Noir Canal, by Manu Causse

"Noir Canal," by Manu Causse, in Toulouse Noir, edited by Charles-Henri Lavielle, Akashic Press, 2026.

Akashic Press sent me a free copy of this book. 

Some of the stories in this book seem more interested in giving tours of a neighborhood than exploring a crime.  Not this one, though.  It gives the readers a mystery: not a  whodunit, but a why.

Olie is a trans woman who is a sociology student and volunteers to help prostitutes.  You would think that gives her plenty of reasons to want to avoid the police.So why did she call the police at 4 A.M. to report finding a murdered man beside the canal? And then stay around to answer their questions?  

She has her reasons, which we will eventually learn. Along the way we will also learn a great deal about how prostitution works in France.  Very nice ending, too. 

 

The Briar Patch, by Tom Milani

"The Briar Patch," by Tom Milani, in Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken, and Stacy Woodson, Level Best Books, 2026.Michael Bracken sent me a copy of this book.  Some themed anthologies are pretty general - stories about movies, say - and some are very specific.  For example, each of these crime stories uses the title of, and refers to the plot of, a fairy tale.In the original tale Brer Rabbit outsmarts the bigger and dangerous Brer Fox by convincing him to "punish" the bunny by tossing him into the briar patch - exactly where he wants to be. So how does that turn into a modern mystery story?Rabbit is the nickname of a worker at Brothers Salvage, an auto junkyard.  The boss thinks he's reliable but not very bright.  So we're ready for our hero to be underestimated, and he is.The junkyard is being used as a transfer point for drugs and one day Mr. Fox comes to pick some up, but Rabbit has done something with them.  Can Rabbit outsmart the violent Mr. Fox? Can a bunny hop?There are a few nice easter eggs in this fun story, such as the name of the bartender.  



 

Pitchapalooza, by Robert Parker

 "Pitchapalooza," by Robert Parker, in Black Cat Weekly, #253, 2026. 

The main character  of this tale is Geneva Slitherbee (great name). Notice I didn't call her the heroine, cause heroic, she ain't.  She is a literary agent attending Pitchapalooza where "wannabe writers... for the price of their conference registration and some 50 bucks or so per pitch... get five minutes to convince an agent just to consider looking at their years of writing."

We quickly learn that Geneva is not taking their work seriously but we can hardly blame her considering the quality of the pitches we hear about.  "Think Dirty Harry meets Night of the Living Dead meets Bridget Jones's Diary," one wannabe urges.  We'd rather not. 

Is there a crime here, other than collecting those fees for allegedly listening to pitches?  There is.  Is this story funny? Oh, yes.

I admit the ending isn't as strong as I hoped, but a good time will be had on the way. 

 

Three Billy Goats Gruff, by Michael Bracken

 "Three Billy Goats Gruff," by Michael Bracken, in Wish Upon a Crime: Crime Fiction Inspired by Fairy Tales, edited by Michael Bracken, and Stacy Woodson, Level Best Books, 2026. 

Michael Bracken, friend and fellow SleuthSayer, as well as co-editor of this book, sent me a free copy. And what do you know? His story is the best I have read so far in the book. It also marks his thirteenth appearance in this blog.  

One of the big trends in popular fiction these days is retellings of mythology.  Someone should do an anthology of that, don't you think?  While we wait for that one we have this volume based on fairy tales.  Some are grim (Grimm?). This one, not so much.

Three brothers, Buck, Billy, and Kid Gruff, run a disreputable marijuana dispensary.  When a virus starts destroying their crops they hope to negotiate a deal with their long-time rivals, the Troll family.  But only the patriarch of that family can make such arrangements and to reach him the Gruffs have to cross a Troll (or toll) bridge.  Lot of puns here, naturally...