Customer Reviews

Blood, Threat & Fears

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It is easy to think of a novella as being a longer short story (with the usual short story limitations) and in this case, that thinking would be appropriate. When reading a novella anthology, one has to understand that character development will be more limited than in the traditional novel or mystery. There simply isnï¿t the time to set up detailed and complex characters due to the restrictions in length a novella places on the work. Therefore, the author has to pack as much character development in his or her work as possible, while setting up the scene, the mystery problem (in this case) and plenty of action to move the story along. It is a difficult task and all four of these authors, with very different themes and writing styles, pull it off wonderfully.

At the same time, it makes reviewing the work rather difficult. One does not want to give away too many of the details and with each novella coming in around 100 pages on average (a couple are a little shorter and conversely a couple are a bit longer) it would be easy to reveal too much. The reviewer also has to take into account his or her particular interests and a couple of these were not exactly what I look for in a novel to read. Having said that, though some of the works were not my thing (as it were) it has to be admitted that those were as well written as the others in the collection, which I did really like.

The collection is opened by the offering from Mr. Robert L. Iles, titled ï¿The Ten-Spot Murders.ï¿ Set in a small town deep in West Texas, the work revolves around a dead man found murdered at the local motel. Instead of being found in his room, he is found behind the building. How he got there and why becomes an intriguing case for Sheriff Okie Bliss and his small department.

ï¿Pangs of Prophecyï¿ by Christine Spindler follows next in the reading order. In this work, April is tormented by the fact that she can see death for those she knows. She knows in excruciating graphic detail how they will dieï¿she just doesnï¿t know when. Trying to prevent a murder she knows is going to happen, she becomes deeply involved in the resulting case when the murder does occur.

The third work is titled ï¿Buyerï¿s Remorseï¿ by Elizabeth Dearl. Taylor is a writer living out in West Texas and is asked by her friend, Paula, to help her move. Paula has bought an old house and needs help, not only in moving, but restoring the house to livable condition. The problem, beyond the fact that the house is old and in disrepair, is the fact that it might also be haunted.

Rounding off the book is Dan Sontupï¿s work, titled ï¿the Santa Switch.ï¿ While you may have secretly wished death on the mall Santa when he went ahead and promised a toy you know your child could not have in his wildest dreams, in this story, a mall Santa is killed at the mall in a back way hall. Now, Mall Security Chief Matt Ridley has to clean up the problem as well as find out who did it when the Police canï¿t solve the case. At the same time, he has his own internal political problems and a dead Santa does not help things one bit.

In each work, the case is interesting and the approach each writer takes in developing his or her story is tremendously different. With such differences in writing styles, themes, etc., it makes this anthology an interesting and enjoyable read. There is something each reader will like and this is the perfect bag to fling in the tote for a day at the beach.