"Storm Warning," by Dana Haynes, in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, July/August 2022.
This is the third appearance on this page by Dana Haynes.
Some stories are all about suspense, building slowly up like a weather system.
The main participants in this situation are Jordan and Lizette Birdsall. Jordan is a wealth Texas oilman. The insurance company is sending an expert to examine his collection of rare paintings.
That in itself is not the cause of the suspense. The paintings are everything they should be. But the inspector's assistant is a beautiful blond woman who looks a lot like Lizette did when she first caught the eye of her now-husband a decade before. And that makes her very uncomfortable.
Another source of tension is the nasty relationship between the two insurance people. But worse is the tornado watch which quickly turns into a tornado warning. Most of the characters retreat to the storm-proof basement where tensions of all kinds escalate. Did I mention that Jordan keeps his firearms collection down there?
I did NOT guess where this clever tale was headed.
I just read this one last night. It really was a great story...loved the tie-in with the names.
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