|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
The authors - all from New England–are the commonality in the short stories in RED DAWN. But that's where any similarities end, as the reader gets thirty-three very different stories. You won't be bored with this eclectic collection, which presents a range from light humor to dark noir.
Some of the authors in this anthology have been writing for decades; some are just new to the mystery writing community. Several mystery favorites are here. Dorothy Cannell, whose books have been published for more than 30 years, brings us "Singed," in which elderly sisters Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell (The Flower Detectives) solve a case without ever leaving their bridge table. Chris Knopf, who has published thirteen mysteries, has a somewhat hapless inventor, alone at sea, at the heart of "Kill Switch."
New authors deliver, too, such as Gin Mackey in "The Demise of My Wives." When the muse shows up for her writer protagonist, it's a guy with a gun. Katherine Fast, whose short stories have been published elsewhere, gives us a humorous take in "The Wedding Gift," about a rookie cop working in a small, rural town, where nothing is as it seems. Alan D. McWhirter has appeared before in Level Best anthologies, but it's hard to believe he hasn't been writing novels for years. His "Old Doc Sloan," complete with a ghost and PI Joe Chandler, seems like a story that came out of a series of novels.
The Al Blanchard award (given by the New England Crime Bake Committee, with publication each year in the anthology) went, for a second time, to John Bubar for "Tell the Others." It's a tale of hackers who are being kidnapped - but to what end?
If you haven't picked up a Level Best anthology yet, this is a good place to start, with its smart, well-written tales.
§ Lourdes Venard is an independent editor who divides her time between New York and Maui.
Reviewed by Lourdes Venard, November 2015
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
