The Texas Chain-Store Manager, by Josh Pachter

"The Texas Chain-Store Manager," by Josh Pachter, in Crimeucopia: A Coterie of Dicks, edited by John Connor, Murderous Ink Press, 2026.

 This is the second story to get reviewed here by my friend  Josh Pachter, not counting the many he has edited in various anthologies. 

Let's start with the title: Bravo.  Don't you wish you had thought of it? 

Helmut Erhard is a semi-retired private eye in a small Texas town, and he has appeared in several of Pachter's previous stories.  In this one he is hired by the manager of a large grocery store. It has just opened and they are alr4eady having trouble with that dreaded retail problem, shrinkage, alias theft.  In this case someone is sticking labels from inexpensive products on costly items, paying the lower price and then returning it for the full price.

Erhard has three days to work in the store fourteen hours a day and figure out what's going on.  This is one of those stories where you see what our hero sees and should be able to figure out what he does (theoretically) , but the trick is how he gathers his evidence. Whether you guess what he's up to or not you will have fun  on the ride.  

The Two-Body Problem, by Josh Pachter

"The Two-Body Problem," by Josh Pachter, in Mystery Weekly Magazine, October 2019.

I admit to being a sucker for stories set in higher education.  Comes from three-plus decades in the academe mob.

My friend Josh Pachter has offered a nice example.  The narrator and his  fiance are both marine biologists, hustling toward the completion of their PhDs.  And that is what brings up the titular dilemma.

With the job market the way it is, it's tough enough for one let's say marine biologist to find a tenure-track position at an R1 -- which is, for the uninitiated, a top-level university... When there are two of you in the same competitive field, the challenge is exponentially compounded.

How do two bodies, excuse me, two academics find jobs at the same top school?  And what happens if they don't? 

I very much enjoyed the light and sparkling tone used in this tale to describe the complexities of the higher ed biz.

My only complaint about this story is that Pachter doesn't explain the origin of the "Two Body Problem."  It's a physics issue having to do with objects in orbit.  This adds another level of academic complexity to the whole shebang.