Customer Reviews

Sinister Shorts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Starting with the challenge by the O'Shaughnessy sisters in their introduction to guess who wrote which tale, this terrific crime based anthology consists of eight new stories as well as eleven others previously published elsewhere but not together. The tales are fun to read especially the delightful Nina Reilly's sleuth story Paul van Wagoner stars in "Success without College" and Gertrude Stein heads two others. Each tale is fun to follow especially when the audience learns of the crime. In addition the award winning The Long Walk is also part of the compilation. Fans of the O'Shaughnessy siblings will appreciate their salute to the criminal mind while new readers will seek their Reilly legal thrillers, but everyone will take their fifty-fifty shot at guessing authorship.

Harriet Klausner

I've enjoyed the Nina Reilly novels from the first entry, so when I saw this anthology of short stories by the O'Shaugnessy sisters I just had to get it.

The challenges for a writer of the short story are, I imagine, daunting: conveying story, character, setting and plot in a limited amount of space. That's why, when done well, they're so satisfying. Think of "The Gift" by O. Henry -- what a classic!

The stories in this book accomplish this with mixed success, in my opinion. The first three zinged right along, and were real grabbers, but things really ground to a halt with "Gertrude Stein Solves a Mystery". Obviously written to emulate Stein's style, it was stilted, predictable, and pretty boring.

From that point on, it was pretty much a grab bag: some were pretty good, some okay, some were a waste of time.

It was a treat to see a couple of O'Shaugnessy's regulars show up: Nina Reilly and Paul van Waggoner. The stories that featured those characters were two of the best in this collection.

I don't think you'll regret getting this book, just be prepared to wade through some grist to get to the grain.

Okay, I'll admit it right off the bat. When I saw the title of Perri O'Shaughnessy's new book I thought, "Aha, Nina Reilly has a case involving tennis pros!" But, no. SINISTER SHORTS is actually a collection of "short" stories written by sisters Pam and Mary O'Shaughnessy, who between them have penned eleven legal thrillers that always leave readers eagerly wanting more. Fans will not be disappointed with this diversion from their norm.

While SINISTER SHORTS is not the series we're familiar with, it does contain all of the elements that go into making that series so popular. And, in addition to the usual fast-paced, no-nonsense writing, there are components that reveal a darker side of the usually sanguine duo that will resonate with readers who enjoy a bit of the macabre with their mystery. The introduction challenges readers to try to figure out which sister wrote which story. But no matter. These nineteen stories are so engrossing you will soon forget the writers and become immersed in the characters and action. Which is as it should be.

Over the years I had forgotten how satisfying reading short stories can be: an entire plot, with well-defined characters, a theme, suspense, irony, humor and resolution, all wrapped up in ten exciting pages. In SINISTER SHORTS there is the almost poetic "Sandstorm," which unexpectedly reveals how easy it is to follow a disturbed stream of consciousness. "The Couple Behind the Curtain" offers a frank exchange between husband and wife that is both haunting and shocking. To keep you guessing, there's the paranoid lady of "Lemons" --- and we find out she has a lot to be paranoid about. Look at the time, it's way past my bedtime but, oh, just one more!!!

The plot twists will keep you from becoming too confident of your detecting skills. Sometimes what goes around comes around, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the good guys win and sometimes the guys who don't know they're good guys win. It's all great fun and sure to satisfy.

--- Reviewed by Maggie Harding

I enjoyed this collection immensely. These stories drew me in immediately and kept me guessing (consistently incorrectly!) at every twist and turn. Perri O'Shaughnessy does a great job of packing loads of intrigue into the short story form; even the characters are well developed. Each of these stories is its own little gem.

If this book is any indication of the possibilities of the short story mystery, I'm ready for more!

I thoroughly enjoyed Sinister Shorts. The stories were varied such that each one had special interest not following a set pattern. The stories were often thought provoking yet not obscure as some modern short stories can be. I felt the time was well spent in the reading and left me with a good feeling about the stories and the characters.

Four and a half stars for me.

Our book club read this book and everyone found it enjoyable. I was amazed in short stories, something I rarely read, one could get such a good feel for the characters and be so surprised by the plot twists. A really fun read. G.C.

This only had a couple of interesting stories in it. IMO the rest left me feeling like, "what was the point of this story?!" They were kind of odd. Not BAD stories, just different. Kind of hard to get thru and read all of them IMO. Glad I got done with it.

Quite a departure from the Nina Riley series. Some stories border on fantasy, but very readable. Not a lot of suspense, however.

I love this book! The assorted stories are all very well written and were very entertaining. They even worked in a "Nina" story for those who still miss her... I only wish they would keep writing more novels...

I love reading the stories of Nina Reilly so when I seen that there was a new book I just had to read it. I have read every book they have written and I have never been disappointed before. But this time I was sadly disapointed. Many of the stories were weird and left me saying "huh" at the end because I was so confussed. There were many of the stories that I had to make myself finish, just because I like to finish one when I start it. Typically I can't put one of their books down until i'm done. If they ever put out another book of short stories I don't know if I would read it after this book.