"Number 19" by Naomi Hirahara

From: Los Angeles Noir, ed. Denise Hamilton, Akashic Books, 2007.

After visiting a spa in L.A.'s Koreatown, Ann, a waitress, becomes curious about her masseuse, identified only as Number 19. After a rejuvenating salt scrub, Ann wants to make sure Number 19 receives all her tip money. What begins as curiosity and earnest concern ends badly for Ann, but worse for the spa manager she confronts.

NBS Special Report: Best Short Story Edgar

Announced last night, the Mystery Writers of America's Best Short Story Award went to "The Home Front" by Charles Ardai. Congratulations, Charles.

The full list of nominees is here.

"New Lots Avenue" by Nelson George

From: Brooklyn Noir, ed. Tim McLoughlin. Akashic Books, 2004.

Walking home from the grocery store, Cynthia Green is roped into a conversation with her cousin Johnny, a cop from Queens living well in Jersey thanks to his work with the DEA. As they update each other on the past two years, Johnny reveals he is looking for a neighbor of Cynthia's, a Puerto Rican drug dealer called Victorious.

In four powerful pages, filmmaker George shows that Cynthia and Johnny may be family, but for her, the neighborhood's collective struggle is the stronger bond.

"Second Story Sunlight" by John Lutz

From: Most Wanted, ed. Robert J. Randisi. Signet, 2002.

In this original story from an anthology featuring past presidents of the Private Eye Writers of America, everyman St. Louis P.I. Alo Nudger is hired by the owner of the donut shop below his office to find out who murdered an up-and-coming artist.

The tone is medium-boiled, the pace leisured. The treat here is getting to know Alo, his friends, and his surroundings. For all his idiosyncrasies and markedly un-macho approach, Nudger is dogged when it counts and he gets results.

Around Here by Keith Gilman

I'm ashamed to say it, but I'd never read a Thuglit story until I wandered over to the site today. Keith Gilman's story jumped out at me. It is the story of a local bad boy made good - he became a cop, but still has friends in the old neighborhood. In fact, his friends are a bit jumpy about him making a transition like this. After all, he knows where all the bodies are buried and how the skeletons got in the closets.

Now, with this story, I thought for sure I knew how it was going to end. There are, after all, only so many options. But Mr. Gilman found an option that I hadn't quite considered and that made the story for me. Mind you, my admiration for the story isn't just the plot which had a twist when I didn't think it could. The writing at the sentence level was smooth as silk. Good, self-assured prose is hard to find and Mr. Gilman has it in stock.

Check out the story, then tool around the rest of the issue. It's free, but valuable.

"Dead Storage" by Christine Kling

From: Miami Noir, ed. Les Standiford. Akashic Books, 2006.

When her mother leaves, sixteen-year-old Kate is forced to live in a trailer park where she is sexually abused by her father. Pulled out of school, Kate spends most of her time reading novels, making up stories that she weaves into elaborate lies to the neighbors.

Despite this story's brevity, I quickly empathized with Kate and wondered if and how she would turn the tables on her father.

NBS Special Report: 2007 Derringer Finalists

Stories by NBS's own Bill Crider and Steven Torres have reached the finals for the 2007 Derringer Awards as announced by Short Mystery Fiction Society:

FLASH FICTION (up to 500 words)

Jan Christensen, “Matched Set“ (Long Story Short, Winter, 2006)
Barry Ergang, “Vigilante” (Mysterical-E, Summer 2006)
Michelle Mach, “Snowflake Therapy” (Thereby Hangs a Tale, June 2006)
Jill Maser, “Flight School” (Flashshots. August 28, 2006)
Sandra Seamans, “Home Entertainment” (A Cruel World, July/August 2006)


SHORT-SHORT STORIES (501 - 2,000 words)

Gail Farrelly, “Even Steven” (Mouth Full of Bullets, Winter 2006)
John M. Floyd, “Four For Dinner” (Seven by Seven)
Justin Gustainis, “Interview” (Cape Fear Crime Festival, October, 2006)
Steven Torres, “Elena Speaks of the City, Under Siege” (Crimespree Magazine September/October 2006)
Frank Zafiro, “The Worst Door” (Dispatch, January 2006)


MID-LENGTH STORIES (2,001 - 6,000 words)

David Bareford, “Eden’s Bodyguard” (Thuglit, September 2006)
Rex Burns, “Shadow People” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2006)
Bill Crider, “Cranked” (Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir)
Robert S. Levinson, “Uncle Blinky’s Corner of the World” (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, March/April 2006)
Robert Lopresti, “Shanks on the Prowl” (Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, May 2006)


LONGER STORIES (6,001 - 15,000 words)

Annette Dashofy, “Signature in Blood” (Mysterical-E, Winter 2006)
Julie Hyzy, “Strictly Business” (These Guns for Hire)
Stuart MacBride, “Daphne MacAndrews and the Smack-Head Junkies” (Damn Near Dead: An Anthology of Geezer Noir)
Larry Sweazy, “See Also Murder” (Amazon Shorts, December 11, 2006)
Steven Torres, “The Valley of Angustias” (Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, October 2006)


Members of the SMFS begin voting today to determine the winners, which will be announced May 15, 2007.

Congrats and good luck, Bill and Steven.

"Misdirection" by Barbara Seranella

From: Greatest Hits: Original Stories of Assassins, Hit Men, and Hired Guns, ed. Robert J. Randisi, Carroll and Graf, 2005

In this Anthony award-winning story, a senior FBI agent arranges to move two convicted hitwomen, Trinity and Cass, into the same cell. He promises both women help toward their freedom if each can get information on the other's hits. Trinity is anxious to win back her woman on the outside. Cass wants to retrieve a money stash. The agent, meanwhile, has no intention of granting either her freedom. He plans to use any information he gets to bring new charges against the women.

Barbara Seranella was one of few writers to successfully transition from wild youth to wise adulthood. Her crime fiction shows the authenticity of an adventurous life and enthusiasm for having survived. I regret that she didn't get to publish more short fiction.

Dream House by Christa M. Miller

Tammy and Lester have a new house. The only problem is that it needs to be cleaned up before they can move in. Oh, and the cleaning needs to be done at night...so that no one can see them coming and/or going. Oh, and what's that in the bathtub? Or on the bathroom ceiling? This story oozes with atmosphere (among other things). The amazing thing about it, however, is how far Tammy is willing to go in supporting Lester who happens to really need her at this juncture in their relationship... though there is every evidence that things have not always gone well between them. I think it is a hard thing to draw a character like Tammy and make them believeable, but Miller pulls it off.

At the end of the story, Tammy hits her limit with Lester and the house he has struggled to get for her, but how she snaps is something you should read to find out. Enjoy.

Brimstone P.I. by Beverle Graves Myers

Each May issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine is a comic one and I just got my copy. This story is particularly funny. The devil calls on the services of a P.I. who has been condemned to Hell - gambling was his trouble. It seems that someone has put up air fresheners and left happy notes about and pasted green leaves onto the trees in the Forest of Suicides. You know, lightening the mood and sprucing up the place. Needless to say, Hell's Big Kahuna is none too pleased.

Why, if Satan is in charge of Hell, does he need a P.I.? Shouldn't he be able to figure it out for himself? Well, he knows all there is to know about Evil, but nothing at all about Good, you see.

You'll be happy to know that Hell (in case you were wondering...or planning a trip) does have a Wal-Mart and a Starbucks.

Of course, Lucifer can always make things worse for the P.I. if he fails in the assignment, but will he, could he make things better as a reward in case of success? You'll need to read the story to find out. Look for it. It's a keeper.

"The Home Front" by Charles Ardai

From: Death Do Us Part ed. Harlan Coben, Little, Brown, and Company, 2006.

Hired to enforce U.S. rationing laws during World War II, a P.I. tricks a garage attendant into selling him four gallons of gas instead of the allotted two. Back on the road, the well-meaning attendant cuffed beside him, the P.I. is blindsided when a car swerves into his path. The attendant dies in the resulting fire, and the P.I.'s livelihood goes to hell.

Once back on his feet, the P.I. closes his office and walks aimlessly yet uncannily finds himself back at the same garage. Against his better judgment he stays to help the attendant's mother, assuming another man's identity, hoping no more of the past catches up to him. But of course, it does.

The P.I.'s voice is classically hardboiled, driving the story at just the right pace to give its twists full impact.

"Sideways" by Rex Miller

From: Private Eyes, ed. Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins. Signet, 1998.

In this departure for horror writer Rex Miller, Missouri P.I. Terry Kochenge recounts his relationship with Ann Stranucella, from his boyhood crush, to the the time Ann's father, the chief of police, hired him to follow her suspecting she was a drug addict, to her tragic suicide.

Coming from a law enforcement family, Terry himself is non-confrontational. You might even say a coward. He learns all the trivia of Ann's life, but has almost no insight into any trends that might have led to her death. Perhaps too much of the story is spent on background, Terry telling readers that real P.I. work isn't as seen on TV, but perhaps the message of this story is how difficult it is for one person to really know another, especially when blinded by love.

"Carole on Lombard" by Jerry Kennealy

From: Mystery Street, ed. Robert J. Randisi, Signet, 2001.

Celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA), each story in this anthology is inspired by a distinctive street in the P.I.'s territory. For San Francisco P.I. Nick Polo, it's the serpentine Lombard Street. Polo breaks his routine of working for law firms to take on a case offered by Carole Reed, a rich, agoraphobic woman in her seventies who's taken to watching her neighbors through a telescope.

The neighbor she is currently most concerned about is "John," a well-endowed, promiscuous man whose exhibitionism pairs nicely with Carole's voyeurism. "John" has disappeared from his apartment and Carole offers Polo $5,000 to find out what happened to him.

A former San Francisco P.I. himself, Kennealy writes crisply and knowingly.

Absolution by M.G. Tarquini

Just finished reading MG Tarquini's short story Absolution at Spinetingler Magazine and was very much impressed. It is quite short and the plot is delicate so that I can't say too much about or you'll think "Oh, I know this story already and, therefore, don't need to read it," but you'd be quite wrong. The story is much more than the some of its plot points. I can say that like As I Lay Dying and "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," it has the POV of an old woman, bedridden. Jen serves as a pivot point between generations, and I can only say that what she observes is devastating. Not a crime story, but certainly fits the title of this blog. Have a look for yourself.

Previously Reviewed Zines

We've added to the sidebar links to previously reviewed zines. This list will grow with the range of our reviews.

Reviewer's Note on "The Night I Died" by Mickey Spillane

While searching for my next story to review, I read Max Allan Collins' introduction to the anthology Private Eyes, wherein he explains that "The Night I Died" (which I'd previously reviewed) was originally an unpublished 1953 radio play that Spillane consented to have reset as a short story for the 1998 anthology. I've revised my review to include these details.

"What's in a Name" -- Robert Wm. Wagner

"What's in a Name" is another little gem from Hardluck Stories. Angela's a young woman who thinks she's a little bit too heavy for men to pay attention to her, but one of the customers at the bank where she works is attracted to her. Unfortunately for them, he also feels his weight problem makes him a little less than the all-American male. One day when he's in the bank, a robbery begins. The bank guard is shot and killed immediately. Then, . . . you'd better click on the link above and find out for yourself because this story's not going where you think it is. Or if it is, it's not going to take the usual route. There's some powerful writing here, both realistic and scary. Check it out.

"Stones" by Ken Bruen

From: Hard Boiled Brooklyn ed. Reed Farrel Coleman, Bleak House Books, 2006.

Out for a drive, Brooklyn thieves Charlie and John spot a black man beating up a white woman. Against John's advice, Charlie comes to the woman's aid, taking a tire iron to her assailant. Charlie and the woman, Rose, quickly bond and she turns him on to the idea of robbing her attacker, a drug dealer named Kareem. Charlie brings the plan to John, who again warns him about Rose, but Charlie thinks he's man enough to have it all.

Bruen's brand of punctuation and dialog tags take some getting used to, but the benefits are almost-immediate identification with Charlie and, on the whole, a very readable yarn.

"Beauty" -- Ed Gorman

"Beauty" was published in Dave Zeltserman's fine webzine, Hardluck Stories, some time ago. I've been planning to mention it here for some time, and Ed's own mention of it tonight on his blog kicked me into gear. Ed gives away too much, so please don't read Ed's blog post about this story before you read the story itself.

The narrator of "Beauty" is a hit man. He's been hired by a beautiful woman, a former beauty queen, to kill a contestant in a contest that her daughter's entered because she believes the fix is in. To say more about the plot would be to say too much, but let me add that the story is written with Ed's usual skill and attention to detail. Jon Breen, in his column in the most recent issue of EQMM calls Ed "one of of our finest contemporary short story writers regardless of genre." And Jon's right on the money. This story will show you why.

"Seeing Things" by Ian Rankin

From: A Good Hanging by Ian Rankin, 1992.

Taking a scenic route home from school, three girls see a man with long hair and a beard, dressed in white, with a glow about him, and a wound in his side. The girls' account spreads until a crowd of believers gathers around the tree where the man was seen.

Rankin riffs well on the topics of religious division and the common desire to believe in miracles, delivering a story wherein, as the title implies, things aren't as they seem. What appears otherworldly is really a complex puzzle that his Inspector Rebus has just the perspective to solve.