second place winner. It was a great match for this issue, so Larry graciously gave me permission to perform "Consider It Expedient" for the audio portion of this issue. It is also one of the stories in the new anthology of Crime and Suspense short stories, titled TEN FOR TEN (available this month!)
The Reverend George Mayfield suppressed a shiver as a cold blast whipped in off the Eastern Branch of the Potomac, cutting right through the threadbare greatcoat he wore. The old coat was long past its time, but it was the last thing Melissa had given him before influenza took her away. He had no heart for a new one.
Sample of audio Story (mp3) - Consider It Expedient
Subscribers get the full recording.
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