From the group keeping mystery & crime stories in the public eye since 1996
Wednesday, September 18, 2024
SMFS Member Publishing News: Good Girls by Serena Jayne
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
SMFS Member Publishing News: The Lady and the Diner by Kaye George
SMFS list member Kaye George reports that her short
story, The Lady and the Diner, was published online at Killer Nashville. You can read it for free here.
SMFS Member Publishing News: Perfect Pieces by Jay Butkowski
SMFS list member Jay Butkowski reports that his short
story, Perfect Pieces, was recently published at TOUGH. You can read the piece
for free online here.
SMFS Member Publishing News: Snowed: A Phee Mahoney Adventure Mystery by Twist Phelan
SMFS list member Twist Phelan reported that her new
book, Snowed: A Phee Mahoney Adventure Mystery is now out. Published by Bronzeville Books,
the read is available at Amazon
and other vendors.
Amazon Description:
Welcome to Bristlecone,
Colorado--home of skiing, snowboarding, and secrets.
As if navigating the eighth grade weren't challenging enough for
twelve-year-old spy aficionada Ophelia (Phee) Mahoney, she's caught in an
avalanche of trouble when she investigates a classmate's disappearance on a
school ski trip and a hit-and-run that leaves a friend in a coma.
The town's sheriff, who's also the father of Phee's crush, considers the hit-and-run an accident, but Phee thinks a sinister motive was behind it. Aided by her friends, Jeopardy!-obsessed Joshua and jockette Kimiko, Phee puts her life on the line to bring justice to her home town.
SMFS Members Published in Games People Play: Final Move
Today is publication day for the digital version of Games People Play: Final Move. Collected here are the written versions of the podcast episodes that are part of the seventh season of the Mysteries To Die For podcast. Published by Mysteries To Die For, the read is available at Amazon and other vendors. The SMFS list members that reported their short stories in the read are:
Paul A. Barra with “A Scent of Murder.”
Chuck Brownman with "Get a Clue."
Kaye George with "In a Pickle."
Kathleen Marple Kalb with "Sorry Not Sorry."
Amazon Description:
Games are a thing for
children; a pastime for those with nothing better to do…or are they?
At the most basic level, games are competitions
that are conducted according to rules with participants working toward a goal.
Sometimes those goals are mutual, but most of the time, not so much. Games are
a part of every culture and go back further than human records. Take the simple
marble which has been found in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians, in the ashes
in Pompeii, and in North American native archeology. Games are one of the
oldest forms of social interaction and engagement. Games can be fun, challenging
and exhilarating. They can also be intense, cutthroat, and lethal.
For your puzzle solving pleasure, Mysteries to Die
For presents: Games People Play in a two-part anthology. Part two is Final Move.
SMFS Member Publishing News: Floor 24 by Martin Hill Ortiz
Today is publication day for SMFS list member Martin Hill Ortiz’s new book, Floor 24. Published by Oliver-Heber Books, the book is available at Amazon and other vendors.
Amazon Description:
Manhattan, 1926.
A pen falls from a high
rise and shatters at the feet of New York World reporter and World War vet Alan
Priest. Its broken barrel bears the name and office of Fritch Designs on the
24th floor. On a whim, he investigates. After he reaches Floor 24, he finds a
window open and a corpse on the sidewalk below. A gawker from a nearby office
window recognizes the corpse by her dress, sees Alan looking out the victim's
window and screams.
Someone bolts from the
office, and a hasty pursuit ends in a policeman being hurled to his death and
Alan being accused of both murders.
He seeks shelter with the
help of gentlemen's club hostess Lorraine Marquette, which lands both of them
in police custody. But the mob king of New York has the police in his clutches
and soon Alan and Lorraine find themselves released solely to uncover the
secret behind Fritch Designs, a secret that could cost them their lives as they
evade assassins and brave the lethal heights of a city growing at a mad pace.
Floor 24 is a heart-stopping, old-fashioned adventure with a
reckless pace and breakneck twists.
Monday, September 16, 2024
SMFS Member Publishing News: Betrayal: A Storefront Assassin Novel by Ed Teja
SMFS list member Ed Teja reported that his new book, Betrayal:
A Storefront Assassin Novel is now out. Published by Float Street Press, the book
is available at Amazon.
Amazon Description:
Tina’s best friend is in a bit of trouble.
A drug
deal went south, and several people got killed, including Beryl’s boyfriend.
Now she is being stalked by his biker gang—and the cops. Tina Clarke wants to
help, but her only real skills are very specific—those of a professional,
government-trained assassin.
Army Intelligence prefers that the assassin disappear. Someone betrayed Tina’s
special ops unit, leaving her the sole survivor, kicked out on a medical
discharge. Tina wants to know why. She’ll kill to find out.
Readers who enjoyed the heart-pumping action and suspense of Lee Child's Jack
Reacher will love Tina Clarke—she’s less macho, more deadly.








