Editing by Elizabeth

March 05, 2012

The Dispatcher by Ryan David Jahn

“In my experience you never know who’s capable of what till they gone and done it and you’re catching flies in your open mouth.” – Chief Davis

What means the most in life to you, and how far would you be willing to go to attain or keep it? Those questions are at the core of author Ryan David Jahn’s The Dispatcher, the follow up to his CWA John Creasey Dagger winning Acts of Violence.

Ian Hunt is a police dispatcher in Bulls Mouth, Texas whose life pretty much fell apart seven years ago on the night Maggie, his seven-year-old daughter, was kidnapped from her own bed. His marriage limped along for a bit before finally calling it quits, and a distance grew between Hunt and his son, Maggie’s older brother who had been responsible for watching her on the night she was taken. Maggie was never found.

Four months after having Maggie officially declared dead and holding a funeral for her at his ex-wife’s insistence, Hunt is at work one evening when he gets a 911 call from a teenage girl pleading for help; she’s escaped from the people holding her captive and made it to a pay phone on the edge of town.

Just as Hunt realizes with a mixture of horror and elation that the girl on the other end of the phone is Maggie, the call is abruptly cut short as she’s snatched away from him again. Working with the brief description Maggie was able to give, Hunt begins a quest to find the kidnapper and get his daughter back at any cost, and god help anyone who gets in his way. →

March 02, 2012

Lawyers, Guns and Money by J.D. Rhoades

“Is it my imagination, or has this week really sucked so far?” – Maxine

Andy Cole is a defense attorney in the small Southern town of Blainesville. With the exception of going off to school, Andy’s been in the same town his whole life, joining his father’s law practice upon graduation. When his father died Andy became the keeper of the firm’s secrets, and has made a nice living using his deep-rooted knowledge of the local people and courts to his clients’ advantage.

It being a small town, a lot of Andy’s business comes from repeat clients. So it’s no surprise when biggest repeat client Voit Fairgreen, the closest thing Blainesville has to a crime boss, shows up in Andy’s office with a bag of cash and the need for Andy’s skills. What is a surprise is that it’s Voit’s brother, Danny, who’s in trouble. Generally the ‘white sheep’ of an otherwise criminally inclined family, Danny’s been arrested for murder.

Being charged with murder is serious enough as it is, but it certainly doesn’t help when the victim was a well-known, attractive, young blonde who was brutally butchered in the kitchen of her own home. It’s decidedly not good, actually, but still potentially able to be overcome. Oh, except there’s the little matter of Danny having been seen with the victim earlier in the evening on which she was killed, not to mention he was found passed out in a chair mere feet from the victim’s nearly disemboweled body. Yeah… that’s gonna be a problem. →

March 02, 2012

Hill Country by R Thomas Brown

March 01, 2012

Old School by Dan O’Shea

It’s very appropriate that Dan O’Shea’s first collection is called Old School, because Dan is definitely an old school kind of guy. You know, the kind of old school where the approach to life is that you shut up, nut up, and just get on with it.

And from boys on the cusp of manhood to hardened criminals on a mission to fathers willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to provide for their families to a tougher than nails septuagenarian granny, there’s a lot of old school attitude flying around in the fourteen stories that make up this take no prisoners collection.

Sometimes the ‘getting on with it’ is poignant and noble (“Shackleton’s Hootch,” “Exit Interview”), other times it’s nefarious (“Pink Cadillac,” “Thin Mints,” “Two Phones”), and still others it’s just downright necessary (“The Summer of Fishing,” “Absalom,” “Purl Two”). In every instance, however, it’s absolutely pitch-perfect.

For a man that claims he initially found the concept of writing a 1,000 word story impossible (“I’m pretty sure I’ve written sentences that long.”), O’Shea nevertheless proves himself to be a master of the genre, with not a single beat out of place or word wasted. The people in O’Shea’s Old School world are as blunt and brutal as O’Shea’s writing, doing exactly what is required of them with grim acceptance and without a second thought. The result is a collection of stories which demands to be paid attention to, stories whose visceral starkness resonate undeniable truths about the world. And even though that world is often ugly, O’Shea’s writing is always sublime. →

March 01, 2012

Reaching ‘The End,’ Then Not by R Thomas Brown

Pleased to welcome R. Thomas Brown to the blog today to talk about what happens when an author thinks he’s reached ‘The End’ of a work, only to realize it may well just be the beginning. That happened to Brown with his newest release, Hill Country, which I’ll be reviewing tomorrow.

Reaching The End, Then Not by Ron Brown Writing “The End” felt great. The story felt good. Seemed I’d pulled off the rather odd inspiration. I was watching The Maltese Falcon (which I do often) and wanted to tell a variant of it. Not the nuts of bolts of it, but the twists and turns and the costly pursuit of something that is revealed to be a lie. I certainly had false starts trying to craft the story, but there I was, done, with a tight narrative around a single character. A sometimes nasty crime novella.

When Snubnose Press picked it up, I knew it was in good hands. The releases to that date were strong and everything since then has been top notch. All in all, it was a great feeling. Then Brian, the editor at Snubnose, made a little comment. He simply notes that there was a good amount of action and that an exploration of some of the other characters would probably work if done well.

That’s was where “The End” vanished. Working with Brian, I added almost the full length of what I had done again. Subplots grew, minor characters were explored, a few plotting changes were made to accommodate the new material. It was in lots of ways more work than the initial writing. But it was all worth it. The novel that emerged was stronger, deeper and more satisfying than the initial work.

It wasn’t what I initially set out to write, but it’s what I would have written had I thought about it. Thankfully, I had an editor that helped me see new things and then left me to explore the things I felt were fitting.

When I reached “The End” again, it felt great.

R Thomas Brown writes about damaged people and their struggle to deal with the chaos life has tossed their way. Whether it be a discovered murder, the barrel of gun, a bat to the head or a mysterious voice only they can hear, it’s the reaction and attempt to make sense of the new reality that Brown likes to explore. In addition to Hill Country, was just published by Snubnose Press, Brown is also the author of Merciless Pact and the collections Mayhem and Ghost Stories. You can catch up with R Thomas Brown at his blog, Criminal Thoughts and on Twitter.

February 29, 2012

A Short Sale: Some Ruminations on Short Fiction by Dan O’Shea

I’m very pleased to welcome Dan O’Shea back to the blog. He’s been here before, back when I reviewed his book The Gravity of Mammon, and since he was relatively well-behaved last time I invited him back in honor of the release of his new collection, Old School, out now from Snubnose Press. Tomorrow I’ll share my thoughts on Old School, but today Dan has the floor.

Some Ruminations on Short Fiction by Dan O'Shea It’s funny that my first officially published work is a collection of short stories. I know that’s how it goes with a lot of writers – they start short and work their way up. You got Frank Bill, who’s critically acclaimed collection Crimes in Southern Indiana precedes his soon to be critically acclaimed novel Donnybrook. I know that Lou Berney, whose debut novel Gutshot Straight is one of my favorite reads of the past few years, he first published a collection of short fiction. Of course, his stories were nominated for Pushcarts and such, so I got no business comparing myself to him.

But intuitively, it makes sense. A novel is the writing equivalent of running a marathon. You might want to build up to it, at least stretch some.

Nobody ever accused me of making sense, though.

I’ve always had the fiction writing bug, toyed with it here and there, but I was cursed with making a good living from writing pretty early on. Strange curse, I know, but the thing was I developed a pretty good freelance business writing for professional service firms, mostly accounting firms, accidently drifting into my niche as a tax writer.

In terms of compensation, it was a great gig. I usually got paid a dollar a word or so, COD. No waiting for sales, praying the next book gets picked up, just cash the check and move on.

But I let the paychecks supplant my dreams. →

February 28, 2012

The Zen Man by Colleen Collins

I might quote the cool dudes, but I’m a worrier at heart.
– Rick ‘The Zen Man’ Levine

Former attorney and current private investigator Rick Levine has a lot to be worried about in author Colleen Collins’s The Zen Man. Now clean and sober for five years after having had his law license suspended by the state of Colorado because of his substance abuse, Rick and his girlfriend, Laura, have opened a B&B lodge and things seem to be looking up for Rick personally and professionally.

In an attempt to lure some of Rick’s former colleagues into using his investigative services, Rick and Laura decide to host a seminar for criminal defense attorneys at the lodge. What started out as a good idea immediately goes downhill when Rick’s decidedly bitter ex-wife shows up at the seminar and gets quite vocally belligerent with him, as well as several others in attendance.

Things go from bad to worse when she’s subsequently found dead in one of the lodge’s hot tubs and Rick is arrested for her murder. Able to secure bail with the help of Laura and his former law partner, Rick has thirty days to discover the real killer’s identity before he’s swept into a system that seems just fine with closing the books on the case with him as the culprit. Easier said than done, as Rick soon finds out there were more than a few people who had reason to want his ex dead, and that someone at the Sheriff’s office is not playing fair with all the evidence. →

February 27, 2012

The Wicked Wives by Gus Pelagatti

“Each of you has made your own decisions in this matter. You each chose money over your husbands’ lives.” – Lady in Black

At first blush one would feel sorry for young Lillian Stoner, whose husband Reggie has just died at the opening of The Wicked Wives, a story set in 1938 Philadelphia. That is until you learn that Reggie’s mother had recently caught Lillian in flagrante delicto with another man.

The picture gets even murkier when, despite the attending physician being ready to sign off on the death as resulting from pneumonia, Assistant District Attorney Tom Rossi observes signs consistent with poisoning. Should be easy enough to get to the bottom of things though, just order an autopsy, right?

Wrong. Turns out Lillian’s uncle is the very powerful and influential – not to mention corrupt – Deputy Mayor Bill Evans, who makes it quite clear to Rossi that if he pushes for an autopsy he can kiss goodbye any shot at an endorsement from Evans for District Attorney. Without Evans’ backing not only does Rossi have no chance of becoming D.A., but his entire career may take a turn for the worse.

Determined to do the right thing despite what it may cost him personally, Rossi moves forward with the investigation. Initially thinking he was looking into a single questionable death, Rossi ends up uncovering a scandal wider and deeper than he could ever possibly have imagined. →

February 27, 2012

Do Private Eyes Solve Murders? by Colleen Collins

Today I’m pleased to welcome to the blog double-threat author/private investigator Colleen Collins. I’ll be reviewing Colleen’s book, The Zen Man, tomorrow, but today she’s going to talk a little about how a private investigator’s work meshes with law enforcement in the real world.

Colleen Collins “The last time a private eye solved a murder was never.” -Ed McBain *

Like many of you, I love a gritty, fast-paced private eye story where the shamus solves a grisly murder or two. Investigating death makes for compelling storytelling rift with bodies, suspects and clues. In my current novel The Zen Man, the private-eye protagonist must solve a murder in thirty days or face a life sentence behind bars.

But how true is it in real life that private investigators solve murders? Is Ed McBain right that the answer is never? I compiled a few popular theories on this topic — some from the Internet, others my PI-partner-husband and I have heard over the years – with analysis for each.

Theory #1: In stories, private eyes are often effective because they are less constrained by government rules than law enforcement. But in reality, law enforcement must be wary about endorsing a PI’s evidence because 1) it’s unknown what methods the PI used in obtaining that evidence (if the PI obtained the evidence through illegal means, it would be thrown out at trial), and 2) by accepting a PI’s evidence, the police could be seen as using the PI as a state agent (“acting under color of law”) and any improper behavior by the PI could be imputed to the police department. →

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