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Text of the page (random words):
that kind of day it begins on 9 11 2001 when amber age 12 comes home after hearing the horrible news about the terrorist attack only to find her mother murdered in the kitchen it appears to be a botched hostage situation because bank video shows her father emptying their accounts to try to pay a ransom his car is eventually found torched but he never is we see amber growing up a traumatized orphan in scenes linked to princess margaret s death the columbia disaster and so on we re rooting for her to find stability and happiness against high odds i suspected how this excellent story would end hey i read a lot of shorts but that didn t keep me from enjoying it thoroughly posted by robert lopresti at 11 21 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 eqmm todd sunday april 19 2026 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 posted by robert lopresti at 6 02 pm 1 comment email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 crimeucopia pachter sunday april 12 2026 skeleton crew by v g burke skeleton crew by v g burke in ellery queen s mystery magazine january february 2026 first stories seldom make this list but burke s did our protagonist is a guy named road a veteran who saw too much and isn t sure he can live with it or that he wants to a fellow vet named sophie tries to keep him from taking a permanent way out and road owes her something in savannah georgia he meets a cop another veteran who tells road that what he needs to keep him going is a mission he finds one in a bar have you seen david grant a popular habitue of the joint a genuine nice guy has vanished and road may still have the skills to track him the story gets pretty brutal if it wasn t in eqmm s department of first stories it could have worked in their black mask department i wish the story had been more tightly edited for example there were a few spots where i couldn t tell who was speaking but it s a very enjoyable tale posted by robert lopresti at 8 54 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 burke eqmm first story monday april 6 2026 half empty city by jodie snyder half empty city by jodie snyder in more trouble in tucson eva eldridge 3sides2 2026 it s nice when we can occasionally escape from murder plots and heist capers the narrator of this story nameless i think is a survivor of domestic violence now living in her car but that s not an option in tucson in the summer she breaks into a home in a wealthy neighborhood where almost all the residents have vanished to cooler climes so she is a criminal but one with ethics she does not damage the house and steals nothing but food and technically electricity the home gives her the breathing space to find a job and things seem to be looking up but two people are taking an unfortunate amount of interest in her one is hank the sweet elderly neighbor who assumes she belongs in the house the other is a co worker named tyler who she recognizes as the same kind of bully she ran away a guy who won t take no for an answer can she solve these problems you will have fun finding out posted by robert lopresti at 9 22 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 3sides2 sisters in crime snyder sunday march 29 2026 solstice sigil by laframboise michèle solstice sigil by michèle laframboise in alfred hitchcock s mystery magazine january february 2026 a lot of good stories in this issue i must say copy editing not so much i have read a lot of mysteries set in ancient rome most of them feature protagonists who have a properly cynical and noirish sentiment about the eternal city but have no doubt that rome is and deserves to be the ruler of the world the best thing about this story is it s refreshing counterpoint to that view our protagonist is a nubian slave and former gladiator but before that he fought for the army of carthage to say he has no love of this city is an understatement latin was a strange dialect with the words changing clothes he notes another stupid roman custom he grumbles later and you will agree with him it is saturnalia the holiday in which slaves are allowed great liberties our hero if his name is mentioned i didn t catch it has been drinking and gambling when he stumbles over a corpse when an army officer sees him near the body he figures he is doomed but publius is not a person who jumps to easy conclusions realizing that failure to solve the murder will result in publius s death yet another stupid roman custom the slave reluctantly decides to help his former enemy out the result is a search through subura one of the city s nastiest slums very entertaining posted by robert lopresti at 5 24 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 ahmm laframboise saturday march 21 2026 the tattle tale heart by john leonard pielmeier the tattle tale heart by john leonard pielmeier in alfred hitchcock s mystery magazine january february 2026 hoo boy sometimes the challenge of reviewing a short story is figuring out what you can say without spoilers pardon me if i get vague for reader s protection it is 1960 and eleanor morse a widow has just taken a caribbean cruise at the recommendation of her friend harry now back in altoona she opens her suitcase and finds a horrifying surprise which leaves her and us with a lot of questions who put it there how why and when and come to think of it why is eleanor so reluctant to tell the police about her friend harry the answers are surprising and in some cases audacious and that s all i will say about the plot but after i finished the story i found myself trying to reverse engineer the plot specifically why did this story need to be a historical what tied the plot to the past i thought of a few details that probably fit 1960 better than 2026 like the scientific element of the investigation and eleanor s determined personality does stand out more in those pre liberation days but then i remembered that we are told about an incident in her childhood and oh yes that works best with the time period i ll shut up now go read the story it s a good one posted by robert lopresti at 9 41 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 ahmm pielmeier sunday march 15 2026 glass beach by michael bracken glass beach by michael bracken in alfred hitchcock s mystery magazine january february 2026 this is the twelfth appearance in this space by my friend and fellow sleuthsayer one of my favorite mystery stories is witch s money by john collier in spite of the title it does not involve the supernatural but tells how a small european village is turned inside out by the arrival of a relatively wealthy american bracken s story reminds me of collier s the story takes place near fort bragg california in the early 1970s the witch s money in this case is a strongbox full of cash the loot from the robbery of a lumber company payroll a decade earlier it is discovered in a dump by patrick our teenage narrator and his fairly hostile stepfather cush they hope to keep the find secret but inevitably the ripples start to spread involving first patrick s best friend whose mother works at a bank and knows how difficult will be to make the money safe to spend as complications arise and more people get involved our heroes discover just how difficult easy money can be terrific story posted by robert lopresti at 3 00 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 ahmm bracken sunday march 8 2026 dear mr townsend by e a aymar dear mr townsend by e a aymar in ellery queen s mystery magazine january february 2026 this is the second appearance by aymar in my best of column it s a very quirky story first it is epistolary consisting of emails to hank townsend from many sources second it keeps shifting between the comic and the tragic that can mean failure in a story but aymar makes it work the comic is very comic for example townsend gets email from his former attorney who is now disbarred and running a business called legalishadvice when it just needs to be plausible but he is also receiving email from a mental health counselor who doesn t seem to be doing him much good and a company called patroit handguns which ends each note with shoot your shot and then there are hilarious but scary notes from a customer relations guy who sends him threats in other words townsend has issues some of his own making he is trying to better his messy situation and you can t help but root for him posted by robert lopresti at 5 22 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 aymar eqmm sunday march 1 2026 love is blue by lawrence maddox love is blue by lawrence maddox in in tennis noir edited by john shepphird level best books 2026 this is my friend lawrence maddox s third appearance in this column it tells the woeful tale of marvin stang a film editor who has a gambling problem well as he sees it he has a problem with a bookie but one thing leads to another doesn t it he is trying to earn some quick money doing a vanity project for angelika blueler an over the hill tennis great who wants to make a video of her glory days but blue is not easy to get along with two complications pile on los angeles happens to be on fire and blue wants marvin s help in dealing with a blackmailer specifically she wants to get at the blackmailer s stash of filthy pictures which happen to be in the part of l a which happens to be did i mention on fire what could possibly go wrong you will have a lot of fun finding out posted by robert lopresti at 2 30 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 level best maddox saturday february 21 2026 hard luck penny by scott mckinnon hard luck penny by scott mckinnon in the yard february 15 2026 i think this is the first time a first story made my best of list since 2023 so penny says do you guys get a commission every time you flash a weapon or is it a contractual obligation penny has been kidnapped she doesn t seem to be taking very seriously the three bad guys work for moe and moe is mad at her cousin penny stares up at him let me guess bad yelp review being suspenseful and funny at the same time is a good trick penny and mckinnon pull it off posted by robert lopresti at 9 44 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels 2026 first story mckinnon yard older posts home subscribe to posts atom robert lopresti view my complete profile my blog list the rap sheet basking in edgars glory 10 hours ago kevin s corner thursday treats 4 30 2026 23 hours ago sleuthsayers you can take the kid out of middle school 1 day ago something is going to happen marchland and company by david dean 1 day ago criminal element partial feed book review such sheltered lives by alyssa sheinmel 1 day ago do you write under your own name the thursday murder club 2025 film review 1 day ago robert lopresti s author news a bad day for good samaritans 4 days ago author jeff baker i shall try to keep it all the year friday flash fics from jeff baker april 25 2026 5 days ago will ludwigsen the 2026 aimee s better judgment film festival is a wrap 6 days ago small crimes on sale 1 week ago trace evidence to plot or not to plot by gilbert m stack 1 week ago richard parks something for the blessed season of halloween 6 months ago robert mangeot turner of phrase counter of beans crafter of sandwiches a local s guide to bouchercon nashville 2024 1 year ago wonderwomand s blog murder on the poet s walk 3 years ago one writer s world a neglected aspect of the writer s life 3 years ago nasty brutish short active shooter by jack bunker 6 years ago guns gams gumshoes part 2 interview with steven brown author of the complete idiot s guide to private investigating 6 years ago spinetingler lohnt sich ein teurer haartrockner auf diese 8 kriterien müssen sie achten 7 years ago the secret life of diane chamberlain what is stepping off read the dream daughter to find out and win a candle 7 years ago digest magazines larque press blog pulp literature 17 winter 2018 8 years ago the westlake review reviewing every book donald westlake ever wrote because i can review drowned hopes first down 9 years ago show 5 show all blog archive 2026 18 april 4 lest we forget by marilyn todd the texas chain store manager by josh pachter skeleton crew by v g burke half empty city by jodie snyder march 5 february 5 january 4 2025 53 december 4 november 5 october 4 september 5 august 4 july 4 june 4 may 5 april 4 march 5 february 4 january 5 2024 54 december 5 november 4 october 4 september 5 august 4 july 4 june 5 may 4 april 4 march 5 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