Customer Reviews

...And the Dying is Easy

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a collection of mysteries set during the summer or on vacations (or both) from 20 of Signet's mystery writers. Ranging from well known to new authors, the list includes the following: Jeff Abbott, Lydia Adamson, Ann Campbell, JoAnna Carl, Edie Claire, Max Allan Collins, Selma Eichler, Hazel Holt, Peter King, John Lantigua, Sam McCarver, Tamar Myers, Dana Stabenow, Andy Straka, Denise Swanson, Peter Trenayne, Judith Van Gieson, k.j.a. Wishnia, Matt Witten, and Wayne Worcester. Most of the authors write stories using their series sleuths, but a few take the opportunity to introduce a new character from a new series.

With only a couple exceptions, I enjoyed the 20 stories presented here. This book confirmed my opinion of several authors I had already read and introduced me to several new authors I'm looking forward to trying. I will be watching anxiously for the new series introduced here.

This is a great way to get a feel for many different authors. If you like cozy mysteries, this book is fun summer reading and will introduce you to some new friends.

This is a variety of twenty mystery stories. And when I say variety, I mean variety. It is like a box of chocolates in that you don't know what you're getting until you're in it. There were cozies, non-cozies, courtroom style, western style. There were modern day, olden day, ancient day. There were different geographical regions. There was even a Sherlock Holmes mystery story. You could not ask for a better variety of mystery stories.

But one thing that all these stories did have in common, is that they all took place during the summer or vacation or a trip. All of the stories were about twenty pages, give or take a few.

Here are the twenty stories and their authors:

1. "Salt on the Rim" by Jeff Abbott
3 Stars

2. "A Case of Feline Psychopathology" by Lydia Adamson
1 Star

3. "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie" by Ann Campbell
3 Stars

4. "The Chocolate Kidnapping Clue" by JoAnna Carl
5 Stars (Best of the Best - 5 Stars are Not Enough)

5. "Never Neck at Niagara" by Edie Claire
4 Stars

6. "Unreasonable Doubt" by Max Allan Collins
3 Stars

7. "Murder Can Hurt Your Ears" by Selma Eichler
5 Stars (Best of the Best - 5 Stars are Not Enough)

8. "Journey's End" by Hazel Holt
5 Stars (Best of the Best - 5 Stars are Not Enough)

9. "The Body in the Bay" by Peter King
3 Stars

10. "The Jungle" by John Lantigua
2 Stars

11. "The Loch Ness Mystery" by Sam McCarver
2 Stars

12. "Porridge and Bess" by Tamar Myers
5 Stars (Best of the Best - 5 Stars are Not Enough)

13. "Missing, Presumed . . ." by Dana Stabenow
3 Stars

14. "Call it Dead Time" by Andy Straka
3 Stars

15. "Not a Monster of a Chance" by Denise Swanson
5 Stars

16. "Corpse on a Holy Day" by Peter Tremayne
4 Stars

17. "Lightning Strikes Twice" by Judith Van Gieson
5 Stars

18. "Under the Big Black Sun" by k.j.a. Wishnia
2 Stars

19. "Serve and Volley" by Matt Witten
1 Star

20. "Sweet Rewards" by Wayne Worcester
3 Stars

Being a mystery writer with my first novel in its initial release, I have met many (and know well some) of the authors featured in this collection. I freely admit to this bias, but I still assert AND THE DYING IS EASY provides an excellent introduction to contemporary mystery short fiction. Some big names are featured--Dana Stabenow, Max Allan Collins and Tamar Myers among them. Some reasonably new authors are also featured. There is a wide variety of story types in this collection--some as cozy as cozies get while others reach the level of gritty to the extreme. Various authors use historical and contemporary settings. I particularly enjoyed Matt Witten's, Andy Straka's, Sam McCarver's, and k.j.a. Wishnia's tales. AND THE DYING EASY is such a fine introduction to short form mysteries that I, in my role as university professor, have made this book part of the assigned reading for my writing short mystery fiction course this fall at California State University.