Customer Reviews

Murder Across the Map

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As the cover says, "Murder Across the Map" is a compilation of short stories from across the nation or nations. While most of the stories are set in the USA, two are in Iraq, and one of those is actually about ancient Babylon, the precursor to Iraq.

It's refreshing to see new and not quite so well known writers getting their stories published not just because of who they are, as is the case in so many anthologies and magazines, where the quality of the story matters less than the author's name on it.

And it seems that at any given point in time great author minds think alike. Here we have multiple stories involving peanut allergy homicides. Clever. But how many do we need?

My favorite stories include Paul D. Marks's "The Good Old Days," set at the famous, or infamous, Club Alabam in South Central Los Angeles in the 1940's when it wasn't generally acceptable for blacks and whites to commingle in most venues. What worked for me in this story are the surprising twist of character and the multi layers in which the story is told, something missing from many short stories these days. Roberta Rogow's "Death in the Gardens" brings a Sherlock Holmes type character to the gardens of ancient Babylon. A mystery that's cleverly solved through a process of deduction. What would Holmes have thought of Nebuchadnezzar and his hanging gardens? It's nice to see a couple stories that have a different take on the mystery by virtue of their location and time. "Letters from Iraq," by Kadi Easley, is a good attempt and an interesting way to try to tell a story that just doesn't quite come off, especially as the mystery is the least interesting part. "A Desolate Death," by Cindy Daniels and "How to Kill a Peanut Queen," by J.M.M. Holloway, both have their moments, the former has interesting characterizations, the latter with a surprise ending.

So take a chance on a road trip of murder and mayhem.

This anthology "calmly" focuses on murder as if it was tea time at different locales with nine spread across the United States and one each in Mexico, Babylon, and Germany. Each tale is fun to follow as the reader joins the culprit, victim, and others on "normal" family outings whether it is out of bounds golf in San Diego, playing Scribble in the Adirondacks, or riding a Burro in Mexico. Fans of the previous Sisters in Crime short story collections (see MURDER ON SUNSET BOULEVARD) will appreciate the well written tales whether it is sharing beer in Texas, deadly lingerie in Germany or tracing history with Darius in the ancient ruins of Persia or the Duke and Cab in Club Alabam in L.A. Though most of the contributors will be relatively new to readers, each input entertains the armchair mystery traveler while, though some are upbeat and others are sober, remain in "SINC" with the overall theme of MURDER ACROSS THE MAP.

Harriet Klausner