SMFS list member Kaye George’s new book, Tales
in the Shadows: A Kaye George Collection, was recently published.
Released by Untreed
Books in digital format only, the mystery short story collection is
available at Amazon.
Amazon Description:
Fourteen collected tales by Kaye George.
Some more shadowy than others, all intensely
entertaining.
Some extra spooky.
SMFS list member Lori Robbins’s new book, Murder
in Fourth Position: An On Pointe Mystery, was recently published.
Released by Level
Best Books in print and digital formats, the book is available at Amazon
and other vendors.
Amazon Description:
Mad Music was the buzziest new show of the upcoming
Broadway season, with a hot score, a cool director, and a deadly plot twist no
one saw coming. When rumors of a behind-the-scenes disaster surface, ballerina
Leah Siderova finds herself with the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to
make her Broadway debut while playing a double role. The producers hope to
capitalize on her talent, as well as her devoted fan base, to revive ticket
sales. Leah's true reason for abandoning Lincoln Center for the Great White Way
is her undercover investigation of online threats against Amber Castle, the
star of the show.
Leah finds herself in a deadly race against time as
the virtual threats escalate into real-life violence. Her collaboration with
the handsome detective assigned to the case complicates their fragile romance
as she battles jealousy, hidden motives, and a shadowy stalker who endangers
her personal and professional future.
Surrounded by actors skilled in deception, can Leah
solve the mystery in time to save the show?
SMFS list members are published in the Mystery
Magazine: October 2023 issue. The read is available in digital format from Amazon.
The SMFS list members that reported their presence in the issue are:
Edward Lodi with the short stores, “The Adventure of the Vanished Women” and
“Sherlock Holmes and The Grim Reaper.”
Martin Hill Ortiz with "The Adventure of My Very
First Case."
At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine
presents original short stories by the world’s best-known and emerging mystery
writers.
The stories we feature in our monthly issues span
every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit,
supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing
and a compelling story are the only certainty.
Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and
entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g.,
Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early
twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary
masters of mystery.
★
In this issue ★
In our cover story, “The Giant Rat Of Sumatra” by Eric
Cline, Sherlock Holmes faces his strangest case yet. A gang of foreigners whose
agenda is unclear leads Holmes and Watson on a desperate search of the infamous
London docks!
“The Adventure Of The Vanished Women” by Edward Lodi:
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, at the request of Inspector Gregson of
Scotland Yard, investigate the murder of one woman and the apparent abduction
(or has she, too, been murdered?) of another.
“The Adventure Of The Four Napoleons” by Jon Matthew
Farber: Sherlock, Mycroft and John square off as they share a meal.
“The Diogenes Club Mystery” by Michael Mallory:
Sherlock Holmes is drawn out of retirement by his most notable client yet—his
brother Mycroft—to find a missing jeweled crown that disappeared from the
Diogenes Club, an artifact that is not only valuable but holds the key to world
peace!
“Who Wrote ‘The Adventure Of The Mazarin Stone?’
" by Bruce Harris: A Sherlock Holmes essay examining Point Of View.
“The Adventure Of My Very First Case” by Martin Hill
Ortiz: Jules Pfennig, former champion weasel warden and next door neighbor of
Sherlock Holmes, recounts his first case.
“Sherlock Holmes And The Grim Reaper” by Edward Lodi:
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson investigate the mysterious disappearance of a
number of elderly men from boarding houses and homes for paupers. Holmes’s
confrontation with
“The Grim Reaper” nearly costs him his life.
“Dead But Dry,” A You-Solve-It by Eric B. Ruark:
Sheriff Tracy Hyers is on the hunt for a murderer. Can you help her decipher
the clues?
SMFS list member Robby Robinson’s short story, Behind
Blue Eyes, is now published in Black Cat Weekly #109.
Published by Wildside Press, the issue is available here in digital format.
Website Description:
Finally, it’s October! Home to my favorite
holiday—Halloween.
The origins of Halloween trace back to ancient Celtic
harvest festivals, linking it to themes of change and transition that often
elements of the fantastic. Darkness falls, boundaries dissolve, and our
imaginations open to infinite possibilities.
For authors of fantasy and horror, the imagery and
symbolism of Halloween fuels imagination and storytelling around our deepest
fears and fascinations. The holiday has cemented itself as a staple in the
literary tradition of the fantastic. Here be ghosts, monsters, witches, and
everything dark and diabolical. It provides the perfect setting for classic
stories. What would the season be without Washington Irving’s “The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow,” H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls,” Ray Bradbury’s “The
October Game,” and and so many others? Not to mention Mary Shelley’s
Frankenstein, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and practically everything Stephen King
has ever written.
You’ll find more than a few seasonally appropraite
tricks and treats in this month’s pages.
As always, thanks to our Acquiring Editors, Michael
Bracken and Barb Goffman, for help in pulling this exceptional issue together.
Here’s the lineup:
Mysteries / Suspense / Adventure:
“Behind Blue Eyes,” by Robby Robinson [Michael Bracken
Presents short story]
“The Case of the Fit Felon,” by Hal Charles
[solve-it-yourself mystery]
“A Rat’s Tale,” by Donna Andrews [short story]
“On His Majesty’s Service,” by Hal Meredith [short
story, Sexton Blake series]
The Clue of the New Pin, by Edgar Wallace [novel]
Science Fiction & Fantasy:
“Mad Evren’s Dreams,” by Phyllis Ann Karr [short
story]
“No Other God But Me,” by Adrian Cole [short story]
“In the Very Stones,” by Joseph Payne Brennan [short
story]
“You Can’t Scare Me!” by Charles F. Myers [short story,
Pillsworth & Toffee series]
“To Make a Hero,” by Randall Garrett [novella]
SMFS list member M.H. Callway’s new short story
collection, Snake Oil and Other Tales, was recently published.
Released by Carrick Publishing in print and digital formats, the book is available
at Amazon
and other vendors.
Amazon Description:
Snake Oil and Other Tales is the second collection of
short stories by author M.H. Callway. These dark tales include strange
guardians, mysterious bakeries, faithful dogs and yes, the slithery reptiles
that strike fear in even the toughest bro’s heart. Many were finalists for the
Crime Writers of Canada Awards for Excellence. They stretch from traditional
mysteries to thrillers to speculative fiction and even to horror. What unites
them are the characters struggling for justice–or their own warped perception
thereof.
Veronica Leigh’s short story, Stand and Deliver,
appears in the recently released OFIC Magazine: Issue 7. The issue is available
for purchase on the website.
SMFS list member Chuck Brownman’s short story, The ESC
Choice, has been published today at Kings River Magazine. The story is online
and free to read at the website.