Don't Push Me, by Liza Cody

 "Don't Push Me," by Liza Cody, in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024.

 This is the fourth story by Cody to make this page. 

I have said before that dialog is character and so is first person narration.  

I'm unfairly known in my regiment as Basher Belker.  The joke is that I hit first and think later.  I don't care.  Women are outnumbered twenty to one where I work, so it's not a bad nickname to have.  It's certainly better than my other moniker -- Shrimp.

Debby Belker is a squaddy - a British soldier.  She has seen a lot of combat overseas but this story takes place in England and the trouble starts when she sees a man beating a small boy. True enough, she hits first and asks questions after.  Turns out the boy  is a thief, but the man is selling counterfeit goods.  The police have no interest in prosecuting him but Belker takes advantage of a possibility that does not exist in the United  States: She organizes a private prosecution.

Turns out the syndicate the bad guy is working for objects to this.  They have some violent plans for our hero.  But Basher Belker is a long way from a soft target.  A terrific story of an underdog that bites hard.

Home Game, by Craig Faustus Buck

"Home Game," by Craig Faustus Buck, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024.

This is Buck's fourth appearance in this column. 

Sometimes it can be fun to do a mash-up of familiar story types.  We have all read plenty of stories of spouses angered to the point of wanting to kill each other.  And we have encountered many tales of home invasion.  But this is the fonly story I can recall in which the home invader may have  actually been hired to kill a spouse.

And you can understand how these two have gotten on each other's nerves.  Teddy speaks in sports cliches.  "Take the ball and run with it."

Reni, on the other hand, is deep into mindfulness and self-affirmations.  "Fear of failure does not control me." I don't think I would care to listen to either of them for, say, years.

When Stuckey shows up in the middle of the night claiming that he has been hired for a hit it seems plausible.  What follows is a nice suspense tale as plans are revealed and begin to unravel. 

The Art of Cruel Embroidery, by Steven Sheil

 "The Art of Cruel Embroidery," by Steven Sheil, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, July 2024.

A historical mystery spread out over decades, and a  classic love triangle.

It starts in Macon, Georgia, in 1948. Woody Wyle is a tailor specializing in the highly decorated clothes favored by country singers.  One day an up-and-comer named Eddie Prospect enters his shop and covets a jacket he can't afford.  So begins a relationship of ebbs and flows, sun and storm,  as Eddie becomes a star and  Woody becomes tailor to the stars.

Woody knows that his looks and personality are never going to make him a sex symbol like Eddie and that's fine until he falls in love with Sammi-Jo.  Inevitably she falls for Eddie, and inevitably, he's a user of women or, as he puts it "not the marrying kind."

What follows is a well-written tale of vengeance, plotted and carried out over decades.   

The Man Who Found The Body, by Avram Davidson

 

"The Man Who Found The Body," by Avram Davidson, in AD 100,: 100 Years of Avram Davidson, Volume 1, Or All The Seas With Oysters Publishing,  2023. 

I usually stick to stories published in the current year, since one of my goals is to compile a list of the annual best, but I have, in my spare time, so to speak, been working through this collection of 100 previously unpublished or uncollected works by Avram Davidson, commemorating his centennial.

Davidson was a brilliant writer, winning prizes in mystery, science fiction, and fantasy.  If you aren't familiar with his work, don't buy this book.  Instead buy The Avram Davidson Treasury and/or The Investigations of Avram Davidson.  Do it now. Treat yourself.  They cover the essential works.

But today's story is a fine one, too. It appeared in Saint Mystery Magazine in 1960.

For the first time in its history the town of Phillipsburgh has had a murder.  The dead woman in the snow was found by Archer Slide, a not-too-bright man who "worked -- when he worked -- as a roofer's helper." Archie is excited about the discovery.  In fact everyone is excited, especially the "excellent specimen of the species Great Red-Faced Police Chief" who is thrilled to have a chance to solve a genuine homicide. 

Everyone gets carried away and pursuit of fame pushes the interests of justice aside.  The press shifts its favor as news is revealed and people who are found innocent of one offense are blamed for another.  

This is not a traditional crime story, but a shrewd look at human nature and how, as Earl Emerson said, murder opens the trunk of people's lives.  I would like to think things would happen differently today, but I'm not so sure.

Her Dangerously Clever Hands, by Karen Odden

 

"Her Dangerously Clever Hands," by Karen Odden, in Crimeucopia: Through the Past Darkly, Murderous Ink Press, 2024.

The publisher sent me a free copy of this magazine.

London, 1879. Inspector Michael Corravan is held in some suspicion at Scotland Yard because he is Irish by way of the infamous Whitechapel neighborhood.  But when the head of a well-known band of female thieves is murdered, his familiarity with the place gets him the job of investigating. 

It turns out that the main suspect is the woman he had a crush on years ago, before she was transported to Australia for theft.  This is a complicated story, rich in period detail, and with a satisfactory solution.

How Easily Things Can Explode, by Daniel C. Bartlett

 "How Easily Things Can Explode," by Daniel C. Bartlett, in Crimeucopia: Totally Psycho Logical, Murderous Ink Press, 2024.

The publisher sent me a copy of this book.

Nolan is not a normal guy. He is somewhere between an awkward loner and neurodiverse.  His life went off the rails in high school when a comment in a stress-filled moment was interpreted as a bomb threat.

 Years later he is working as a garbage man and when unexploded bombs are found in the city he knows the police will be coming to check him out.  It's a dangerous time, combining an upcoming election and a classic cross-city football game that is turning the wealthy and poor sides of the town against each other.

Things get more complicated when Nolan learns about someone involved in one of the dangerous incidents -- and it is someone he has a connection to. 

Can Nolan do the right thing? What is the right thing? A moving story. 

Bridge to Nowhere, by William Kitcher

 "Bridge to Nowhere," by William Kitcher, Mystery Magazine, July 2024.

How far back can we trace the subgenre this story belongs to? The oldest comic tale I can think of about incompetent criminals is "The Ransom of Red Chief" by O. Henry (1907).  No doubt someone can name an earlier one.

The master of the field was Donald E. Westlake with hias Dortmunder novels, although he would argue that poor John D. was very competent, just highly unlucky. I'll admit the man could plan a crime brilliantly, but as for the accomplices he selected, well, he has to take some responsibility for picking them. 

In any case, let's look at today's example.  Greenizan is desperate for money so when an acquaintance named Murphy offers him a grand for doing a favor he doesn't see how he can say no.

He should have tried harder. Turns out the favor involves a corpse. And a bridge. What could possibly go wrong?

I won't say more about this short story except that it is well told, and it surprised me and made me laugh. What else do you want on a summer afternoon?

turmns kkkkkkkkk

Golden Parachute, by Travis Richardson

 

"Golden Parachute," by Travis Richardson, in Murder, Neat, edited by Michael Bracken and Barb Goffman, Level Short Books, 2024

I have a story in this book.

This is the fourth appearance on this page by my friend and fellow Sleuthsayer, and a slick tale it is.

Alex Dorrett, our narrator, founded a tech giant but he has just been kicked out, due to some poor decisions. Keep those last two words in mind because we are going to see a lot more poor decisions before this story wraps up.

He leaves his firm's offices with a dramatic exit I will not spoil for you, goes off drinking, and falls in with bad companions.  Companions who think there must be a way to glom onto some of the billionaire's wealth, if only they are clever enough to think of it.  Which they ain't, but they are violent enough to harm him if he can't find a way to satisfy them.  Which he will.

Here's a sample of our hero:

I talked nonstop, bitching about all the mistreatment and abuse that a billionaire like me had to endure from jerks... who harassed me about crap like ethics and decorum.  It's the kind of BS that kills the innovative freedom necessary for a tech founder to thrive.

Poor baby.  You'll have a lot of fun with this one.

The Hospital Boomerang, by Kevin R. Tipple

"The Hospital Boomerang," by Kevin R. Tipple, in Larceny and Last Chances, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, Superior Shores Press, 2024.

The publisher sent me a free e-copy of this book.

My friend Kevin Tipple has written a fun story.

We're in a small town in Texas.  More specifically in a hospital where the narrator (nameless, I think) is waking up in a bed.  It's his second stay there:

Neither wrist was handcuffed to the rail of the bed. An improvement over my last visit.

As the tale unfolds we will learn about the events that put him in the hospital the first time (followed by prison) and the rather different circumstances that gained him a return trip. Ironically both visits are based on his making dubious decisions, but the outcomes are quite different.

Nice little twist at the end.

And Now, an Inspiring Story of Tragedy Overcome, by Joseph S. Walker

"And Now, an Inspiring Story of Tragedy Overcome," by Joseph S. Walker, in Three Strikes -- You're Dead!, edited by Donna  Andrews, Barb Goffman, and Marcia Talley, Wildside Press, 2024. 

My friend and fellow SleuthSayer seems to be slipping.  Here it is June and he has only had  two stories reviewed in this column.

It is an interesting tale of worlds colliding.  Lonnie Walsh is a second generation mobster.  His sister dies giving birth to the daughter of Brant, a worthless jerk of a husband.  Now Lonnie has to watch over little Kayla while trying to keep idiot Brant out of trouble.

Things get more complicated when Kayla turns out to have the desire and potential to be  a world-class figure skater.   The best thing in this story is Alicia Petkov, the skating coach, who is as hard-bitten as any mobster you are likely to meet.  

"I'm telling you it's very possible that at some point, a group of people in a small room will decide who to send to the Olympics.  When they have that discussion, we want Kayla to be the girl with the saintly dead mother. Not the girl with a gangster in the family."

It strikes me that a lot of Walker's best stories are about complicated families. This is a fine example.