The Hanging Judge, by Dave Zeltserman

 "The Hanging Judge," by  Dave Zeltserman, in Black Cat Weekly, #163, 2024.

World-building is a topic that gets discussed a lot among writers of science fiction and fantasy, but not so much  in mystery.  The assumption there is you are trying to set your story in the world we live in.  (Historical mysteries are different, especially if they are set in the distant past where we have to speculate about how people lived.)

But this story is all about world-building.  Of course, it is a fantasy mystery. Mike Stone begins by telling us "I might be hell's only operating private eye."     

So the world Zeltserman has to show us is hell, but not just any ol' Hades.  It turns out that every resident with a strong enough personality or "enough self-awareness" generates his or her own private hell, and can drag less aware persons into it.

Stone's problem is that he isn't getting any business.  (Well, his bigger problem is that he's in hell, and the worst part of that, he explains, is the monotony.  So having no business is a real drag.)  He concludes that the problem might be that he did a lousy job on an earlier case, and "everything has consequences in hell."  So Stone sets out to determine, this time for sure, who killed his client, a corrupt judge.

No need for me to detail his investigation.  You either enjoy this sort of thing or you don't.  I enjoyed it very much.

White Elephants, by Peter W.J. Hayes

 "White Elephants," by Peter W.J. Hayes, in Mystery Most International, edited by Rita Owen, Verena Rose, and Shawn Reilly Simmons, Level Short, 2024.

I have a story in this book.

This is Hayes' third appearance in this blog.  It's a nice little spy story.  Levon Grace isn't a career guy, mor of a free-lancer.  The CIA uses him as a bagman, bringing money to places in Asia.  

But his current assignment is different.  He is bringing a priceless painting to a gangster in Asia.  In return the gangster is giving him valuable information about the latest crackdown and new personnel in the government of China.  

This would be a very short story if everything went right, so of course it doesn't.  Chinese agents want Levon's swag, but dodgin them, deadly as they are, is only part of the problem, because the gangster isn't playing straight.

If you like your spy stories tangled and action-packed you will enjoy this one.

Satan's Spit, by Gabriel Valjan

 "Satan's Spit," by Gabriel Valjan, in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem: Bouchercon Anthology 2024. edited by Heather Graham, Down and Out Books, 2024.

This is the second story by Valjan to make this list.

It is 1934 and in rural Tennessee Sheriff Presser and Deputy Garland are called to a murder in Satan's Spit, the Negro part of town.  The victim is Charlie, a teenage boy, except it turns out that she was a girl.  She used to play harmonica in Mama Raye's juke joint, which is nearby.

Charlie's secret is just the first of many that need to be investigated before the murderer can be uncovered.  For example: who called the police in the first place?

This is a nice historical story with plenty of period and location detail.

The Car Hank Died In, by Mark Troy

 

"The Car Hank Died In," by Mark Troy, in Tales of Music, Murder, and Mayhem: Bouchercon Anthology 2024, edited by Heather Graham, Down and Out Books, 2024.

This is the second time Mark Troy has made my story-of-the-week blog.

There is a cliche, especially in TV (although I blush to admit it also happened in one of my novels), in which a driver gets into a car and doesn't notice someone hiding in the back seat.  Just once I'd like the driver to open the front door, look back, and ask "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Having gotten that out of the way...

Delaney and Richard are a couple of horny teenagers. They decide the perfect place to fool around is the backseat of an old Cadillac.  Couple of problems with that: 1. The driver is about to take it out for gas.  2. This isn't just any old Caddy; it's the one where Hank Williams took his last breath and is used in parades on holidays, such as the next day.

Oh, there are more problems, some of which involve the car and some concern a cowboy with a gun and bad intentions.  Meanwhile there are two half-naked teens in the backseat, scared out of their tiny minds.  

I did not guess any of the several detours this clever car trip took.

The Bride Case, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

 

"The Bride Case," by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024.

This is the ninth time I have chosen Rusch's work for the best of the week.  She's good.  

Last week I said that in short stories science fiction seems to lend itself more to philosophical reflection than mystery.  A week later, here is Rusch coming to make a monkey out of me.

This story kept surprising me, not because of twist endings, but because the shape of it kept shifting.  It starts off conventionally enough:  The narrator - if he had a name I didn't catch it - is an attorney, on his way to an important homicide case, which we read a bit about.  But before that case starts he has time to look in on a client who is trying her first divorce case.  

Then something goes wrong, life-changingly wrong.  And the story shifts.  Later it changes again and we get to what the story is really about, as the narrator has to really think about his relationship with the law.

Violence. Characters in conflict. Philosophy.  All in one fascinating tale.

Midnight Movie, by James Van Pelt

 "Midnight Movie," by James Van Pelt, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024.

A topic that comes up at least once a year on the Short Mystery Fiction Society list is: What's the difference between Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines? I even wrote an essay on the subject.

Here is one difference: EQMM does not welcome stories that include elements of science fiction, fantasy, or the supernatural -- unless there turns out to be a mundane explanation. AHMM, on the other hand, sometimes lets such tales in, if there is a strong mystery element.

Which brings us to this week's story.  

The narrator runs a theatre.  Someone is murdered during a midnight show, stabbed by someone in the row behind them.  The narrator suspects the killer might be the customer he calls the Creep, who always wears a fedora and dark glasses (during a midnight flick?).  As it turns out the Creep is doing something quite different, and that's where the science fiction element comes in.

I think SF tends toward the philosophical more than mystery fiction.  It has to do with the "what if" element so often built into the genre.  "If X could happen how would that affect Y?" This story will entertain you and make you think. 

Bitter Cold, by Shannon Taft

 

"Bitter Cold," by Shannon Taft, in Notorious in North Texas, edited by Michael Bracken, North Dallas Chapter of Sisters in Crime, 2024.

The big question with historical fiction is: How much is too much? I'm talking about detail. You want the reader to believe you know what you're talking about, but you don't want them thinking they are reading a history book and falling asleep over it.

It may help if you're writing about something the reader knows nothing about, which is certainly the fact in this story - at least with this reader. 

It's January 1918, and the narrator, Major Evans, is the commander of military police at Camp Taliaferro, where American and Canadian pilots are being trained to fight and fly in the World War.  It is one of the coldest winters in Texas history and the troops are not prepared nor equipped for it. That could explain how Canadian Flight Cadet Charlie MacDonald wound up dead in his tent, except there is evidence that he was strangled.

Evans has to investigate the murder quickly while being pressured by the brass to play down a dangerous international incident that could play havoc with the already low morale.  

The story felt very real to me.