18 [Hardcover]

I evaluated each story individually, and all of them received a rating between four and five stars, with the average being 4.5. Eight of the stories received five stars from me:

1) The Mouse: Looks at how things are for kids in school, how peer pressure may prevent someone from being proud of her actions, and how this changes in adulthood.
2) Revised Endings: Harriet feels miserable when she is assigned a new editor, who is obnoxious and demands changes in the ending of her latest novel.
3) Ghost of a Chance: A ghost visits a woman shortly after the death of her husband, who was murdered on a shooting by.
4) Unharmed: In this story, winner of the Readers Award from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and the Macavity Award, Alex recounts the death of a woman calibrating his involvement in it.
5) Mea Culpa: A boy tries to deal with the death of his father in a car accident and with a confession he listens his stepfather make acknowledging he wants to abandon the kid's mother.
6) An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart: Rossiter writes a letter in which he relates the vicissitudes he went through when he found Lord Dallingham on the road with his phaeton overturned.
7) The Abbey Ghost: In this Edgar Award Nominee story, Edward and Lucien scare their bad side of the family away using the legend of a ghost protecting a treasure in the abbey over which their castle was built. Years later when one of them dies, he becomes a "real ghost" in order to help the other one in dealing with a murderer.
8) Devotion: Frank Harriman, Irene Kelly's husband, along with some of the characters from "Bones" takes part in this story where a young boy goes missing after his father is murdered.

Besides the eight stories listed above, the collection includes the first Irene Kelly short story, "A fine set of teeth" and an Agatha Award nominee, "The man in the civil suit". Jan Burke displays an amazing variety in the stories, dealing with different time periods, types of characters, plots and viewpoints. This is a collection of stories you cannot miss! - 4.5 stars

Fans of Bones will want to read "Devotion" which showcases some of the same characters. After Detective Frank Harriman finds the murdered body of Victor Toller and learns his son is missing, he calls Ben Sheridan and asks him to do a search with his two SAR dogs Bingle and Bool.

The very popular Irene Kelly stars in "A Fine Set of Teeth". Irene and her husband Frank give musician Buzz Sullivan a lift to his music gig. They stay to hear the performance only to be awakened early the next morning to find out the lead singer has been killed.

In "MEA CULPA' a crippled young boy finds ways of protecting himself from his abusive step-father. However, when he discovers that the man is going to kill his mother, he must find a way to stop him. This intriguing story has a feel of Charles Dickens Victorian England even though it takes place in the United States.

Vampire lovers will want to read "The Haunting of Carrick Hollow", an atmospheric tale that is quite scary while ghost lovers will find "The Abbey Ghosts" actually enthralling.

The above is just a sample to whet the appetite. Readers will find themselves totally immersed in each and every story.

Harriet Klausner