4.5 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to Shalini for having me on the tour today with Digital Reads Blog Tours!

Synopsis

Who knew death could be so eclectic?

Relish this mesmerizing murder mystery mash-up of short stories.

Murder and mystery have been the staple of literature and films for years. This anthology of short stories will thrill and entertain you. Some will also make you laugh out loud. Others will stop and make you think.

Think of this murder mystery short story anthology as a book version of appetisers or starters, hors d’oeuvre, meze, or antipasti. It can be read as fillers between books or, as is the case in some countries, as a bookish meze – in its own right.

There’s murder mystery styles and locations to suit all tastes: detective fiction, serial killers, scifi, histfic, England, Los Angeles, San Francisco, The Great Lakes, Las Vegas, the Nevada desert, Mexico and more in an exquisite exposition of the art of short story telling.

These stories come from an international cast of authors; some with bestselling books, others are emerging or new talents. Their roots, cultures, and life experiences are as diverse as their writing styles.

But one thing binds them together: they know how to tell a story.

The ten authors who have contributed to the anthology are:

Stephen Bentley

Greg Alldredge

Kelly Artieri

Robbie Cheadle

Michael Spinelli

L. Lee Kane

Kay Castaneda

Aly Locatelli

Justin Bauer

Posthumously by ‘G’

The stories include the 2019 SIA Award-Winning Murder Mystery Short Story ‘The Rose Slayer’ by Stephen Bentley.

Each author introduces his or her stories and the theme that lays behind them. By the time you finish the book, you will agree the result is a mesmerising murder mystery mash-up.

My Thoughts

What an amazingly eclectic mix of horror. The one reason that I love horror so much is that there are so many different things that can be horrifying. Is a police procedural what gets you? Maybe the future? How about the truth of the past? Or, maybe it’s the creature feature that gets your skin crawling…. well, they’re all here!!

These were all amazing tales! Although, I will say that I found Kay Castaneda’s story “Unknown” to be a bit jumbled and confusing (although, I felt like her character followed a lot of the facts she gave about the author’s own life…. which makes me worried about her husband! HA HA!).

I think that the story that I connected with the most was “Sales Meeting” by Justin Bauer. Having served 15 years in retail management and going to these EXACT conferences (and, begging my fellow managers to kill me so I didn’t HAVE to go!) this one had me laughing so hard!! Justin, if you see this…. you had to have worked in sales yourself!! I honestly wonder if we may have worked for the same company!

Also Robbie, if you happen to see this, your stories were SHOCKING!! I absolutely loved the element of history to them that makes them even MORE horrific than pure fiction!

All in all this was an amazing read for any horror/mystery lover! There’s a little something in it for everyone!

PICK UP YOUR COPY NOW!!

Amazon

Author Bios

Stephen Bentley

Stephen Bentley is a former UK Detective Sergeant, barrister, and author of a bestselling undercover cop memoir. He also writes crime fiction.

Twitter / Instagram

Greg Alldredge

Greg Alldredge grew up in the United States reading all the excellent Science Fiction and Fantasy of the past decades. He hopes to add his voice, in a small way, to the giants of the genres. He wants to write stories he himself would want to read and hopes to be successful as a storyteller first.

Twitter / Instagram

Kelly Artieri

Kelly Artieri is a professional illustrator and award-winning author of a personal memoir ‘A Spot in My Heart.’ Living in the Buffalo, New York area, Kelly is a passionate storyteller about real life. Now she is using her creative voice at story telling murder mystery style.

Twitter / Instagram

Robbie Cheadle

Robbie, short for Roberta, Cheadle is a South African author with six published children’s picture books in the Sir Chocolate books series for children. She has also authored the Silly Willy series and a fictionalised

biography about her mother’s life as a young girl growing up in an English town in Suffolk during World War II.

Twitter / Instagram / Blog

Michael Spinelli

Michael Spinelli is married with two children, a transplant from New York to Florida.

Mike enjoys family time, reading, watching movies and of course, writing things that increase your heart rate.

Twitter

L. Lee Kane

L. Lee Kane, M.A., known as Linda, is the author of several adult fiction books, and children’s books. She lives with her husband, two dogs, and seven horses in the Central Valley of California.

Twitter / Instagram

Kay Castaneda

Kay Castaneda is retired from a career as a college writing instructor and special education tutor. She earned a B.A. and M.A. in English at Indiana University.

Her publications include poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction in literary journals plus articles about education for scholarly reference books.

Twitter

Aly Locatelli

Aly Locatelli is a 25-year-old book blogger and reviewer from the UK. She has been doing that for over five years and now started freelancing as a beta-reader, editor and proof-reader. Aly also aspires to be a writer. This is the first time any of her work has been published.

Twitter / Instagram

Justin Bauer

Born in Columbus, Ohio, Justin Bauer studied English Literature at the Ohio State University, graduating in 2016. He is the author of three books.

Twitter / Instagram

Posthumously by ‘G’

‘G’ or Gerry died in 2017. He used the name ‘G’ when writing short stories. This is how he described himself not long before his untimely death: G is a 69 yo Hippie, world traveler, straight talker/writer, with no regrets. He’s been writing since he found a sharp crayon and empty wall space.

Death Among Us is Best Served with a “Rose is a Rose” Cocktail

I was inspired by the stories of Stephen Bentley for this one! In each of his tales, a rose had to be mentioned. It made me think of this delicious cocktail!

I got the inspiration from Food Network Canada but I couldn’t find one of the ingredients that was asked for (Bottlegreen Pomegranate & Elderflower Sparkling Pressé), so this is my own simpler take on it!

Ingredients

• 1 ½ ounce Dillon’s Rose Gin
• 3 leaves grapefruit mint
• 3 slices cucumber, thin
• ¾ ounce lemon juice
• ½ ounce simple syrup
• 6 drop rosewater
• 1 ounce Elderflower Liqueur
• Pomegranate Juice or pomegranate liqueur
• Sparkling Wine or club soda

Directions

1. Muddle cucumber and mint in shaker
2. Add ice to shaker
3. Add Gin, Lemon Juice, Simple Syrup, rosewater, and elderflower liqueur
4. Shake until chilled
5. Pour into glass of fresh ice
6. Top with equal parts pomegranate and sparkling
7. Garnish with cucumber slice and fresh mint
8. CHEERS!!