Monday, November 27, 2017
Little Big Crimes Review: The Mechanical Detective by John Longenbaugh
Little Big Crimes: The Mechanical Detective, by John Longenbaugh: "The Mechanical Detective," by John Longenbaugh, in Mystery Weekly Magazine, October 2017. The more observant among you may be...
Saturday, November 25, 2017
Friday, November 24, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Gail Farrelly
SMFS Member Gail Farrelly's latest short story at the Yonker's Tribune is the seasonally appropriate, "Ya Never Know: A Thanksgiving Tale."
Tuesday, November 21, 2017
Little Big Crimes Review: The Last Evil by David Vardeman
Little Big Crimes: The Last Evil, by David Vardeman: "The Last Evil," by David Vardeman, in Mystery Weekly Magazine, November 2017. Hooboy. What to say about this week's entr...
Sunday, November 19, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Shawn Reilly Simmons
SMFS Member Shawn Reilly Simmons' short story, "The Prodigy" appears in the new anthology, CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour. Edited by Martin Edwards, the anthology contains 28 stories from members of the Crime Writer's Association. Published overseas by Orenda Books, and available at Amazon UK, the book will be available in the US in hardback form next February and paperback in May.
From the Amazon UK synopsis:
Highlights of the trip include a treacherous cruise to French Polynesia, a horrifying trek in South Africa, a murderous train-ride across Ukraine and a vengeful killing in Mumbai. But back home in the UK, life isn't so easy either. Dead bodies turn up on the backstreets of Glasgow, crime writers turn words into deeds at literary events, and Lady Luck seems to guide the fate of a Twickenham hood. Showcasing the range, breadth and vitality of the contemporary crime-fiction genre, these twenty-eight chilling and unputdownable stories will take you on a trip you'll never forget.
SMFS Member Publication News: Joan Leotta
SMFS Member Joan Leotta's short story, "Surviving the Feast: A Thanksgiving Mystery Short Story" is online in the November 18, 2017 edition of Kings River Life Magazine. At the end of the story, there is a recipe for Pumpkin Pie.
Saturday, November 18, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Gigi Pandian
SMFS Member Gigi Pandian's The Library Ghost of Tanglewood Inn: A Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery Short Story is out now by way of Henery Press. Published in digital format, the 39 page read is availble at Amazon and other vendors.
From the Amazon synopsis:
An unsolved murder from the 1930s.
A ghost story to explain the impossible crime.
A dead man in the haunted library.
And no way for the authorities to reach the survivors until the snowstorm clears…
A snowstorm waylays Jaya Jones and Tamarind Ortega. It seems almost too good to be true that they find rooms for the night in beautiful old inn—until they find a dead man clutching an Agatha Christie novel in the secluded hotel’s library. Worse yet, Tamarind is accused of the crime.
To clear her friend, Jaya must delve into the history of the hotel’s haunted library. The present-day mystery is eerily similar to a mysterious unsolved death in the 1930s—could it be the work of the library’s avenging ghost?
If you’ve never met Jaya Jones or been on one of her adventures, this is a great place to start. And lucky you, you have the whole series (and the novella!) to look forward to!
Friday, November 17, 2017
Writers Who Kill: Editing an Anthology: Five Stages of Grief
Writers Who Kill: Editing an Anthology: Five Stages of Grief: Today J. Alan Hartman of the publisher Untreed Reads tells us about his experiences as editor in putting together his most recent Thanks...
Thursday, November 16, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: William Burton McCormick
SMFS Member William Burton McCormick's short story, "Matricide and Ice Cream" appears in the new anthology, CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour. Edited by Martin Edwards, the anthology contains 28 stories from members of the Crime Writer's Association. Published overseas by Orenda Books, and available at Amazon UK, the book will be available in the US in hardback form next February and paperback in May.
From the Amazon UK synopsis:
Highlights of the trip include a treacherous cruise to French Polynesia, a horrifying trek in South Africa, a murderous train-ride across Ukraine and a vengeful killing in Mumbai. But back home in the UK, life isn't so easy either. Dead bodies turn up on the backstreets of Glasgow, crime writers turn words into deeds at literary events, and Lady Luck seems to guide the fate of a Twickenham hood. Showcasing the range, breadth and vitality of the contemporary crime-fiction genre, these twenty-eight chilling and unputdownable stories will take you on a trip you'll never forget.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Jennifer Soosar
SMFS Member Jennifer Soosar's short story "The Settlement" appears in the Spinetingler Magazine Fall 2017 issue. Published by Down & Out books, the current issue is available in digital and print formats at Amazon and other vendors.
Monday, November 13, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: O’Neil De Noux
SMFS Member O’Neil De Noux’s latest book, The
Great Beau, is available at Amazon in digital and print forms. This is the fourth book in the John Raven
Beau series.
From the synopsis on Amazon…
The mysterious death of an elderly man draws NOPD Chief
Inspector John Raven Beau into a complex case involving priceless art, stolen
Nazi loot, a dead deerhound, a haughty countess, a ruthless killer and
featuring the irresistible NUDE IN RED woman. Bang. Bang. The shocks keep
coming when a priceless cache is found hidden in an uptown attic – a legendary
treasure which stuns archaeologists, forensic scientists, historians and the
entire art world. Has NOPD located one of the great treasures of the ancient
world? How does Beau become a Hero of the French Republic? One shock after
another. A suspected heart attack surfaces a rare poison so it’s murder. Are
those Frederic Remington original paintings on the wall? They are immediately
stolen. What’s in the old box in the antique shop? Anyone heard of Titian?
Master of the 16th Century Venetian School of artists, a Renaissance artist who
painted the same time as Da Vinci and Michelangelo? Could this be his last
painting, Aphrodite and the Painter, lost in 1576? How did it end up in New
Orleans? Who is killing people to get this art?
NOPD’s Critical Investigations Unit (CIU) was formed for
this type of case and Chief Inspector John Raven Beau uses the skills he honed
as a homicide detective to sift through the clues. He seems to be a step behind
the murderer-thieves but he is the relentless pursuer, the half-Sioux,
half-Cajun who carries an obsidian war knife and a 9mm Glock he’s already
killed with. The world is amazed at with this case and John Raven Beau goes to
Paris for a short vacation and a fateful rendezvous with the Legion of Honor.
From SHAMUS and DERRINGER Award winner O’Neil De Noux comes
the fourth novel in the critically acclaimed New Orleans Police series
featuring half-Cajun, half-Sioux JOHN RAVEN BEAU. Assigned as Chief Inspector
to command NOPD’s new CIU – Critical Investigations Unit – Beau brings his
unique talents to investigate special cases.
Sunday, November 12, 2017
Little Big Crimes Review: Precision Thinking by Jim Fusilli
Little Big Crimes: Precision Thinking, by Jim Fusilli: "Precision Thinking," by Jim Fusilli, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, November/December 2017. Last week I wrote about a ...
SMFS Member Publication News: Bern Sy Moss
SMFS Member Bern Sy Moss' short story "Consequences" appears in the Spinetingler Magazine Fall 2017 issue. Published by Down & Out books, the current issue is available in digital and print formats at Amazon and other vendors.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Kaye George
Kings River Life is reprinting a story of mine, "Swinging on a Star"
that was posted by Jack Bates awhile ago. The setting is post WWII
Hollywood. This was a stretch for me, but I had fun with the research.
SMFS Member Publication News: Lo Monaco
SMFS Member Lo Monaco's newly published book, Lethal Relations, is available in both eBook and print formats at Amazon. The eBook is currently FREE.
From the synopsis:
Terry Strong is a PI with a Black Belt in Taekwondo and a ceaseless determination.
Fred Greene has been murdered…in his own home while watching TV. The police have arrested his girlfriend, Barbara Metcalf. But Barbara’s brother, attorney Donald Remick doesn’t believe she did it.
Remick hires Terry to prove Barbara’s innocence. But it won’t be easy. All the evidence points right to Barbara. Even Fred’s son, Robert, believes Barbara shot his father. She had been at the Greene residence that night just as Robert was leaving. Later that night, Fred was found dead…by Barbara.
Trying to untie all the twisted knots of relationships has Terry frustrated and confused while at the same time, her relationship with her sometime SO, Carl Black, compounds the stress. Adding to that the puzzling connection between Robert Greene and Donald Remick’s daughter, Sylvia, makes this a mystifying and difficult case to solve.
Terry finally unweaves all the strands and with the help of her Black Belt, brings this case to a shocking conclusion which no one expected.
Guest Post: How An Anthology Chose Its Own Theme by Elizabeth Zelvin
Back last September, Elizabeth Zelvin announced
the publication of a new anthology, Where
Crime Never Sleeps: Murder New York Style 4. Not only did SMFS member Elizabeth
Zelvin edit the book, the work included her story as well as stories by SMFS
members Joseph R.G. DeMarco, Nina Mansfield, Anita Page, and Cathi
Stoler. Please welcome back to the SMFS blog, Elizabeth Zelvin who shares how
the theme of the anthology came together.
How An Anthology Chose Its Own Theme
Elizabeth Zelvin
Writers know how fictional characters can get the bit
between their teeth and gallop off in directions the author would never have
taken them. Saying, "Whoa, Nellie!" doesn't work. There's no choice
but to go along with it—and in the end, the story or novel is the better for
it.
In compiling and editing Where Crime Never Sleeps: Murder
New York Style 4, the fourth anthology of crime and mystery short
stories by members of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime, I
found that it's not only fictional characters who take over the creative
process to the benefit of the final product. In this case, the theme of the
anthology was hijacked by the collective unconscious of the authors who contributed
stories. Furthermore, they did so without any sense of departing from the
original stated theme, as in a sense, they did not. "Nellie"—what
really grabbed the reins and took off like the Wild Hunt—was New York itself.
From the Introduction to Where Crime Never Sleeps:
Our original intent
was to devote [Murder New York Style 4] to New York attractions: landmarks and
events that draw visitors to our city, perhaps with visitors as the
protagonists, victims, and killers in the stories. Our storytellers had other
ideas. You will read about the Brooklyn Bridge in these pages, along with the
Museum of Natural History, the running track around the Central Park reservoir,
and Carnegie Hall. But the characters who inhabit these places and breathe life
into these stories are New Yorkers. To them, the iconic places of New York are
not attractions to be gawked at, but the places where they go about their
lives. So we went with what we got, and our theme became the infinite variety
of New Yorkers and the uniqueness of New Yorkishness.
The submissions we received completely disregarded the
suggestion to write about visitors. How many New Yorkers find visitors of
consuming interest, when the city is filled with so many fascinating and
endlessly diverse New Yorkers?
From the Introduction:
The term “New York
attitude” is overused, and not enough is said about what it really is. Forget
the caricature of crude pugnaciousness, the New Yorker as nihilist giving the
rest of the world the finger. I think the real attitude is the New Yorker’s
ease in her skin (or his), a way of being thoroughly at home in his (or her)
New York world—or worlds, because New York consists of hundreds, thousands of
worlds. The authors of these stories have given us a glimpse into a few of
these many worlds. What constitutes the look, the sound and smell and taste of
New York? It all depends on the senses of the individual and which New York
that person currently inhabits.
Inevitably, these
worlds intersect. It is said that psychologically Americans require eight feet
of personal space around them, more than any other people on earth. In a
crowded subway car at rush hour, they’re lucky if they get eight inches. And
crowding leads to conflict and drama—perfect for stories of crime and murder.
In each of these stories, the most unlikely characters rub elbows with one
another. [One story] features a devotee of Stanislavsky, a bunch of “hormonal
and over-caffeinated” high school kids, and a gorilla. [Another] throws
together a Rockefeller Center tour guide with a PhD and a school of executive
sharks with harassed underlings nipping at their tail fins in “the profitable
world of schlock TV.”
It's no wonder that when the members of the New
York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime sat down to write a submittable
story, they were thinking not about whether the Brooklyn Bridge is more popular
with visitors than the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building, or Central
Park (it's not, but it topped our list, while of the highest ranked three, only
Central Park made the anthology) but about how we New Yorkers are arguably (and
oh, how we love to argue!) the most interesting people in the world.
Elizabeth Zelvin ©2017
Elizabeth Zelvin is the author of the Mendoza Family Saga, and the Bruce Kohler Mysteries, as well as numerous short stories. Liz's stories have been nominated three times for the Agatha and twice for the Derringer Award for Best Short Story. Another story was listed in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERIES 2014. Her author website is at www.elizabethzelvin.com
Elizabeth Zelvin is the author of the Mendoza Family Saga, and the Bruce Kohler Mysteries, as well as numerous short stories. Liz's stories have been nominated three times for the Agatha and twice for the Derringer Award for Best Short Story. Another story was listed in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERIES 2014. Her author website is at www.elizabethzelvin.com
Friday, November 10, 2017
SMFS Members Published in Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017
SMFS Members published in the anthology, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017 are Michael Bracken, Dayle A.Dermatis, Patricia Dusenbury, Edith Maxwell, LD Masterson as well as Andrew Welsh-Huggins who won the 2017 Al Blanchard Award. This is the fifteenth volume of this long running anthology series and is available from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors.
"A.K.A. Bob Jones" by Michael Bracken.
"Voices Carry" by Dayle A.Dermatis.
"Unstrung Quartet" by Patricia Dusenbury.
"An Ominous Silence" by Edith Maxwell.
"The Murderous Type" by Andrew Welsh-Huggins (Al Blanchard Award).
"All That Sparkles" by LD Masterson.
SMFS Member Publications News: Jacqueline Seewald
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Sunday, November 5, 2017
Little Big Crimes Review: "The Black Hand" by Peter W.J. Hayes
Little Big Crimes: "The Black Hand," by Peter W.J. Hayes: "The Black Hand," by Peter W.J. Hayes, in Malice Domestic: Murder Most Historical, edited by Verena Rose, Rita Owen, and Shaw...
Saturday, November 4, 2017
SMFS Member Publication News: Christine Verstraete
SMFS Member Christine Verstraete reports her latest story, "Lizzie Borden: Murder and Mistakes?" is in the Big City Cops 1 issue of Mystery Readers Journal. The issue is available at
SMFS Member Publication News: V. S. Kemanis
SMFS Member V. S. Kemanis is a guest at Janet Hutchings’ blog, Something is Going to Happen, with
a few story ideas from the life of a mystery writer with a day job.
Friday, November 3, 2017
SMFS Members Published in Mystery Weekly Magazine: November 2017
The November 2017 issue of Mystery Weekly Magazine features
works by three SMFS members. The issue is available from the publisher, Amazon, and other vendors.
SMFS members in this issue are:
Joseph D’Agnese with his short story, ‘Her Father’s Killer.”
Debra H. Goldstein with her short story, “Day After Thanksgiving
Soup.”
Also included in this issue is “A You-Solve-It” whodunit by
Peter DiChellis.
SMFS Members Published in The Killer Wore Cranberry: A Fifth Course of Chaos
Recently published in eBook and print, The Killer Wore Cranberry: A
Fifth Course of Chaos features short stories from a number of SMFS
members. The book is available by way of the publisher, Untreed
Reads, Amazon, and other vendors. The following members who have reported
their stories in this edition are:
“Ginger Snapped” by Betsy Bitner.
“The Nameless Turkey Trot of Terror” by Bobbi Chukran.
“Kid Kelly” by Herschel Cozine.
“Death For Dessert” by Dave Goudsward writing as DG
Critchley.
“A Family Affair” by Liz Millron.
“Turkey Underfoot” by KM Rockwood.
“Stakeout In A Maple Tree” by Earl Staggs.
“The Mac Salad Killer” by Albert Tucher.
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