A Merry Band of Murderers: An Original Mystery Anthology of Songs and Stories [Hardcover]

Claudia Bishop (Editor), Don Bruns (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2006

A Merry Band of Murderers is more than a compilation of short mystery stories from some of the genres finest writers. It is also an exploration of music. Conceived by Claudia Bishop and Don Bruns, the collection is staged in two acts: first, a non-fiction discussion of short stories, mysteries, and music; and second, a compilation of musical short mysteries.

The first act opens with an essay by Bishop explaining the role of the short story in mystery writing and another essay by Bruns discussing writers who play, sing, and compose.

The second act is more whimsical. There are thirteen music-centered stories from authors Mary Anna Evans, Jim Fusilli, Bill Moody, Rupert Holmes, Rhys Bowen, John Lescroart, Nathan Walpow, Peter Robinson, Jeffery Deaver, Tom Corcoran, Val McDermid, and, of course, the editors themselves. Each story is accompanied by a short introduction, song lyrics, and an interview with the writer.

The book is packaged with a music CD with recordings by the authors. A one-of-a-kind collection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This anthology of 13 stories includes a few hits, but on the whole, the volume strikes many a false note. Each mini-mystery somehow involves music; Val McDermid's story, for example, riffs on "The Long Black Veil," the song made famous by Johnny Cash. Rupert Holmes's clever tale "Shuffle Off This Mortal Coil" features a man who believes his iPod talks to him, and Claudia Bishop's droll "The Melancholy Danish" turns on a production of Hamlet. But lackluster stories like Bill Moody's "File Under Jazz," about a jazz artist's murder, and John Lescroart's "Something out There," about a young woman who finds love with a cop, dominate the book. The interviews with each author and introductory essays by Bishop (A Dinner to Die For), Bruns (Barbados Heat) and the publisher pad this anthology based on a gimmick cleverer in conception than execution. A companion CD of original songs provides the soundtrack. (Sept.)
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Review

"A Merry Band of Murderers contains short stories by some of the most prolific mystery and suspense writers in today's society. What is unique about these short stories is that they are all based on music and written by writers who have some music background. Some of the authors include: Jeffery Deaver, Val McDermid, Mary Anna Evans, and Tom Corcoran.

As with all anthologies, some short stories are better than others, but all are worth reading. After each story, there is an interview with the author about their musical background, growing up, and where the short story idea came from. There is a CD that will be sold with A Merry Band of Murderers that contains songs for each story that each author had a hand in developing. The lyrics for the songs are included with the story that they match. This advanced reader copy of A Merry Band of Murderers did not contain the CD. This reader is hoping that when A Merry Band of Murderers is released, that the CD will be available .

Overall, A Merry Band of Murderers is a great collection of short stories about murder and music.The Book" -MyShelf.com

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 315 pages
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press; First Edition edition (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590583019
• ISBN-13: 978-1590583012
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,194,099 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fun banding of murder and music, October 1, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Merry Band of Murderers: An Original Mystery Anthology of Songs and Stories (Hardcover)

This thirteen story anthology uses the gimmick of tying a mystery to a song. The tales are for the most fun, but only a couple would go platinum; "The Long Black Veil" by McDermid and "The Melancholy Danish" by Bishop. All thirteen authors are well known highly regarded writers; however, though their contributions are solid, these are not their best work as if most of the providers were straining to hit the right chords. Each tale ends with the lyrics (written by that writer as a solo or with an accompaniment) and short interviews of each author that are fascinating though admittedly only to die hard fans of that writer or reviewers needing a life like moi. Finally a companion CD of songs completes the ties between the music and the short stories. Overall this blending is a merry band of murder and music that will entertain readers with its creativity, but is not up to the quality of STARS: ORIGINAL STORIES BASED ON THE SONGS OF JANIS IAN.

Harriet Klausner

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly a melodious collection, June 20, 2010

By 

Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Merry Band of Murderers (Audio Cassette)

I truly enjoyed this collection. A few seemed rather strained to have a musical collection, but it gets off to a good start with "File Under Jazz", a very quiet and haunting story as one anticipates the ending, and then the 2nd story about the guy who thinks his iPod is communicating with him. Lescroart's contribution was the major disappointment to me, but all in all, this is a good book to read, but do have the attatched CD playing at the same time for maximum effect.

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Collection, September 11, 2007

By 

Michael L. Slavin "HardBopper" (New Jersey) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Merry Band of Murderers: An Original Mystery Anthology of Songs and Stories (Hardcover)

I found most of the short stories to be quite good. Particularly I liked
Courage by Don Bruns which was about an old man and his dog being tormented by some neighborhood thugs. Ultimately, true justice prevails. I have always enjoyed reading Bill Moody. His contribution File Under Jazz was reminiscent of the demise of trumpeter Lee Morgan. All in all this was a fun read.