"Shots," by Claire Booth

"Shots,"  by Claire Booth, in Lost and Loaded: A Gun's Tale, edited by Colin Conway, Original Ink Press, 2024.

I have a story in the book.

Raina's friend Tina is getting married and she and all the bridesmaids are out with a limousine for a night in the town.  Something goes disastrously wrong.  But Raina is also aware of something else that is going much more subtly wrong...

It is interesting how one author's work can remind you of someone else's, even though they are completely different.

Booth's story of a girl's night out makes me think of Richard Stark, the hardboiled alter ego of Donald Westlake, and his novels about a hardboiled burglar named Parker.  In terms of subject matter and character these two works have little in common.  But there is  a style connection.

One trick of Stark's I have always admired is this: He will give detailed descriptions of something, like the planning of a crime, and then when you get to what you think is the climax he tosses it off like an afterthought.  In one book, having gotten his hands on his enemy, Parker breaks "three bones, all fairly important."   End of description.

Booth does something like that here, leaving the reader to work out exactly what happens, and why.  Editor Chantelle Aimee Osman once advised "Don't steal the reader's crayons." In this clever tale Booth leaves you plenty to color in.

Do You See the Light? by James D.F. Hannah

 

"Do You See the Light?" by James D.F. Hannah, in Lost and Loaded: A Gun's Tale, edited by Colin Conway, Original Ink Press, 2024.

I have a story in this book. The premise of the anthology is that in each story, all set in Spokane, the protagonist finds a gun, uses it in a crime, and discards it.  That actually is a very minor part of the plot in this one, which doesn't matter in terms of the story's quality.

This is the third story by Hannah to make my Best of the Week column, and the second this year.

Can a noir story be funny and still be noir? Wit and disaster are not a natural pair.  Certainly a really farcical story is not a good candidate. But this story is truly noir and still caused me to laugh out loud a few times, or the way to the Required Bleakness.

John owns a record shop, selling vintage discs to fanatical collectors.  His friend Danny makes his living as a clown at children's parties, which doesn't really match his personality: "You oughta be able to hunt five-year-olds for sport."

They find something that leads them to believe a very valuable album (five figures!) might be in a wealthy home in town, and decide to try a short career as burglars.

"They should be wearing masks.  Of course, what's a mask matter when your accomplice is in a clown costume?"

Well-written and delightful. 

Fletch Goes For a Ride, by Eric Beetner

"Fletch Goes For a Ride," by Eric Beetner, in Back Road Bobby and His Friends, edited by Colin Conway, Original Ink Press, 2022. 

This is the second appearance in this column by Eric Beetner.  

This book is a shared universe anthology.  In this case all the stories are tied together by the same event: legendary getaway driver Handbrake Hardy is dying of kidney failure in Spokane.  Each story includes one of Hardy's friends/enemies/fans reacting to his coming death.

This stories focuses on Fletcher, a man near Hardy's age, and a man in deep trouble.  He owes ten grand to a guy named Ryland and he doesn't have it.  The loan shark sends a punk named Bobby to collect or break some legs. 

But our hero has an idea.  See, this famous driver is dying on the other side of the state and he owes Fletcher money.  If Bobby will just drive him over surely Fletcher can convince the old guy to make a death bed donation.

The yarn is a lie, but it gives Fletcher several hours in the car to think of a way out.  Now it's a matter of youth and strength versus age and guile.  Good luck, Bobby!

A clever story with a very satisfactory ending.