Category: Short Stories

Historical, Horror, Mystery, Psychological, Short Stories

Deeds of Darkness by William Burton McCormick

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

DEEDS OF DARKNESS is the best short fiction produced by award-winning author William Burton McCormick. A collection of twenty-four globetrotting stories of suspense, mystery, crime, espionage, horror, and historical genres from the pages of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Mystery Magazine, and elsewhere.

This collection includes short stories nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Shamus Award, Thriller Award, five Derringer Award-nominated stories, and two unabridged novellas, “Demon in the Depths,” which finished second in the Ellery Queen’s Readers’ Poll for 2021, and “House of Tigers,” named to the Honor Roll for both the Black Orchid Novel Award and the Mysterious Bookshop’s Best Mystery Stories of 2023.

DEEDS OF DARKNESS takes readers from war-torn Eastern Europe to gangster America and deep below the frozen seas of the Arctic Ocean. From modern tales of crime to World War II espionage to ghost stories in shadowy Odessa and murder in Ancient Rome, every flavor of suspense and adventure awaits within. With a foreword by Linda Landrigan, Editor-In-Chief of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.

My Thoughts

It’s been awhile since I so throughly enjoyed a collection of short stories as I did this one. Each story is a polished jewel of suspense or horror that explores the darkest areas of the human psyche. Some I’d read before but stories like Locked In and Kutsenko’s Cage impart the same sense of dread and horror every single time you read them.

Many stories take place in Latvia or other parts of eastern Europe, some in ancient Rome, and still others in various colorful locations. The stories also have an incredible range and varying lengths, both of which add considerable interest and readability to this collection. The author provides some sly commentary on things as wide-ranging as plagiarism in The House in Glamaig’s Shadow to beauty practices in Cleopatran Cocktails.

Every story brings something new, which is not often something you see in anthologies like this where many stories are pretty much the same. Not here. You’ll find a delightful if sometimes dark reading experience enhanced by the author’s beautiful command of his craft.

Highly recommended.

Publication Date: November 5, 2024
Published By: Level Short
Thanks to Book Sirens for the review copy

Fantasy, Folktales, Ghosties, Horror, Magical, Mythology, Short Stories, Victorian, World Literature

Christmas Ghost Stories

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

I’ve had a lot going on lately so my reading time has been limited. However, given the season, I thought I’d share a bit about one of my favorite things: Christmas Ghost Stories!

I’ve loved ghost stories since I was a child, and delved into the weird and wonderful Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmastime during an English class in college. Before the advent of radio and television, storytelling was a true art which thrived in wintertime when people gathered closely around the hearth for warmth during the darkest days. Tales of ghostly apparitions provided rich fodder for talented storytellers who entranced their listeners then scared the pants off them with a well-timed BOO! You can learn more about the tradition from History.com – https://www.history.com/news/christmas-tradition-ghost-stories

Some of my favorites are shown below…

My Favorite

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – the quintessential Christmas ghost story chronicling the redemption of Ebenezer Scrooge after a night of facing three ghosts. Storytelling at its best!

For Young Readers

Ghosts of Greenglass House by Kate Milford – Spend Christmas in a mysterious house high up on a cliff overlooking the equally mysterious Nagspeake with a colorful cast of characters including the “raw nights” performers.

Fotinoula and the Christmas Goblins by R.G. Fraser-Green – Follow Fotinoula as she works feverishly to save her little sister from the fiendish Kallikantzaroi, the Christmas Goblins.

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper – Young Will finds himself hunted by the mysterious and threatening horseman who threatens to bring chaos into the world. This classic is a must-read for fantasy fans.

Super-Scary Collections

The Mistletoe Bride by Kate Mosse – Mosse is one of the best writers out there today and here she turns her attention to traditional ghost stories from England and France, including the eponymous “Mistletoe Bride,” truly a gruesome and sad tale.

Christmas and Other Horrors: a Winter Solstice Anthology – The long nights in the darkest time of the year call for scary stories from Garth Nix, Alma Katsu, Tananarive Due, and others.

The Scary Book of Christmas Lore: 50 Terrifying Yuletide Tales From Around the World – Bone-chilling global tales of monsters such as the anti-Santa Krampus, the bloodthirsty ogre Gryla, and the Mari Lwyd (touched on in Greenglass House).

The Haunting Season – a shiver-inducing collection of tales from the English countryside.

Winter Spirits : Ghostly Tales for Frosty Nights – original ghost stories from current horror writers Catriona Ward, Stuart Turton, Jess Kidd and more.

If you’re looking for something weird and a little twisted, check out these and other holiday ghost collections.

Merry Christmas!
British, Mystery, Short Stories

The Man in Black by Elly Griffiths

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Elly Griffiths has always written short stories to experiment with different voices and genres as well as to explore what some of her fictional creations such as Ruth Galloway, Harbinder Kaur, and Max Mephisto might have done outside of the novels. The Man in Black gathers these bite-sized tales all together in one splendid volume. There are ghost stories, cozy mysteries, tales of psychological suspense, and poignant vignettes of love and loss.

In the title story, Ruth Galloway crosses paths with a mysterious man in a bookstore, setting in motion a rescue mission that hinges on the legends and lore of Norfolk. Looking into the past, a young magician in 1920s Leeds wonders just what happened to his missing landlady in “Max Mephisto and the Disappearing Act.” In “Justice Jones and the Etherphone,” a witty girl detective investigates the dire prediction of a fortune teller in dreary postwar London. A flashback in time reveals Harbinder Kaur as a Detective Sergeant surviving her first day on the job at Shoreham DCI. To celebrate the holidays, Ruth gets her very first Christmas tree, and her beloved cat narrates his own seasonal story in “Flint’s Fireside Tale.”

The Man in Black illustrates the breadth and variety of Elly Griffiths’s talent for blood-chilling, page-turning stories all with her trademark humor and heart. 

My Thoughts

I’m not sure exactly what I expected in this short story collection from Elly Griffiths, but I found an absolute treasure of a reading experience. This book is filled with lovely vignettes, some featuring characters well-known to Griffiths’ fans and others completely new.

I got the sense that some of these were written as exercises as she was planning out some of her books because many felt like there was more to the story. The inclusion of local folklore was especially interesting (a favorite is the St. Lucia Day story). All of the disparate parts come together smoothly in a collection of stories that feels like a hug from the author. Fans of Griffiths work will certainly enjoy this one.

Publication Date: October 15, 2024
Published By: Mariner Books
Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy

Horror, Short Stories

Never Whistle At Night

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Short stories edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.

Description

Many Indigenous people believe that one should never whistle at night. This belief takes many forms: for instance, Native Hawaiians believe it summons the Hukai’po, the spirits of ancient warriors, and Native Mexicans say it calls Lechuza, a witch that can transform into an owl. But what all these legends hold in common is the certainty that whistling at night can cause evil spirits to appear—and even follow you home.

These wholly original and shiver-inducing tales introduce readers to ghosts, curses, hauntings, monstrous creatures, complex family legacies, desperate deeds, and chilling acts of revenge. Introduced and contextualized by bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones, these stories are a celebration of Indigenous peoples’ survival and imagination, and a glorious reveling in all the things an ill-advised whistle might summon.

My Thoughts

I kept this entry from “spooky season” postings because I recently read someone describe November as “October’s meaner sister” and I thought it appropriate for this collection.

It has been a very long time since I’ve had to stop reading a book because it frightened me so badly. The stories contained in this brilliant collection of Indigenous tales will haunt your dreams, and I do not exaggerate.

Hawk and Van Alst have assembled one of the best collections of horror, ghost, and psychological suspense short stories available to readers today. These stories will have you looking over your shoulder, locking your doors and windows, and being very aware of speaking bad things into being.

Horror fans will enjoy the hell out of this one!

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

A bold, clever, and sublimely sinister collection that dares to ask the question: “Are you ready to be un-settled?”

“Never failed to surprise, delight, and shock.” —Nick Cutter, author of The Troop and Little Heaven

Featuring stories by:

Norris Black • Amber Blaeser-Wardzala • Phoenix Boudreau • Cherie Dimaline • Carson Faust • Kelli Jo Ford • Kate Hart • Shane Hawk • Brandon Hobson • Darcie Little Badger • Conley Lyons • Nick Medina • Tiffany Morris • Tommy Orange • Mona Susan Power • Marcie R. Rendon • Waubgeshig Rice • Rebecca Roanhorse • Andrea L. Rogers • Morgan Talty • D.H. Trujillo • Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. • Richard Van Camp • David Heska Wanbli Weiden • Royce K. Young Wolf • Mathilda Zeller

Publication Date: September 19, 2023
Published By: Penguin Random House

Mystery, Short Stories

Marple: Twelve New Mysteries

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

Description

Agatha Christie’s legendary sleuth, Jane Marple, returns to solve twelve baffling cases in this brand-new collection, penned by a host of acclaimed authors skilled in the fine art of mystery and murder

One doesn’t stop at one murder…

Jane Marple is an elderly lady from St Mary Mead who possesses an uncanny knack for solving even the most perplexing puzzles. Now, for the first time in 45 years, Agatha Christie’s beloved character returns to the page for a globe-trotting tour of crime and detection.

Join Marple as she travels through her sleepy English village and around the world. In St Mary Mead, a Christmas dinner is interrupted by unexpected guests; the Broadway stage in New York City is set for a dangerous improvisation; bad omens surround an untimely death aboard a cruise ship to Hong Kong; and a bestselling writer on holiday in Italy is caught in a nefarious plot. These and other crimes committed in the name of love, jealousy, blackmail, and revenge are ones that only the indomitable Jane Marple can solve.

Bringing a fresh twist to the hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie mystery, these twelve esteemed writers have captured the sharp wit, unique voice, and droll ingenuity of the deceptively demure detective. A triumphant celebration of Christie’s legacy and essential reading for crime lovers, Marple is a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains one of the most famous detectives of all time.

My Thoughts

Agatha Christie has long been acknowledged as the Mother of Mystery Fiction, and I discovered her early in my reading life. I was delighted when I learned, through the incomparable Elly Griffiths, that a new collection of stories featuring Christie’s Miss Marple and written by contemporary authors was due to be published this year. I was even more delighted to find it available through Netgalley.

These stories equal or, dare I say it, even surpass the original Marple stories in cleverness and boldness while still staying true to the little old lady with the steel-trap mind created by Christie so long ago. It is clear the authors have a fondness for Aunt Jane and a familiarity with her stories. Fans will find comforting nods to the original cast of characters, with nephew Raymond West making several appearances, fast friend Dolly Bantry, and, of course, Sir Henry Clithering. Jane travels in these stories – to China, London, Italy, and even New York City – but she is never far from St. Mary Mead in her mind.

The writing is exquisite in every single story. Typically in short story collections there are the shining stars, the just-okay, and the duds. Here, every story shines with beautiful language, clever plotting, and careful homage paid to Dame Christie’s original work. It would be hard to pick a favorite story, but Leah Bardugo – HOLY SMOKES – loved the twist in her story.

This is just a lovely, lovely reading experience, like getting a long hug from an old friend. This is one I’ll buy in hardcover and add to my bookshelves.

Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Published By: William Morrow
Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy

Magical, Short Stories, Time Slip

Metropolitan Stories by Christine Coulson

Patricia McDonald Uttaro

MetSynopsis: From a writer who worked at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for more than twenty-five years, an enchanting novel that shows us the Met that the public doesn’t see.

Hidden behind the Picassos and Vermeers, the Temple of Dendur and the American Wing, exists another world: the hallways and offices, conservation studios, storerooms, and cafeteria that are home to the museum’s devoted and peculiar staff of 2,200 people—along with a few ghosts.

A surreal love letter to this private side of the Met, Metropolitan Stories unfolds in a series of amusing and poignant vignettes in which we discover larger-than-life characters, the downside of survival, and the powerful voices of the art itself. The result is a novel bursting with magic, humor, and energetic detail, but also a beautiful book about introspection, an ode to lives lived for art, ultimately building a powerful collage of human experience and the world of the imagination.

These stories are magnificently odd, very much like some of the things in the Met. Part whimsy, part time-travel, part fantasy, part history – I could go on, but there really isn’t a good way to classify this delicious book. Every story is a gem, beginning with the evaluation of the Muses. I think we all should bring a Muse to every meeting. Do not speak to The Muse. The Muse will not speak.

This will be devoured by fans of the Met, or of art museums in general. Guaranteed you will lose yourself in the lovely prose and the fantastical stories.

Publication Date: October 8, 2019
Published By: Other Press
Thanks to Edelweiss for the review copy