"The Mysterious Woman in the Lifeguard Chair," by Bruce W. Most, in Mystery Magazine, May 2024.
This is the second story by Most to get reviewed in this column and both have featured Weegee the Famous. In real life Weegee was a freelance photographer, famous for his portraits of New York City at night, especially of crime scenes.
It's a hot summer night during World War II and Weegee is at Coney Island, using new infrared film to take pictures of lovers and other people hoping to find some relief from the heat on the beach. He snaps a shot of a young woman alone in a lifeguard chair.
Two days later he gets a strange visitor: an angry man who somehow knows Weegee took a picture of the woman whom he claims was his sister. He offers an outrageous amount for the negative and any prints. And then a woman's body is found...
Some nice twists and turns in this story which is rich in atmosphere.
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