Murder on Route 66 (Audio Cassette)

by Carolyn Wheat (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Nostalgia for America prior to the Interstates can be found in Murder on Route 66. This short story anthology contains 16 tales that vary in time but all take place at various stops along America's first federal highway. Each story is read by a different reader who collectively do a good job and provide support to the tales' entertaining storytelling. The authors include John Lutz, D.R. Meredith, and Barbara D'Amato, to name a few. Each contributor lives or has lived in towns along Route 66, information that adds to the anthology's overall success. Whether a tale concerns assassins, smugglers, or just plain murderers, these action-filled stories are well worth the trip. Highly recommended.ADenise A. Garofalo, Mid-Hudson Lib. Syst., Poughkeepsie, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Today's best mystery writers take to the road with a brand-new collection of stories featuring the great American highway, Route 66. Take a ride on the wild side with:

* David August
* Eleanor Taylor Bland
* Barbara D'Amato
* Michael Allen Dymmoch
* Earlene Fowler
* Carolyn Hart
* J.A. Jance
* Charles Knief
* John Lutz
* Doris R. Meredith
* Gary Phillips
* Les Roberts
* Lillian M. Roberts
* Judith Van Gieson
* Carolyn Wheat

* All-new stories by Earlene Fowler, Carolyn Hart, J.A. Jance, John Lutz and others --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: DH Audio; Unabridged edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0886464846
• ISBN-13: 978-0886464844
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.8 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,773,413 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get your Kicks!, August 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Murder on Route 66 (Paperback)

What fun this book was to read! From Chicago to L.A. you'll have the a trip full of adventure and mystery reading this anthology I enjoyed every one of the stories, and some of them were just excellent! Lots of trivia and history is set around some engrossing and nostalgic stories! Great for light reading! Usually I don't rate anthologies because stories vary from very bad to good, but this one deserves 5 stars for all the stories!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Milage May Vary, June 3, 2001

By	A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder on Route 66 (Paperback)

Kind of a nifty idea at work here, an anthology of sixteen murder stories set along America's most famous--and mythologized--road. To further the conceit, all the authors lived in towns along the road at one point in their lives, and thus presumably bring a little more of themselves to the stories. Of course most of the stories are set in the past, prior to the pervasiveness of the modern interstate system, and tend to fetishize various old cars.

As with most anthologies, the quality is fairly variable, and favorites are highly dependent on personal tastes. I found "Rappin' Dog," by Dick Lochte to be the best of the lot, featuring a smart and precocious adolescent girl detective-in-training. A close second is Barbara D'Amato's predictable, but still highly effective, "Motel 66." Les Roberts' post-WWII tale, "Willing To Work" is a deftly nasty story, although the murder's undoing is a bit too obvious to make the reversal totally satisfying. Carolyn Hart's WWII-era story about a couple of nosy kids and some black-marketeers is kind of neat in a strictly period piece way. David August's "Blind Corner" is yet another period story featuring a nosy kid who thwarts the bad guy. David August's Vietnam-era set story takes a basic noir story of adultery, murder, and double-crossing and situates it so that it fits the anthology. Doris Merideth's "Incident on 6th Street" features a cliché crotchety old woman narrator whose Depression-era story is somewhat undone by her annoying delivery.

As for the rest, Judith Van Cieson's "Dead Man's Curve" plods along rather boringly to a kind of tame payoff, while J.A. Jance, Eleanor Taylor Bland, Lillian Roberts, Michael Allen Dymmoch, Gary Phillips, Earlene Fowler, John Lutz, and editor Wheat all deliver fairly unmemorable stories. Your mileage may vary.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A mother lode of tales from the Mother Road, August 11, 2001

By	James L. Roberts "Jim Roberts" (Liberty, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Murder on Route 66 (Paperback)

A generation of Americans is just beginning to learn about "the Mother Road," U.S. Route 66, that cruised from Chicago through to Los Angeles.

The premise of this anthology is along that stretch of highway, murder and mayhem once lurked.

Sixteen writers ply their trade with varying levels of success. And though none of the stories are stinkers, three really stand out:

"Rappin' Dog" by Dick Lochte pits a precocious 14-year-old girl/would-be detective against her elders in a mystery plot right out of MTV. When one of a rapper's hangers-on tells her "I take you to be some kind of Spice Girl wannabe," Serendipity (Sarah to her friends) coolly replies "Then you'd be making a mistake." She also catches the errors the police and her detective friend makes.

"Motel 66" by Barbara D'Amato is a classic tale of domestic discord with a smoothly twisted ending that *I* didn't see coming.

Reading "Spooked" by Carolyn G. Hart is like finding a fine old pulp magazine -- Black Mask or something similar -- tucked away in your father's chest. A neat little World War II story, and Hart manages to work in a recipe for apple pie which uses honey instead of the then-rationed sugar.

All told, a nostalgic trip down memory lane on a highway that itself is fast-becoming a memory. Recommended!