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ncrabb's review
4.0
Doug Allyn’s The Kiss of Life headlined the May/June issue. Any time this publication features Doug Allyn, I’m going to feel more kindly disposed toward every other author in the issue. For me, his coat tails are that big.
Ray Beaumont and his girlfriend are at the beach on Lake Michigan one day when Ray notices a clearly troubled woman nonchalantly walk into the lake and disappear. He saves her life, and she punches him in the face for his trouble. She is married to a local thug; the marriage was a Vegas quickie. But she wants to preserve the marriage—after she realizes that her attempted suicide was a dumb idea. Ray gets involved as her lawyer, and uncool things happen to him as a result of his involvement. I predict the ending will leave you mildly unsettled.
Zoe Z. Dean’s “Strong Stomach” could conceivably cause you to hold your stomach and swallow back the urge to retch up whatever you’ve eaten lately. It is memorable indeed.
“Temptation Street” by Martin Edwards is a bit cliché, but it’s memorably written. A younger woman, bored with her aging husband and less enamored with the bobbles he has given her over the years seeks excitement and solace by bedding a university student. That doesn’t end well.
“The Case of the Strangled Man” is a riveting story in the order of the locked-room mystery. Cops interrogate a suspect in a closed room at the police station only to find him later strangled while inside the closed room. Even the camera doesn’t provide clues.
Doug Crandell serves up nasty revenge at the end of a boxing-glove-covered fist in “Frank Scarso Finds His Life.” I had a hard time buying into this one; I’m not sure the motivation was enough to convince an ex-con to go back to prison.
“A Heaven or a Hell” by Anna Scotti is a gripping story about forgiveness and delayed revenge. A lawyer adopts two boys who had earlier killed his brother. Now the boys are teenagers, and both of them wound up at the bottom of a cliff; one is dead. The narrator is part of the witness protection program posing as a teacher’s aid at a private school.
Mike MacInnes’s “The Unlocked Car” pits an insurance investigator against a scheming drunk driver who found an ingenious albeit totally unbelievable way to defeat the breathalyzer lock that prevents him from starting his car if he’s drunk.
“Flamingo Flamenco” by Melissa Yi wins my personal award for best narrated story in the publication. The narrator sounded like the 20-year-old main character. She is of Asian descent living in Canada. When her family visits a Las Vegas hotel, she meets the guy of her dreams and has to save another Asian woman from harassment by arrogant fraternity boys.
Ray Beaumont and his girlfriend are at the beach on Lake Michigan one day when Ray notices a clearly troubled woman nonchalantly walk into the lake and disappear. He saves her life, and she punches him in the face for his trouble. She is married to a local thug; the marriage was a Vegas quickie. But she wants to preserve the marriage—after she realizes that her attempted suicide was a dumb idea. Ray gets involved as her lawyer, and uncool things happen to him as a result of his involvement. I predict the ending will leave you mildly unsettled.
Zoe Z. Dean’s “Strong Stomach” could conceivably cause you to hold your stomach and swallow back the urge to retch up whatever you’ve eaten lately. It is memorable indeed.
“Temptation Street” by Martin Edwards is a bit cliché, but it’s memorably written. A younger woman, bored with her aging husband and less enamored with the bobbles he has given her over the years seeks excitement and solace by bedding a university student. That doesn’t end well.
“The Case of the Strangled Man” is a riveting story in the order of the locked-room mystery. Cops interrogate a suspect in a closed room at the police station only to find him later strangled while inside the closed room. Even the camera doesn’t provide clues.
Doug Crandell serves up nasty revenge at the end of a boxing-glove-covered fist in “Frank Scarso Finds His Life.” I had a hard time buying into this one; I’m not sure the motivation was enough to convince an ex-con to go back to prison.
“A Heaven or a Hell” by Anna Scotti is a gripping story about forgiveness and delayed revenge. A lawyer adopts two boys who had earlier killed his brother. Now the boys are teenagers, and both of them wound up at the bottom of a cliff; one is dead. The narrator is part of the witness protection program posing as a teacher’s aid at a private school.
Mike MacInnes’s “The Unlocked Car” pits an insurance investigator against a scheming drunk driver who found an ingenious albeit totally unbelievable way to defeat the breathalyzer lock that prevents him from starting his car if he’s drunk.
“Flamingo Flamenco” by Melissa Yi wins my personal award for best narrated story in the publication. The narrator sounded like the 20-year-old main character. She is of Asian descent living in Canada. When her family visits a Las Vegas hotel, she meets the guy of her dreams and has to save another Asian woman from harassment by arrogant fraternity boys.
verumsolum's review
4.0
I was quite pleasantly surprised by my first issue of Ellery Queen. It called to me from the bookstore shelf when we were setting out on a short vacation in a neighboring city this summer. I've enjoyed mystery books, but I had a less satisfying time with an anthology of mystery stories (which I think comes down to a definitional disagreement between me and the editors of that anthology as to what makes a mystery story). After that, I wondered whether what I liked about mystery just didn't translate to short fiction. This magazine told me that short fiction isn't a problem for me to enjoy in this genre.
As with any sort of collection of shorter pieces, some clicked with me and the very occasional one didn't. For the most part, the stories went where I wanted them to, and there were just enough occasions where a story or character unsettled me or surprised me to keep it from being boring.
It took me far too many months to read this, after buying it. And… I will definitely have to buy another issue. I enjoyed the stories, and they were short enough that I can see it as a good choice for a waiting room situation where one expects to wait, but may be interrupted at any moment… especially because each story felt short enough that I wouldn't mind if I had to reread a few pages to get my bearings when I picked it up again next time I read.
As with any sort of collection of shorter pieces, some clicked with me and the very occasional one didn't. For the most part, the stories went where I wanted them to, and there were just enough occasions where a story or character unsettled me or surprised me to keep it from being boring.
It took me far too many months to read this, after buying it. And… I will definitely have to buy another issue. I enjoyed the stories, and they were short enough that I can see it as a good choice for a waiting room situation where one expects to wait, but may be interrupted at any moment… especially because each story felt short enough that I wouldn't mind if I had to reread a few pages to get my bearings when I picked it up again next time I read.
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