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Amelia Peabody #"The Vengeance of Sekhmet"
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine November/December 2021 Vol. 158 No. 5 & 6 Whole Nos. 962 & 963
Mystery periodical
192 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2021
42 people want to read
About the author
Janet Hutchings
240 books15 followersEllery Queen's Mystery Magazine editor 1991-present.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 24, 2022
It is still October, 2021 as I am writing this but it must be an unusually cold one; Hell has evidently just frozen over. I do not like the story "Hit and Run" by Doug Allyn, my favorite living author of short mystery fiction. The main problem lies in the concluding paragraphs, and the only way that I can discuss this is as a spoiler. Trust me, this will ruin this story for anyone who reads the spoiler before reading the story.
"Hit and Run" is one of the specially designated stories in this issue; it is listed as a "Black Mask" story, meaning that it is the kind of tough fiction that used to appear in the old Black Mask pulp magazine. "The Patsy" by Sunil Mann is a "Passport to Crime" tale, a story originally written in a language other than English. This was written by Mann, a Swiss author, in German and translated into English by Mary Tannert. "The Patsy" is about Magnus, an odd young man who is constantly picked on solely because he seems different from the norm. This treatment escalates drastically during this story. The story largely concerns cruel torture, not my favorite subject matter.
There are two stories in this issue designated as "First Stories," first paid professional publication of mystery short stories. Eleanor Gonnella has a historical mystery, "Another Temptation," in which an Italian artist painting a fresco is found dead. The ending is quite cynical.
And speaking of cynical...the other "First Story," "30 Ackerian Place" by Barbara B. Green, takes a notably jaundiced look at a marriage coming to an end. I think that the plot twist used here might very well not work, and it seems like the plotter might be easily revealed.
There is a story reprinted from 1963, "The Broken T," written by and featuring author/detective Ellery Queen. A witness to a crime is kidnapped and held for a while near what should be a quickly located neon sign. Ellery reasons out the secret of finding that elusive sign. (A much better story about a neon sign clue is Fredric Brown's "The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches.")
"We're in This Together, Aren't We?" is a rather mysterious piece of meta-fiction by Victor Kreuiter. The third paragraph of the story is: " I am the writer and you are the reader and from this point on we are in this together." I am sorry, but I don't want to be together in anything this murky. A man who comes to a billiard parlor insists that, "Somebody - not me - but somebody got things messed up somehow. So now - and to be honest I don't like this one bit either - so now I got to fix this mess, tonight." He is not the only one who doesn't like this.
I found Sharon Hunt's story "The Disappearing Man" confusing as well, but I liked it considerably more than the Kreuiter tale. This seemed to me to begin in media res, as if part of the story is missing or perhaps this is a sequel to a story that I don't know. Families, friendships, and even lives change and fall apart.
I did not understand the joke at the end of "The Vengeance of Sekhmet" by Elizabeth Peters the first time that I read it, and admitting that is somewhat embarrassing. I have never read the famous mystery to which this makes reference, but the almost-quoted "footprints" line is so well known that I should have recognized it immediately. This story is a previously unpublished entry in the late Ms. Peters' celebrated Amanda Peabody series, which I also have not read. I don't much like this story and I wonder if it is typical of the series.
I also did not like the last entry that appeared in EQMM in Michael Wiley's series about brain-damaged private investigator Sam Kelson, a man who now blurts out whatever he is thinking and is unable to lie. I think that "The Best of Times" in this issue is much better. A woman comes to Kelson's office in Chicago, having been drinking in New Orleans the night before. She has no idea how she wound up in a Chicago hotel room, wearing only a bikini, a cape, and a carnival mask.
"What Can You Do?" by Pam Barnsley is the testimony of a woman who has spent twenty-nine years as office manager in a police department and is now on trial charged with the murder of a police officer. He had been her lover in the past. She tells of his corruption and dishonesty and his cruelty to a dog, which is what finally pushed her over the edge - except that she was not the one who went over the edge of a cliff.
A sweet twelve year old girl, Jianjun Ling, regularly reads to her aging female neighbor in William Boyle's "Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sonny La Grassa" The neighbor is Mrs. La Grassa, who has a daughter and a grandson living nearby who never visit. Mrs. La Grassa asks Jianjun to bring a large amount of cash to her grandson Sonny. She does so, and is present when Sonny's already difficult life gets even worse. But Jianjun Ling loves to help people, in any way that she can.
John, the narrator of "Ask Hagan" by Scott Wiliam Carter, had years earlier deserted his wife and daughter. He adopted an internet persona as Hagan T. Stone, bad-tempered and totally reclusive advice columnist. But then someone claiming to be Hagan Stone began doing personal appearances and television shows. John can not challenge the imposter without revealing his own identity. And then John is kidnapped and kept captive by the false Hagan.
Anna Scotti's tale "The Longest Pleasure" is part of Scotti's series about a woman in a witness protection program. The reader has never been told her real name; in the first stories in the series she was repeatedly forced to take on new identities. Readers also do not know why she is in the program, only that she was a well-educated librarian "halfway to a Ph.D. in library science" when her old life was disrupted. In this story, the woman, who is also the narrator, has for several years been working as a teacher's aide and part-time house organizer, using the name "Cam Baker." "It's a frequently problematic characteristic of librarians - and former librarians - that we're curious," "Cam" says. That curiosity keeps putting her concealment of her identity in jeopardy. In "The Longest Pleasure," she meets a separating middle-aged couple still trying to deal with the death of their son, who drowned saving a dog belonging to him and his girlfriend. Two years after his death, his girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing a street. Nobody was ever charged with her death - until Cam got involved. This is one of the best stories in the series.
In "1952" by Bruce McAllister, a minister from Iowa with his wife and two sons are on vacation in the Southwest. The minister likes to go there every year, staying near an Apache reservation. He is fascinated by the Native Americans, and he has communicated that feeling to his children. The younger son, only two years old, disappears from their hotel one night; it is thought that he might have been kidnapped. This is an unsettling tale with a touching ending.
The narrator of "The Debtor" by C. H. Hung is a former member of a prestigious accounting firm, now working in a coffee shop. His former co-worker and best friend has just got out of prison after serving fifteen years. That friend stole millions of dollars and hid them in the narrator's account without informing him, so if the theft was discovered the narrator would have been the one charged. The scheme did not work, and now the one-time friend has returned, seeking his millions.
Another man returns from prison looking to be recompensed by the man who had betrayed him in "The Smiler" by Dennis McFadden. Blackie is a man now free after serving thirty years for a murder at which he was present but did not commit. The killer was Frankie, Smiler Frankie, a man with "the biggest, widest smile in Dublin." Frankie framed Blackie for the murder and took his share of the loot as well. Not long after, Frankie disappeared and there has been no word of him since. Blackie is ill, perhaps dying, when he and Nora, the kindly woman who is now in his life, go to the house of Frankie's aged mother seeking Frankie and the loot. McFadden is a consistently good author and "The Smiler" is one of the best stories in this issue.
John Lantigua is another reliably good author. "Death and the Coyote" is an entry in Lantigua's series featuring Miami private investigator Willie Cuesta. Willie is asked to help an indigent new immigrant from Mexico who says that when he and some others were smuggled across the border into Arizona, the man they had paid to help them, known as a coyote, had actually killed the immigrant's sickly best friend rather than taking the time to help him. Now the immigrant has seen the coyote in a Florida town and wants justice for his dead friend.
"Hal Charles" is a pseudonym used by Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet writing in collaboration. Their story in this issue is "The Reawakening." The narrator sees news of an old friend who had recently died; he thinks that this is odd, since that friend was believed to have committed suicide over fifty years earlier.
"No good deed goes unpunished" is a cynical cliché. It seems to be a valid one in "Wing Man" by Pat Black. A man saves a stranger from drowning. That stranger turns out to be a deranged serial killer, who wants his savior to be his mate, joining him in his murders. And the killer has no intention of being refused.
A real-life serial killer, John Reginald Christie, lived and murdered at 10 Rillington Place in the Notting Hill section of London. Bodies are beginning to be discovered at that address at the same time in the 1950s in which Elizabeth Elwood's tale "Number 10 Marlborough Place" is set, also in London. Most of this story is just a domestic picture of a family living at the Marlborough Place address. The only thing at all unusual about them is that years before the father's first wife had left her family. And "some things," the story states, " were better never told."
Dean Jobb's true crime entry in this issue is titled "Stranger Than Fiction: Fact Meets Fiction in Poe's 'The Black Cat.'" Jobb conjectures that Poe's grisly tale of a man committing a murder and hiding the body behind a wall might have been inspired by an incident in which bodies were discovered behind a wall in a house in Northfield, Massachusetts.
Kristopher Zgorski's "Blog Bytes" column covers two mystery-related blogs and, surprisingly, the website for the magazine Entertainment Weekly .
I used to try to mention all the books rated four or five stars (out of a possible maximum of five) in "The Jury Box" book review column. However, the current reviewer, Steve Steinbock, is frequently quite enthusiastic about many books. In this issue, he rates nine books, awarding four stars to seven of these and five stars to two others. The five star books are Dead of Winter by Stephen Mack Jones and The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer.
EQMM makes a change in this issue which does not seem to be mentioned in the magazine. There are two interior illustrations. I believe that this is the first time such illustrations are not credited to artists but rather to a company. Both of these are credited to Shutterstock. The illustrations are, therefore, generic rather than being truly connected to the stories that they accompany. The not-very-good cover is likewise attributed to a company, 123RF.
The December issue of EQMM has long contained a ballot for readers to vote for their favorite new stories published in EQMM during that calendar year. This issue follows that format. I want to add that part of the instructions for this says that "Winners will be announced in the May/June 2022 issue. For early results, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your ballot." I have sent such an envelope for years and it used to be mailed back to me with the results. For each of the past three years, I did not get the envelopes mailed back to me. Are the folks at EQMM just not bothering to send these or is someone at Penny Publications, LLC steaming off my stamps and keeping them?
I don't think that there are any truly outstanding stories in this issue. I do like the ones by Black, "Charles," Elwood, La Grassa, Lantigua, McAllister, and McFadden.
"Hit and Run" is one of the specially designated stories in this issue; it is listed as a "Black Mask" story, meaning that it is the kind of tough fiction that used to appear in the old Black Mask pulp magazine. "The Patsy" by Sunil Mann is a "Passport to Crime" tale, a story originally written in a language other than English. This was written by Mann, a Swiss author, in German and translated into English by Mary Tannert. "The Patsy" is about Magnus, an odd young man who is constantly picked on solely because he seems different from the norm. This treatment escalates drastically during this story. The story largely concerns cruel torture, not my favorite subject matter.
There are two stories in this issue designated as "First Stories," first paid professional publication of mystery short stories. Eleanor Gonnella has a historical mystery, "Another Temptation," in which an Italian artist painting a fresco is found dead. The ending is quite cynical.
And speaking of cynical...the other "First Story," "30 Ackerian Place" by Barbara B. Green, takes a notably jaundiced look at a marriage coming to an end. I think that the plot twist used here might very well not work, and it seems like the plotter might be easily revealed.
There is a story reprinted from 1963, "The Broken T," written by and featuring author/detective Ellery Queen. A witness to a crime is kidnapped and held for a while near what should be a quickly located neon sign. Ellery reasons out the secret of finding that elusive sign. (A much better story about a neon sign clue is Fredric Brown's "The Case of the Dancing Sandwiches.")
"We're in This Together, Aren't We?" is a rather mysterious piece of meta-fiction by Victor Kreuiter. The third paragraph of the story is: " I am the writer and you are the reader and from this point on we are in this together." I am sorry, but I don't want to be together in anything this murky. A man who comes to a billiard parlor insists that, "Somebody - not me - but somebody got things messed up somehow. So now - and to be honest I don't like this one bit either - so now I got to fix this mess, tonight." He is not the only one who doesn't like this.
I found Sharon Hunt's story "The Disappearing Man" confusing as well, but I liked it considerably more than the Kreuiter tale. This seemed to me to begin in media res, as if part of the story is missing or perhaps this is a sequel to a story that I don't know. Families, friendships, and even lives change and fall apart.
I did not understand the joke at the end of "The Vengeance of Sekhmet" by Elizabeth Peters the first time that I read it, and admitting that is somewhat embarrassing. I have never read the famous mystery to which this makes reference, but the almost-quoted "footprints" line is so well known that I should have recognized it immediately. This story is a previously unpublished entry in the late Ms. Peters' celebrated Amanda Peabody series, which I also have not read. I don't much like this story and I wonder if it is typical of the series.
I also did not like the last entry that appeared in EQMM in Michael Wiley's series about brain-damaged private investigator Sam Kelson, a man who now blurts out whatever he is thinking and is unable to lie. I think that "The Best of Times" in this issue is much better. A woman comes to Kelson's office in Chicago, having been drinking in New Orleans the night before. She has no idea how she wound up in a Chicago hotel room, wearing only a bikini, a cape, and a carnival mask.
"What Can You Do?" by Pam Barnsley is the testimony of a woman who has spent twenty-nine years as office manager in a police department and is now on trial charged with the murder of a police officer. He had been her lover in the past. She tells of his corruption and dishonesty and his cruelty to a dog, which is what finally pushed her over the edge - except that she was not the one who went over the edge of a cliff.
A sweet twelve year old girl, Jianjun Ling, regularly reads to her aging female neighbor in William Boyle's "Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sonny La Grassa" The neighbor is Mrs. La Grassa, who has a daughter and a grandson living nearby who never visit. Mrs. La Grassa asks Jianjun to bring a large amount of cash to her grandson Sonny. She does so, and is present when Sonny's already difficult life gets even worse. But Jianjun Ling loves to help people, in any way that she can.
John, the narrator of "Ask Hagan" by Scott Wiliam Carter, had years earlier deserted his wife and daughter. He adopted an internet persona as Hagan T. Stone, bad-tempered and totally reclusive advice columnist. But then someone claiming to be Hagan Stone began doing personal appearances and television shows. John can not challenge the imposter without revealing his own identity. And then John is kidnapped and kept captive by the false Hagan.
Anna Scotti's tale "The Longest Pleasure" is part of Scotti's series about a woman in a witness protection program. The reader has never been told her real name; in the first stories in the series she was repeatedly forced to take on new identities. Readers also do not know why she is in the program, only that she was a well-educated librarian "halfway to a Ph.D. in library science" when her old life was disrupted. In this story, the woman, who is also the narrator, has for several years been working as a teacher's aide and part-time house organizer, using the name "Cam Baker." "It's a frequently problematic characteristic of librarians - and former librarians - that we're curious," "Cam" says. That curiosity keeps putting her concealment of her identity in jeopardy. In "The Longest Pleasure," she meets a separating middle-aged couple still trying to deal with the death of their son, who drowned saving a dog belonging to him and his girlfriend. Two years after his death, his girlfriend was killed in a hit-and-run while crossing a street. Nobody was ever charged with her death - until Cam got involved. This is one of the best stories in the series.
In "1952" by Bruce McAllister, a minister from Iowa with his wife and two sons are on vacation in the Southwest. The minister likes to go there every year, staying near an Apache reservation. He is fascinated by the Native Americans, and he has communicated that feeling to his children. The younger son, only two years old, disappears from their hotel one night; it is thought that he might have been kidnapped. This is an unsettling tale with a touching ending.
The narrator of "The Debtor" by C. H. Hung is a former member of a prestigious accounting firm, now working in a coffee shop. His former co-worker and best friend has just got out of prison after serving fifteen years. That friend stole millions of dollars and hid them in the narrator's account without informing him, so if the theft was discovered the narrator would have been the one charged. The scheme did not work, and now the one-time friend has returned, seeking his millions.
Another man returns from prison looking to be recompensed by the man who had betrayed him in "The Smiler" by Dennis McFadden. Blackie is a man now free after serving thirty years for a murder at which he was present but did not commit. The killer was Frankie, Smiler Frankie, a man with "the biggest, widest smile in Dublin." Frankie framed Blackie for the murder and took his share of the loot as well. Not long after, Frankie disappeared and there has been no word of him since. Blackie is ill, perhaps dying, when he and Nora, the kindly woman who is now in his life, go to the house of Frankie's aged mother seeking Frankie and the loot. McFadden is a consistently good author and "The Smiler" is one of the best stories in this issue.
John Lantigua is another reliably good author. "Death and the Coyote" is an entry in Lantigua's series featuring Miami private investigator Willie Cuesta. Willie is asked to help an indigent new immigrant from Mexico who says that when he and some others were smuggled across the border into Arizona, the man they had paid to help them, known as a coyote, had actually killed the immigrant's sickly best friend rather than taking the time to help him. Now the immigrant has seen the coyote in a Florida town and wants justice for his dead friend.
"Hal Charles" is a pseudonym used by Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet writing in collaboration. Their story in this issue is "The Reawakening." The narrator sees news of an old friend who had recently died; he thinks that this is odd, since that friend was believed to have committed suicide over fifty years earlier.
"No good deed goes unpunished" is a cynical cliché. It seems to be a valid one in "Wing Man" by Pat Black. A man saves a stranger from drowning. That stranger turns out to be a deranged serial killer, who wants his savior to be his mate, joining him in his murders. And the killer has no intention of being refused.
A real-life serial killer, John Reginald Christie, lived and murdered at 10 Rillington Place in the Notting Hill section of London. Bodies are beginning to be discovered at that address at the same time in the 1950s in which Elizabeth Elwood's tale "Number 10 Marlborough Place" is set, also in London. Most of this story is just a domestic picture of a family living at the Marlborough Place address. The only thing at all unusual about them is that years before the father's first wife had left her family. And "some things," the story states, " were better never told."
Dean Jobb's true crime entry in this issue is titled "Stranger Than Fiction: Fact Meets Fiction in Poe's 'The Black Cat.'" Jobb conjectures that Poe's grisly tale of a man committing a murder and hiding the body behind a wall might have been inspired by an incident in which bodies were discovered behind a wall in a house in Northfield, Massachusetts.
Kristopher Zgorski's "Blog Bytes" column covers two mystery-related blogs and, surprisingly, the website for the magazine Entertainment Weekly .
I used to try to mention all the books rated four or five stars (out of a possible maximum of five) in "The Jury Box" book review column. However, the current reviewer, Steve Steinbock, is frequently quite enthusiastic about many books. In this issue, he rates nine books, awarding four stars to seven of these and five stars to two others. The five star books are Dead of Winter by Stephen Mack Jones and The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer.
EQMM makes a change in this issue which does not seem to be mentioned in the magazine. There are two interior illustrations. I believe that this is the first time such illustrations are not credited to artists but rather to a company. Both of these are credited to Shutterstock. The illustrations are, therefore, generic rather than being truly connected to the stories that they accompany. The not-very-good cover is likewise attributed to a company, 123RF.
The December issue of EQMM has long contained a ballot for readers to vote for their favorite new stories published in EQMM during that calendar year. This issue follows that format. I want to add that part of the instructions for this says that "Winners will be announced in the May/June 2022 issue. For early results, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your ballot." I have sent such an envelope for years and it used to be mailed back to me with the results. For each of the past three years, I did not get the envelopes mailed back to me. Are the folks at EQMM just not bothering to send these or is someone at Penny Publications, LLC steaming off my stamps and keeping them?
I don't think that there are any truly outstanding stories in this issue. I do like the ones by Black, "Charles," Elwood, La Grassa, Lantigua, McAllister, and McFadden.
October 27, 2021
2 • The Vengeance of Sekhmet • 11 pages by Elizabeth Peters
OK+. The Emersons host old Wintergreen who seems sound enough except for a delusion that he’s cursed.
13 • Death and the Coyote • 14 pages by John Lantigua
Good. An illegal immigrant spotted a man who killed his friend. Can Willie Cuesta get justice?
27 • The Longest Pleasure • 14 pages by Anna Scotti
VG. Cam Baker is packing up a room of a girl who died by an unsolved hit and run. She gets curious about it.
41 • We're in This Together, Aren't We? • 8 pages by Victor Kreuiter
OK/Fair. Terry goes to see Mr. Bartholomew. Gimmicky, built on asides to the reader. We’re supposed to fill in the blanks.
49 • Wing Man • 18 pages by Pat Black
VG. Adam saves a guy’s life. A few days later he’s held hostage by threats. Threats that he has seen carried out. An impossible/no win situation. This could have been in the black mask category.
67 • The Reawakening • 8 pages by Hal Charles
Good+. The narrator sees an obit for old friend, Annie Marsh, who he thought committed suicide fifty years ago. Being retired he heads take a trip to find out some answers.
75 • Another Temptation • 3 pages by Eleanor Gonnella
Fair/OK. Bernardo paints a mural with a subliminal message. Someone takes offense.
78 • Hit and Run • 7 pages by Doug Allyn
Good+. Cop on an undercover mission is rear ended nearly exposing what he has in the trunk.
85 • The Best of Times • 8 pages by Michael Wiley
OK/Good. Sam Kelson gets a client who woke up in Chicago with no knowledge of how she got there when she was just partying in New Orleans. Mystery turned into comedy.
93 • What Can You Do? • 6 pages by Pam Barnsley
Good. The narrator who accidentally killed Mort describes his character with a few examples, before telling us what happened at the accident.
99 • Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sonny La Grassa • 6 pages by William Boyle
Good+. Jianjun loves to read to her elderly neighbor. Today she has heard from her grandson and has a favor to ask of Jianjun.
105 • Ask Hagan • 16 pages by William Carter
Very Good+. John Winsley has hidden his real identity well. One of his fans impersonates Hagan. Going on talk shows, etc. When this fake is in the same town Winsley is going to put an end to it, but gets caught instead. Hagan locks him away to force him to keep writing, Misery style.
121 • The Patsy • 10 pages by Sunil Mann
OK. Magnus is bullied by five boys. Viciously. They have him gagged and bound to a tree. One of the boys is particularly sadistic.
131 • 1952 • 5 pages by Bruce McAllister
OK. James’ family often vacations in the southwest, on the last of these something bad happened. The police blamed it on an Apache, with no evidence. A definite human rights violation of the person they convicted, but no mention if his family were particularly targeted or the police just didn’t want to look for the real culprit.
136 • 30 Ackerian Place • 5 pages by Barbara B. Green
OK/Good. Brooke is losing her husband to Meg.
141 • The Broket T • 4 pages by Ellery Queen
OK. Angie won’t testify unless the police catch the crooks that beat her. All they have to go on is a neon sign.
145 • The Disappearing Man • 13 pages by Sharon Hunt
OK/Sad. Domestic abuse turned into murder. A young man disappeared a couple years ago with no trace. Presumably he’s dead, too.
158 • The Smiler • 8 pages by Dennis McFadden
OK/Fair. Double crossed by the Smiler, Blackie took the fall for a murder. He’s out now and looking to see if he can find his share of the loot.
166 • The Debtor • 12 pages by C. H. Hung
Good+. Elliott has been released from jail, and is trying to get Robbie to help him with some new crime. When he went to jail it was all Robbie could do to not go down as an accomplice. Elliott having stashed money in his name.
178 • Number 10 Marlborough Place • 14 pages by Elizabeth Elwood
Good/OK. Mr. Isham doesn’t like Sally’s boyfriend. In the news there are headlines of a murderer. Clive wishes there were better stories. Wasn’t sure where this story was headed until it got there.
OK+. The Emersons host old Wintergreen who seems sound enough except for a delusion that he’s cursed.
13 • Death and the Coyote • 14 pages by John Lantigua
Good. An illegal immigrant spotted a man who killed his friend. Can Willie Cuesta get justice?
27 • The Longest Pleasure • 14 pages by Anna Scotti
VG. Cam Baker is packing up a room of a girl who died by an unsolved hit and run. She gets curious about it.
41 • We're in This Together, Aren't We? • 8 pages by Victor Kreuiter
OK/Fair. Terry goes to see Mr. Bartholomew. Gimmicky, built on asides to the reader. We’re supposed to fill in the blanks.
49 • Wing Man • 18 pages by Pat Black
VG. Adam saves a guy’s life. A few days later he’s held hostage by threats. Threats that he has seen carried out. An impossible/no win situation. This could have been in the black mask category.
67 • The Reawakening • 8 pages by Hal Charles
Good+. The narrator sees an obit for old friend, Annie Marsh, who he thought committed suicide fifty years ago. Being retired he heads take a trip to find out some answers.
75 • Another Temptation • 3 pages by Eleanor Gonnella
Fair/OK. Bernardo paints a mural with a subliminal message. Someone takes offense.
78 • Hit and Run • 7 pages by Doug Allyn
Good+. Cop on an undercover mission is rear ended nearly exposing what he has in the trunk.
85 • The Best of Times • 8 pages by Michael Wiley
OK/Good. Sam Kelson gets a client who woke up in Chicago with no knowledge of how she got there when she was just partying in New Orleans. Mystery turned into comedy.
93 • What Can You Do? • 6 pages by Pam Barnsley
Good. The narrator who accidentally killed Mort describes his character with a few examples, before telling us what happened at the accident.
99 • Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sonny La Grassa • 6 pages by William Boyle
Good+. Jianjun loves to read to her elderly neighbor. Today she has heard from her grandson and has a favor to ask of Jianjun.
105 • Ask Hagan • 16 pages by William Carter
Very Good+. John Winsley has hidden his real identity well. One of his fans impersonates Hagan. Going on talk shows, etc. When this fake is in the same town Winsley is going to put an end to it, but gets caught instead. Hagan locks him away to force him to keep writing, Misery style.
121 • The Patsy • 10 pages by Sunil Mann
OK. Magnus is bullied by five boys. Viciously. They have him gagged and bound to a tree. One of the boys is particularly sadistic.
131 • 1952 • 5 pages by Bruce McAllister
OK. James’ family often vacations in the southwest, on the last of these something bad happened. The police blamed it on an Apache, with no evidence. A definite human rights violation of the person they convicted, but no mention if his family were particularly targeted or the police just didn’t want to look for the real culprit.
136 • 30 Ackerian Place • 5 pages by Barbara B. Green
OK/Good. Brooke is losing her husband to Meg.
141 • The Broket T • 4 pages by Ellery Queen
OK. Angie won’t testify unless the police catch the crooks that beat her. All they have to go on is a neon sign.
145 • The Disappearing Man • 13 pages by Sharon Hunt
OK/Sad. Domestic abuse turned into murder. A young man disappeared a couple years ago with no trace. Presumably he’s dead, too.
158 • The Smiler • 8 pages by Dennis McFadden
OK/Fair. Double crossed by the Smiler, Blackie took the fall for a murder. He’s out now and looking to see if he can find his share of the loot.
166 • The Debtor • 12 pages by C. H. Hung
Good+. Elliott has been released from jail, and is trying to get Robbie to help him with some new crime. When he went to jail it was all Robbie could do to not go down as an accomplice. Elliott having stashed money in his name.
178 • Number 10 Marlborough Place • 14 pages by Elizabeth Elwood
Good/OK. Mr. Isham doesn’t like Sally’s boyfriend. In the news there are headlines of a murderer. Clive wishes there were better stories. Wasn’t sure where this story was headed until it got there.
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January 20, 2022 “She shot him! Twice! With a weapon she’s pulled out of her purse. A double tap to center mass, one to his heart, the other barely an inch over.”
●And here we are, with the last issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine of 2021, and the November/December issue starts off with The Vengeance of Sekhmet a newly discovered Amelia Peabody mystery by the late Elizabeth Peters (Barbara G. Mertz [Barbara Michaels] 1927-2013] and while the mystery is clever, unfortunately though the mystery itself is still minor. The mystery involves a supposed “curse” put on a visiting character. I disliked ALL of the supporting characters.
●Up next is Death And The Cayote by John Lantigua and it deals with a private investigator tracking down and getting justice from a cayote who had murdered a man the cayote had been smuggling across the border.
●Then Anne Scotti gives us The Longest Please and it stars Scotti’s reoccurring character who is a librarian constantly on the run from her past. Here she is bothered by the death of a young woman, a young woman who was the fiancée of a momma’s boy who had died in an accident. A mother who has never gotten over her son’s death. A crackerjack of a story involving a woman who could never stop being possessive.
●Victor Kreuiter then gifts us with the surrealistic We’re In This Together, Aren’t We? , which is a crime story told from the writer’s point of view. An interesting story, but, for me, it was missing something. Maybe it was just too clever for its own good.
●A runner is out for his regular run in Wing Man by Pat Black when a van goes out-of-control and the driver almost drowns in a nearby body of water, but “luckily” the runner manages to save the driver’s life. Now the driver has taken this as a sign that the runner is supposed to be his wing man in his serial killing spree. Reads more like a story for Alfred Hitchcock’s, and the ending is a little weak, and I wasn’t particularly fond of any of the characters.
●Up next is The Reawakening by Hal Charles and it is a good story involving a retired man who reads an obit involving a woman who was supposed to have committed suicide while he was in college. Investigating his past crush, he finds that everything that he might remember, and that he believed, about her may be wrong, and a lie. Why did she fake her death, and make him the patsy?
●Up next is this issue’s Department of First Stories offering by Eleanor Gonnella and Another Temptation . Here a man is murdered while painting a religious mosaic. Who did it, and why? A decent background for the story doesn’t cover up a disappointing denouement.
●This issue’s Black Mask story is Hit And Run by fan favorite Doug Allyn, and a con man manages to get himself involved in murder, bikers, drug dealing, more murder, abused spouses, and traffic accidents most foul. Good golly, this would have made a great episode of the old Alfred Hitchcock show.
●Michael Wiley then presents us with The Best Of Times , and it is one of Wiley’s Sam Kelson stories. What do you get when a near nekkid woman walks into your office and wants you to find out how she got to where she is, from another state, and why? An absurd and funny story for all fans of writers who liked Ron Goulart at his best.
●Pam Barnsley’s story What Can You Do? is a story in which a woman is accused of killing her superior. She disagrees. She’s been a victim of years of abuse by a monster, and claims that the witnesses have misinterpreted her actions. Read it and decide for yourself.
● Jianjun Ling And The Sad Case Of Sonny La Grassa by William Boyle deals with a young girl who comes daily to read books to an elderly woman. Then one day the woman wants Jianjun Ling to deliver some money to her estranged daughter. Things get complicated, but in-the-end the young girl finds a way to save the woman’s grandson, and bring the grandson and grandmother together.
● Ask Hagan by Scott William Carter is up next, and in it, an old has-been mystery novelist is kidnapped by a mystery person who wants the novelist to continue with his snarky pseudonymous on-line advice column. All while the mysterious person takes his place in the real world. Ya gotta read the story to find out who the mysterious person is, even if the idea, as carried out, is far-fetched.
●A rather slow man is constantly bullied in Sunil Mann’s story The Patsy by a gang, and eventually he is kidnapped, hogtied, and beaten. The story will then ping-pong between the man’s past and his present.
●Long time science fiction author Bruce McAllister then gives us a character sketch in 1952 that examines the emotional fallout that happens to a boy, when his family is on vacation, when his younger brother is kidnapped, murdered, and a local Native American is blamed for the crime.
●Barbara B. Green gives another character sketch in which a woman gets caught in the switches in 30 Ackerian Place as she finds out her husband is two-timing her, and then there is crime in the wind. A mediocre story that goes nowhere.
●The Ellery Queen reprint The Broken T is a minor gimmick/puzzle story. Nothing more, and quite forgettable.
●The fiction gets worse with Sharon Hunt’s The Disappearing Man , and the story, was to me anyway, unreadable. It’s as if the story is excerpted from a longer work. Too many characters, who are rarely explained, are thrown at the reader. The beginning meanders dully, and perhaps the story need re-reading for me, but it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
●However, things bounce back with Dennis McFadden’s short Irish crime story The Smiler . A criminal is released from prison on compassionate leave, and boards with Nora, and after a long-ago gang massacre, the Smiler, and a ton load of loot disappeared. Now the two are trying to find it before the dying criminal finds his own way down to hell. A pure dark crime story about Irish criminal bottom feeders, and it should be looked on as a minor crime classic.
●Another science fiction writer, C. H. Hung, gives us The Debtor about an ex-prisoner who comes back into a man’s life after years in prison. The ex-con figures that the man he has tracked down owes him, while the man thinks not. But, what is he gonna do? The is told from the ending backwards to how somebody’s body is found integrated into a church’s nativity scene. A solid bang-up crime story.
●And up last is Number 10 Marlborough Place by Elizabeth Wood and it deals with two young English lads, and being besties, how they weather the disappearance of one of them’s mother, the rebellion of his sister, and more. Filled with a few too many English references for this poor American to understand, but, I wasn’t the target audience anyway. The lads were likable, and the story’s plot has a lot twists, and as one reviewer stated, you’re not sure where the story is going until you get there.
●And there is a bonus: Dean Jobb gives us a non-fiction piece. Fact Meets Fiction In Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’ in which Jobb tracks down the possible real-life crime that may have influenced Poe to have written his classic The Black Cat .
A rather average issue, with some good stories, and some average. Still the stories that I liked, and wouldn’t mind re-reading in the future would be the stories by Lantigua, Scotti, Kreuiter, Charles, Allyn, Wiley, Boyle, McFadden, Jobb, and Hung. Especially the stories by Scotti, Charles, and McFadden.
●And here we are, with the last issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine of 2021, and the November/December issue starts off with The Vengeance of Sekhmet a newly discovered Amelia Peabody mystery by the late Elizabeth Peters (Barbara G. Mertz [Barbara Michaels] 1927-2013] and while the mystery is clever, unfortunately though the mystery itself is still minor. The mystery involves a supposed “curse” put on a visiting character. I disliked ALL of the supporting characters.
●Up next is Death And The Cayote by John Lantigua and it deals with a private investigator tracking down and getting justice from a cayote who had murdered a man the cayote had been smuggling across the border.
●Then Anne Scotti gives us The Longest Please and it stars Scotti’s reoccurring character who is a librarian constantly on the run from her past. Here she is bothered by the death of a young woman, a young woman who was the fiancée of a momma’s boy who had died in an accident. A mother who has never gotten over her son’s death. A crackerjack of a story involving a woman who could never stop being possessive.
●Victor Kreuiter then gifts us with the surrealistic We’re In This Together, Aren’t We? , which is a crime story told from the writer’s point of view. An interesting story, but, for me, it was missing something. Maybe it was just too clever for its own good.
●A runner is out for his regular run in Wing Man by Pat Black when a van goes out-of-control and the driver almost drowns in a nearby body of water, but “luckily” the runner manages to save the driver’s life. Now the driver has taken this as a sign that the runner is supposed to be his wing man in his serial killing spree. Reads more like a story for Alfred Hitchcock’s, and the ending is a little weak, and I wasn’t particularly fond of any of the characters.
●Up next is The Reawakening by Hal Charles and it is a good story involving a retired man who reads an obit involving a woman who was supposed to have committed suicide while he was in college. Investigating his past crush, he finds that everything that he might remember, and that he believed, about her may be wrong, and a lie. Why did she fake her death, and make him the patsy?
●Up next is this issue’s Department of First Stories offering by Eleanor Gonnella and Another Temptation . Here a man is murdered while painting a religious mosaic. Who did it, and why? A decent background for the story doesn’t cover up a disappointing denouement.
●This issue’s Black Mask story is Hit And Run by fan favorite Doug Allyn, and a con man manages to get himself involved in murder, bikers, drug dealing, more murder, abused spouses, and traffic accidents most foul. Good golly, this would have made a great episode of the old Alfred Hitchcock show.
●Michael Wiley then presents us with The Best Of Times , and it is one of Wiley’s Sam Kelson stories. What do you get when a near nekkid woman walks into your office and wants you to find out how she got to where she is, from another state, and why? An absurd and funny story for all fans of writers who liked Ron Goulart at his best.
●Pam Barnsley’s story What Can You Do? is a story in which a woman is accused of killing her superior. She disagrees. She’s been a victim of years of abuse by a monster, and claims that the witnesses have misinterpreted her actions. Read it and decide for yourself.
● Jianjun Ling And The Sad Case Of Sonny La Grassa by William Boyle deals with a young girl who comes daily to read books to an elderly woman. Then one day the woman wants Jianjun Ling to deliver some money to her estranged daughter. Things get complicated, but in-the-end the young girl finds a way to save the woman’s grandson, and bring the grandson and grandmother together.
● Ask Hagan by Scott William Carter is up next, and in it, an old has-been mystery novelist is kidnapped by a mystery person who wants the novelist to continue with his snarky pseudonymous on-line advice column. All while the mysterious person takes his place in the real world. Ya gotta read the story to find out who the mysterious person is, even if the idea, as carried out, is far-fetched.
●A rather slow man is constantly bullied in Sunil Mann’s story The Patsy by a gang, and eventually he is kidnapped, hogtied, and beaten. The story will then ping-pong between the man’s past and his present.
●Long time science fiction author Bruce McAllister then gives us a character sketch in 1952 that examines the emotional fallout that happens to a boy, when his family is on vacation, when his younger brother is kidnapped, murdered, and a local Native American is blamed for the crime.
●Barbara B. Green gives another character sketch in which a woman gets caught in the switches in 30 Ackerian Place as she finds out her husband is two-timing her, and then there is crime in the wind. A mediocre story that goes nowhere.
●The Ellery Queen reprint The Broken T is a minor gimmick/puzzle story. Nothing more, and quite forgettable.
●The fiction gets worse with Sharon Hunt’s The Disappearing Man , and the story, was to me anyway, unreadable. It’s as if the story is excerpted from a longer work. Too many characters, who are rarely explained, are thrown at the reader. The beginning meanders dully, and perhaps the story need re-reading for me, but it ain’t gonna happen anytime soon.
●However, things bounce back with Dennis McFadden’s short Irish crime story The Smiler . A criminal is released from prison on compassionate leave, and boards with Nora, and after a long-ago gang massacre, the Smiler, and a ton load of loot disappeared. Now the two are trying to find it before the dying criminal finds his own way down to hell. A pure dark crime story about Irish criminal bottom feeders, and it should be looked on as a minor crime classic.
●Another science fiction writer, C. H. Hung, gives us The Debtor about an ex-prisoner who comes back into a man’s life after years in prison. The ex-con figures that the man he has tracked down owes him, while the man thinks not. But, what is he gonna do? The is told from the ending backwards to how somebody’s body is found integrated into a church’s nativity scene. A solid bang-up crime story.
●And up last is Number 10 Marlborough Place by Elizabeth Wood and it deals with two young English lads, and being besties, how they weather the disappearance of one of them’s mother, the rebellion of his sister, and more. Filled with a few too many English references for this poor American to understand, but, I wasn’t the target audience anyway. The lads were likable, and the story’s plot has a lot twists, and as one reviewer stated, you’re not sure where the story is going until you get there.
●And there is a bonus: Dean Jobb gives us a non-fiction piece. Fact Meets Fiction In Poe’s ‘The Black Cat’ in which Jobb tracks down the possible real-life crime that may have influenced Poe to have written his classic The Black Cat .
A rather average issue, with some good stories, and some average. Still the stories that I liked, and wouldn’t mind re-reading in the future would be the stories by Lantigua, Scotti, Kreuiter, Charles, Allyn, Wiley, Boyle, McFadden, Jobb, and Hung. Especially the stories by Scotti, Charles, and McFadden.
December 1, 2021
The issue begins with a story by Elizabeth Peters entitled “The Vengeance of Sekhmet.” I was one of the minority who didn’t much care for the Amelia Peabody series, but I read this story just the same. Seems Amelia and Emerson Peabody have a new guest. He’s convinced of his pending death, and Wintergreen, as he is known, is sure he has offended the ancient Egyptian gods. Amelia initially suspects his spoiled children of creating his fear-filled state of mind. They are worthy suspects. They’re convinced Wintergreen’s old servant stands to inherit much from the old man’s estate, and the children are convinced the servant is trying to frighten the old man to death. The story largely left me disappointed and frustrated.
John Lantigua’s “Death and the Coyote” features Private Investigator Willie Cuesta. An illegal immigrant contacts Willie after he sees the coyote who smuggled him into the country and killed his good friend. Willie’s solution as to how to catch the coyote is satisfying for sure.
In “the Longest Pleasure” by Anna Scoti, Cam Baker, a home organizer, gets a job cleaning out the possessions of a young woman who died in an unsolved hit-and-run. Cam takes on the search for the solution to the murder.
Victor Kreuiter’s “We’re in This Together, Aren’t We?” is designed to let the reader fill in the blanks. It’s apparently supposed to be interactive, but it felt trippy and largely disappointed me.
“Wing Man” by Pat Black focuses on a fictional character named Adam who, while running one day, he witnessed the crash of a white van into the canal alongside which he ran. He leapt in to save the driver. There was some publicity afterwards, then days later, Adam sees the same driver in a different van. The driver convinces Adam to enter his van so he can drive the two to lunch nearby. Despite his reluctance, Adam enters the van, and things get worse and seemingly hopeless from there. This was my favorite story in the magazine.
Annie Marsh commits suicide in “The Reawakening” by Hal Charles. Years later, the friend who last saw her alive sees her obituary … again. He seeks answers. This one will hold your interest.
“Another Temptation” by Eleanor Gonnella looks at the impact of subliminal messages in paintings. It is mercifully short.
Doug Allyn is one of my favorite mystery short story authors, and he has a story in this issue. If you’ve ever been rear-ended in bad traffic, you know there are few things quite so disconcerting. Try getting rear-ended while you have a large amount of cocaine in your trunk—a trunk that’s now damaged and won’t stay down. Oh, dear!
Sam Kelson faces an interesting problem in Michael Wiley’s “The Best of Times.” The private investigator’s latest client awakens in Chicago’s Drake Hotel with no knowledge of how she got there. Hours earlier, she partied in New Orleans. Is this the ultimate sleight of hand?
I wasn’t a huge fan of Pam Barnsley’s “What Can You do?” This is one of the stories narrated by someone who would have been a Learning Ally reject from deep, deep in the dustbin. Her narration so mucked up the story I couldn’t hold the thread. I’d have been more engaged in the entire publication and this story f I could find a digital version to read with a voice synthesizer.
“Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sunny La Grassa” looks at the impact of reading aloud. An intelligent 12-year-old endangers her life by delivering five grand to a dysfunctional family, and she helps one of its members discover the power of reading aloud.
“Ask Hagan” by William Carter is one of the better stories in the issue. Writer John Winsley, a recluse, runs a highly popular advice blog called “Ask Hagan.”” When an apparent fan impersonates the fictional Hagan in very public ways, the reclusive Winsley vows to put a stop to it. Instead, it is he who is captured by Hagan and ordered to keep churning out the blog. Sounds a bit like King’s Misery, and it is, but it’s also different enough that you can read it and enjoy it.
“The Patsy” is a story from a contributor who lives outside the U.S. Sunil Mann writes about a nasty mugging that has one man trapped by a group of particularly sadistic boys.
Bruce McAllister’s “1952” looks at racial prejudice and justice in the wake of a child kidnapping near an Indian reservation in Arizona.
Barbara B. Green’s “30 Ackerian Place” gets my nod for its vivid, creepy, abrupt ending. College girl Meg loves Brooke’s house, and she’ll seduce Brooke’s husband and insinuate herself into the lives of Brooke’s sons to get a shot at living in it. Thing is that the house belongs to Brooke outright. That won’t stop the lovely Meg, as you’ll find out.
“The Broken T” is an Ellery Queen reprint. There’s nothing better than an observant witness, and there’s not a more observant witness than Angie. Some bad boys engage in witness tampering big-time, and Angie won’t testify until the guys who hurt her are caught. She notices a neon sign with a broken letter near where she is held hostage by the bad guys, and that’s all Ellery Queen has to go on to catch the guys.
Sharon Hunt’s “The Disappearing Man” looks at domestic abuse that becomes murder.
I don’t have much to say about Dennis McFadden’s “The Smiler.” It’s set in Ireland, and it focuses on a double cross in which someone took the fall for a murder. Out of prison, he’s looking to get what he thinks is his.
C. H. Hung wrote “The Debtor,” a good story where all the action takes place in a coffee shop. Robbie worked in the shop these days, but he was once destined for more impressive stuff. Then Elliott came into his life with big schemes about embezzling money the foolproof way. Few things in life are foolproof, and Elliott does time in prison. He’s out, and just as the district attorney predicted, Elliott seeks out Robbie, demanding his share of whatever the FBI didn’t get. I enjoyed this story immensely. The beginning is vivid and memorable indeed. Imagine finding a corps dressed as a shepherd in an outdoor nativity scene. Wow!
The final story is Elizabeth Elwood’s “#10 Marlborough Place.” Old Mr. Isham doesn’t like people messing in his garden. That’s your first clue that something’s amiss. Sally, 17, is his daughter from another marriage. She’s an actress, and she was kind to young Clive, who is the story’s narrator. Clive and his family attends Sally’s performance one night, and talk turned to Sally’s new boyfriend, a man her dad despises. As Sally continues to show interest in the young man, Dad’s rules get increasingly draconian. Ere long, the boyfriend is out of the picture, and Britain focuses on the capture of a notorious serial killer. Then, one of the children finds a tarnished locket in Mr. Isham’s garden, and it looks like one Sally had given her boyfriend to pawn with the promise that he would return the money to her—a promise he never kept. What else is in that overgrown garden? This story’s ending is both sad and memorable.
John Lantigua’s “Death and the Coyote” features Private Investigator Willie Cuesta. An illegal immigrant contacts Willie after he sees the coyote who smuggled him into the country and killed his good friend. Willie’s solution as to how to catch the coyote is satisfying for sure.
In “the Longest Pleasure” by Anna Scoti, Cam Baker, a home organizer, gets a job cleaning out the possessions of a young woman who died in an unsolved hit-and-run. Cam takes on the search for the solution to the murder.
Victor Kreuiter’s “We’re in This Together, Aren’t We?” is designed to let the reader fill in the blanks. It’s apparently supposed to be interactive, but it felt trippy and largely disappointed me.
“Wing Man” by Pat Black focuses on a fictional character named Adam who, while running one day, he witnessed the crash of a white van into the canal alongside which he ran. He leapt in to save the driver. There was some publicity afterwards, then days later, Adam sees the same driver in a different van. The driver convinces Adam to enter his van so he can drive the two to lunch nearby. Despite his reluctance, Adam enters the van, and things get worse and seemingly hopeless from there. This was my favorite story in the magazine.
Annie Marsh commits suicide in “The Reawakening” by Hal Charles. Years later, the friend who last saw her alive sees her obituary … again. He seeks answers. This one will hold your interest.
“Another Temptation” by Eleanor Gonnella looks at the impact of subliminal messages in paintings. It is mercifully short.
Doug Allyn is one of my favorite mystery short story authors, and he has a story in this issue. If you’ve ever been rear-ended in bad traffic, you know there are few things quite so disconcerting. Try getting rear-ended while you have a large amount of cocaine in your trunk—a trunk that’s now damaged and won’t stay down. Oh, dear!
Sam Kelson faces an interesting problem in Michael Wiley’s “The Best of Times.” The private investigator’s latest client awakens in Chicago’s Drake Hotel with no knowledge of how she got there. Hours earlier, she partied in New Orleans. Is this the ultimate sleight of hand?
I wasn’t a huge fan of Pam Barnsley’s “What Can You do?” This is one of the stories narrated by someone who would have been a Learning Ally reject from deep, deep in the dustbin. Her narration so mucked up the story I couldn’t hold the thread. I’d have been more engaged in the entire publication and this story f I could find a digital version to read with a voice synthesizer.
“Jianjun Ling and the Sad Case of Sunny La Grassa” looks at the impact of reading aloud. An intelligent 12-year-old endangers her life by delivering five grand to a dysfunctional family, and she helps one of its members discover the power of reading aloud.
“Ask Hagan” by William Carter is one of the better stories in the issue. Writer John Winsley, a recluse, runs a highly popular advice blog called “Ask Hagan.”” When an apparent fan impersonates the fictional Hagan in very public ways, the reclusive Winsley vows to put a stop to it. Instead, it is he who is captured by Hagan and ordered to keep churning out the blog. Sounds a bit like King’s Misery, and it is, but it’s also different enough that you can read it and enjoy it.
“The Patsy” is a story from a contributor who lives outside the U.S. Sunil Mann writes about a nasty mugging that has one man trapped by a group of particularly sadistic boys.
Bruce McAllister’s “1952” looks at racial prejudice and justice in the wake of a child kidnapping near an Indian reservation in Arizona.
Barbara B. Green’s “30 Ackerian Place” gets my nod for its vivid, creepy, abrupt ending. College girl Meg loves Brooke’s house, and she’ll seduce Brooke’s husband and insinuate herself into the lives of Brooke’s sons to get a shot at living in it. Thing is that the house belongs to Brooke outright. That won’t stop the lovely Meg, as you’ll find out.
“The Broken T” is an Ellery Queen reprint. There’s nothing better than an observant witness, and there’s not a more observant witness than Angie. Some bad boys engage in witness tampering big-time, and Angie won’t testify until the guys who hurt her are caught. She notices a neon sign with a broken letter near where she is held hostage by the bad guys, and that’s all Ellery Queen has to go on to catch the guys.
Sharon Hunt’s “The Disappearing Man” looks at domestic abuse that becomes murder.
I don’t have much to say about Dennis McFadden’s “The Smiler.” It’s set in Ireland, and it focuses on a double cross in which someone took the fall for a murder. Out of prison, he’s looking to get what he thinks is his.
C. H. Hung wrote “The Debtor,” a good story where all the action takes place in a coffee shop. Robbie worked in the shop these days, but he was once destined for more impressive stuff. Then Elliott came into his life with big schemes about embezzling money the foolproof way. Few things in life are foolproof, and Elliott does time in prison. He’s out, and just as the district attorney predicted, Elliott seeks out Robbie, demanding his share of whatever the FBI didn’t get. I enjoyed this story immensely. The beginning is vivid and memorable indeed. Imagine finding a corps dressed as a shepherd in an outdoor nativity scene. Wow!
The final story is Elizabeth Elwood’s “#10 Marlborough Place.” Old Mr. Isham doesn’t like people messing in his garden. That’s your first clue that something’s amiss. Sally, 17, is his daughter from another marriage. She’s an actress, and she was kind to young Clive, who is the story’s narrator. Clive and his family attends Sally’s performance one night, and talk turned to Sally’s new boyfriend, a man her dad despises. As Sally continues to show interest in the young man, Dad’s rules get increasingly draconian. Ere long, the boyfriend is out of the picture, and Britain focuses on the capture of a notorious serial killer. Then, one of the children finds a tarnished locket in Mr. Isham’s garden, and it looks like one Sally had given her boyfriend to pawn with the promise that he would return the money to her—a promise he never kept. What else is in that overgrown garden? This story’s ending is both sad and memorable.
November 17, 2021
A (excellent):
The Vengence of Sekhmet by Elizabeth Peters
Jianjun Ling & the sad case of Sonny La Grass by William Boyle
The Smiler by Dennis McFadden
The Debtor by C H Hung
Number 10 Marlborough Place by Elizabeth Elwood
The Patsy by Sunil Mann
B (very good):
Death & the Coyote by John Lantigua
The Longest Pleasure by Anna Scotti
Wing Man by Pat Black
The Reawakening by Hal Charles
The Best of Times by Michael Wiley
What Can You Do? by Pam Barnsley
Ask Hagan by Scott William Carter
The Broken T by Ellery Queen
Hit & Run by Doug Allyn
C (average):
We're in this Together, Aren't We? by Victor Kreuiter
1952 by Bruce McAllister
Another Temptation by Eleanor Gonnella
30 Ackerian Place by Barbara B. Green
The Vengence of Sekhmet by Elizabeth Peters
Jianjun Ling & the sad case of Sonny La Grass by William Boyle
The Smiler by Dennis McFadden
The Debtor by C H Hung
Number 10 Marlborough Place by Elizabeth Elwood
The Patsy by Sunil Mann
B (very good):
Death & the Coyote by John Lantigua
The Longest Pleasure by Anna Scotti
Wing Man by Pat Black
The Reawakening by Hal Charles
The Best of Times by Michael Wiley
What Can You Do? by Pam Barnsley
Ask Hagan by Scott William Carter
The Broken T by Ellery Queen
Hit & Run by Doug Allyn
C (average):
We're in this Together, Aren't We? by Victor Kreuiter
1952 by Bruce McAllister
Another Temptation by Eleanor Gonnella
30 Ackerian Place by Barbara B. Green
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews