June 2, 2014
The short story is alive and well in England, judging by this Crime Writers’ Association anthology assembled by Edwards (Deadly Pleasures). A few of the 23 selections are exceptional, notably Paul Freeman’s “The Franklin’s Second Tale,” a brief Chaucerian fable in verse that’s fun to read. Also outstanding are Peter Lovesey’s quietly engrossing “Reader, I Buried Them,” set in a contemporary London monastery, and Christine Poulson’s “What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?,” which focuses on women who take the law into their own hands. Bernie Crosthwaite’s “The Death of Spiders” is creepy in a way that has nothing to do with how many legs a creature may have. Phil Lovesey’s absorbing “The Last Guilty Party” looks at an old man and his lifetime of despair, while Kate Rhodes’s “The Wide Open Sky” packs an emotional wallop in a mere five pages. Other contributors include Christopher Fowler, John Harvey, and Frances Brody.
August 1, 2014
This year's collection of two dozen new stories by members of the Crime Writers' Association (Guilty Consciences, 2012, etc.) shows just how far familiar recipes will take the contributors-and when they need to go the extra mile. Take the familiar tale of the murderer passing on a criminal legacy to a more-or-less unsuspecting accomplice. Ricki Thomas and L.C. Tyler both develop this story generationally; Laura Wilson, making her crook and his legatee about the same age, finds something deeper in it. Bernie Crosthwaite, Kate Ellis and Peter Lovesey all avail themselves of a famous cliche indelibly associated with Agatha Christie, but Lovesey's sly tale of murder in a monastery is the most successful of the three for reasons that have nothing to do with the cliche. Carol Anne Davis, Jane Finnis, Kate Rhodes, Yvonne Eve Walus and Paul Freeman all tackle the demanding form of the short-short story- Freeman's Chaucerian pastiche is written in verse, Finnis' entry is only two pages-and all but Freeman's pack quite a punch. As their titles indicate, Phil Lovesey's "The Last Guilty Party," Ragnar Jonasson's "Party of Two" and Paul Johnston's "All Yesterday's Parties" use a series of reunions to dramatize the disastrous declines of their characters; Lovesey and Jonasson produce highly finished anecdotes, Johnston, in the best story here, a fable so drastically compressed that it moves off to entirely more original territory. Originality also seems to be a matter of degree (the third degree, presumably) rather than a got-it-or-doesn't quality in the contributions by John Harvey, Christopher Fowler, Frances Brody, N.J. Cooper, Judith Cutler, Christine Poulson, Chris Simms, C.L. Taylor, Aline Templeton and editor Edwards. Though Johnston's story is the standout, the others are never less than professional and surprisingly varied, even when they're working the very same conventions.
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September 20, 2021
The fourth anthology from Britain’s Murder Squad (after 2016’s The Starlings and Other Stories) showcases the group’s talents for short fiction with a bite. Each current squad member has contributed three new stories, and three former members add one apiece. Highlights include Kate Ellis’s “The Confessions of Edward Prime,” which presents a unique solution to the problem of a man determined to confess to a crime he didn’t commit, and Ann Cleeves’s “Wild Swimming,” set just as the Covid pandemic appears to be ebbing, in which Det. Chief Insp. Vera Stanhope probes a drowning during an outing of four friends. Edwards’s “Lucky Liam” features an intricate revenge plot concocted by a cuckolded spouse. Impossible crime fans will get a kick out of Kate Ellis’s locked-room puzzle, “My Oleander,” and historical mystery devotees will find Cath Staincliffe’s “Two Birds,” set in 1871 Blackpool, memorable. Future such anthologies will be welcome.
November 1, 2021
Ten current and former members of the Murder Squad (a collective of British mystery novelists) celebrate the group's 21st anniversary with an anthology of 21 mystery stories. When the Murder Squad coalesced in 2000, they were "brilliant--but--unknown writers," Margaret Murphy writes in the foreword; midlist authors who've gone on to receive numerous awards, including two Diamond Daggers (British mystery's highest honor) for Ann Cleeves and Martin Edwards. Current Murder Squad members each contributed three stories to the anthology, and former members contributed one each. From Cleeves, there's one Vera Stanhope story, one Inspector Ramsay story, and a clever stand-alone, "The Queen of Mystery," whose setting at the Malice Domestic convention will be familiar to fans of traditional mysteries. Edwards's story "The Other Life" is about an attempt to take advantage of an elderly woman, while Kate Ellis's readers will recognize her pattern of pairing two similar crimes in "The Fox and the Hens." VERDICT With stories by Cleeves, Edwards, Ellis, and Cath Staincliffe, among others, this anthology is fresh and original.--Lesa Holstine, Evansville Vanderburgh P.L., IN
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November 1, 2021
In his introduction to these 21 bloody tales, British murder-master Martin Edwards remembers a time when the stories' authors tired of glowing reviews and nonglowing sales and formed the Murder Squad. Edwards, whose tongue is never far from his cheek, recalls when a bookstore appearance by the Squad looked to be serving its purpose by drawing a crowd. Turned out the fans were there ""for a line-dancing class in an adjoining room."" Twenty years and much-improved sales later, the Murder Squad is here to announce they're doing just fine. The most recognizable of the group is Ann Cleeves, who gives her grumpy superstar, Vera Stanhope, a walk-on role in one of the earliest murder tales built around COVID-19. The irrepressible Edwards, in his own contribution, has the murderer in his story note his fondness for killing two birds with one stone: ""economy of effort combined with maximum achievement."" Cleeves reclaims the stage near the end with ""The Queen of Mystery,"" a fine chiller that displays the degree to which some will go to stay atop the heap.
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September 1, 2021
An anthology celebrating 21 years of writing by Northern England's Murder Squad with 21 stories, eight of them new. The celebration is largely a private affair, with long-standing members Ann Cleeves, Kate Ellis, Margaret Murphy, Chris Simms, Cath Staincliffe, and editor Edwards contributing three entries apiece. Of the remaining stories by former Squad members, John Baker's "An Old-Fashioned Poisoning" shows a Victorian woman celebrating the passing of Alfred, Lord Tennyson, by arranging another death; the police officer in Chaz Brenchley's "For Kicks" uncovers a lifelong pattern of abuse in the case of a teenager kicked into a coma; and the thrill killer in the late Stuart Pawson's "Ultra Violent" is brought to justice by a highly predictable mistake. None of these outliers can match the best stories by the current Squad members. In Staincliffe's "Scorpion," another abused teenager strikes back at a shockingly unexpected target. "A Winter's Tale" is Cleeves' routine but expert probe into the murder of a rural woman with a reputation. The gangster's widow in Edwards' "The Other Life" comes home from a s�ance arranged by her cleaning lady to find that two of her late husband's colleagues have targeted her home for robbery. The officer who solves the locked-room poisoning in Ellis' "My Oleander" wastes no time in applying the lessons he's learned on the homefront. Simms' "Gaffed" follows a high-stakes meeting between an informant whose wife's death freed him from a gang's blackmail and the officer who's promised him protection to its logical conclusion. And a pair of hospital patients battling formidable handicaps in Murphy's "Still Life" turn to battle each other till they work toward a resolution as welcome as it is unlikely. Worst feature: too many similar plot twists. Best: the sharply characteristic voices that emerge from all these tales.
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