BOOK REVIEW: Crimes by Moonlight edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner ★★★★☆

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Crimes by Moonlight involves supernatural creatures involved or know of a crime. Majority of the short stories have a 30’s and 40’s noir vibe, mostly set in America. From a purple witch haunting a pregnant woman, odd children and deserted towns, these twenty stories all fall into the realm of spooky crimes.

I’ll mention my favourites by giving it a 5-star rating.

Dahlia Underground by Charlaine Harris
Rating: 2/5
I did not get this one at all (probably because I was half asleep when I read it). If you were expecting the main character, Sookie Stackhouse, to turn up then be disappointed. This is about an off character in the True Blood universe. Because I haven’t read any of the series, I had no idea what was going on. Something to do with firefighters and vampire Dahlia helping them from an anti-vampire group. Anyone who has read the series will know the context. I was, unfortunately, clueless. If you like her writing, you'll like this. Not a terribly bad, but not my cup of tea.

Hixton by William Kent Krueger
Rating: 5/5
Now this one was infinitely better and should have been the one to start this anthology. Reporter Martin D’Angelo tracks down a retired police officer Gorman who now lives in the Midwest on a small farm. It regards a case of missing boys twenty years ago in a small town of Hixton.

The plot, pace and build up to the climax delivered well with a twist which you sort of saw coming but didn’t want to believe. There were red flags when the femme-fatal like character (referred to as Sweetie by Gorman) enticed D’Angelo with milk and cookies. It was definitely creepy and Krueger’s writing added to that effect. This should be turned into a novel.

So far this may be my favourite and I’ll probably check out his Cork O’Conner series about a mixed heritage former Chicago cop living in the north Minnesota woods.

Small Change by Margaret Maron
Rating: 3/5
Thirteen-year-old Laurel, who can shapeshift into inanimate objects, come handy when small items in her father's antique store disappear. She transforms herself into a cheap statue of a goddess to spy and catch the thief in the act but finds herself in a dangerous and odd predicament. The thief steals the statue, (technically kidnaps her) drives away with Laurel in the boot of the shoplifter’s car.

I loved the idea of the protagonist changing onto everyday objects. It’s a strange and unique plot idea, much like Heap House by Edward Carey. It’s refreshing to read about a shapeshifter who isn’t a werewolf. This was an unexpected story but I was confused with the mystery element as to who and why, but there was a nice little twist.

I personally didn’t like the way this was written but I am willing to look into her two mystery series: Sigrid Harald series is about a police lieutenant in New York City, and Deborah Knott series is about a district judge in North Carolina.

The Trespassers by Brendan Dubois
Rating: 3/5

Set in Salem Falls, New England. The current owners, Mr and Mrs Tolan, at the haunted Logan House wanted to turn the place into a Victorian B&B, but an ‘untimely’ death of a hired ghost hunter (falls to his death) occurs on the premises. A small-town police chief is called in to investigate the strange and sinister circumstances around the house and its devilish inhabitant.

Classical elements of an urban legend story. Ambiguous and secretive, this is well written but I wouldn’t consider it a favourite. It had some basic characters and I was hooked to the story, but felt deflated with the end.

Dubois has written three series: Empire of the North, Dark Victory and Lewis Cole, the latter a mystery series about a former Department of Defence research analyst, retired in Tyler Beach, New Hampshire.

Madeeda by Harley Jane Kozak
Rating: 5/5
Two plotlines coming together into a great plot twist. Heavily pregnant Jane moves across the country because of her husband’s dream job. She becomes paranoid when her two-year-old twins, Charlie and Paco, tell her about a ghost of a purple witch Madeeda who may or may not want to cause their family harm. Soon small disturbances begin: the twins repeat a series of strange numbers ‘twelve-e-twenty-one-e’, Jane makes the bed only for it to look as though someone had slept there, cracks in the window that disappear the next day. Then the family pet throws up (the twins insist that Madeeda did it) and Jane gets a haemorrhage, sending her to the hospital. She then discovers who is Madeeda and the strange numbers.

The second is of the husband, working for Somdahl and Associate, a high-powered corporate job. He accidentally discovers the company embroiled a white-collar crime cover-up.

I loved this one! Creepy and twisted with paranormal undertones, I had no expectation and after reading I was left sad about Madeeda’s treatment. Felt sorry for the main character going through paranoia. Compared to the other entries, the crime wasn’t that obvious, until the latter storyline is revealed. Madeeda has so far been the only entry that combines mystery and supernatural elements together seamlessly. I can see why it was nominated for an International Thriller Writer award

I would consider reading more of this author work. Kozak has written the Wollie Shelley Mystery Series, a greeting card artist and amateur sleuth set in Los Angeles. If Madeeda was a novel or novella then I would definitely read it.

House of Horrors by S.W. Hubbard
Rating: 4/5
The Harrigan family - dad John and mum Miriam, their two sons Christopher and Gordan and a new addition to their family. Nine-year-old Grace is adopted and she’s silently odd, intelligent and creepy. The family go on holiday and they enter the funhouse ‘House of Horrors’. The police get involved when a high school boy disappears inside the funhouse, when moments ago he was being a jerk to Grace and her family. John suspects Grace because in her past experiences with her parents and uncle disappearing, and abandonment issues from other families in the foster system. He shares his thoughts with Miriam, who doesn’t believe him.

Well written, great characters – I enjoyed reading this one and it had an eerie reminder of the movie, The Orphan (only this time she wasn’t evil). What stood out for me was John’s reluctant relationship with Grace because he can sense something is not quite right with her (she pops out from nowhere and stares at him), but later accepts her as his child and taking one step at a time with her.

S.W. Hubbard writes crime, thrillers and mystery. She has two mysteries series: Palmyrton Estate Sale Mystery and Frank Bennett Adirondack Mystery.

Sift, Almost Invisible, Through by Jeffery Somers
Rating: 3/5
Philip K Marks is a private detective/reporter. His client, Richard Harrows, believes he is being stalked by a shadowed man through a series of photos taken over the years. In every picture, Richard takes, individuals and in groups, it seems that the shadowy figure comes close to the camera. Richard denies knowing the man. Marx's informant Ralph digs in, only to find that no one knows the identity of the man, even in the group photos.

This is probably one of those stories which don’t seem to reflect the anthologies theme at first. The crime wasn’t evident like a robbery (Small Changes). It’s a promising set up with a macabre vibe, I do like the urban legend twist on the slender man/death figure haunting his subjects. The ending was abrupt and I had to re-read it twice to figure out what’s happening. I think I’ve got it, but its ambiguous.

There’s not much about this author on Goodreads, but he has an official website and blog. He’s also the author of Lifers, the Avery Cates series from Orbit Books.

The Bedroom Door by Elaine Viets
Rating: 5/5
Francine’s grandmother can see dead people in her bedroom doorway three days before they die. The latest victim is Francine's own business partner Angela. The grandmother warns Francine that she may be involved in her partner’s death and a crime of some sort. Francine suspects her partner is having an affair with her husband Jack and she wants to know what her moody teenage daughter, Sarah, is hiding from her.

I’ve enjoyed Viets other work ‘Vampire Hours’ that appeared in Many Bloody Returns. Viets does a great job at fleshing out Francine, a woman who was a nerd in high school never thought herself pretty and has a successful interior design career. I did get this vibe from Francine that she might have been slightly jealous about Angela who is pretty, has friends with benefits yet upholds a professional life. I personally didn’t care much

I didn’t really care much for Francine until the major twist results in Angela’s death and reveals Sarah’s secret. I did not see it coming until a re-read and saw all the clues. That twist alone bumped this review to a 5 star. It had a sad ending and by far different from the previous short stories in this collection. The grandma, in general, was hilarious. Here’s an example:

“Angela has a boyfriend. Actually, he’s a friend with benefits.”
“What’s that?” Grandma said.
“It means she likes him, and she sleeps with him sometimes when she feels like it.”
“In my days, we called that a husband,” Grandma said.

Viets has four crime series: Angela Richman, Death Investigator, A Dead-End Job Mystery features Helen Hawthorne, on the run from her ex-husband, living and working in south Florida. Two set in St Louis: Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper and Francesca Vierling Mystery is about a newspaper columnist.

The Conqueror Worm by Barbara D’amato
Rating: 3/5

Supply manager Neal receives some threatening emails from his dead friend Burko, which only he can see. He tells his girlfriend Sandra, but she cannot see the messages.

Initially, I thought this was a ghost in the machine kind of deal. It had a predictable twist and ending which, I wasn’t too bothered about. Guilt seems to be the main theme of this story and the crime was what Neal had done many years ago which left his friend dead and Sandra’s guilt over her child’s death. It has a heavy theme but written lightly. Neal was described well but I didn’t connect with the characters.

I thought about the odd title and it’s until you read the ending do you realise it is a chain, much like Jeffery Sommers’s story sift, almost invisible, through. D’Amato has written Cat Marsala Mystery Series which I might check out.

In Memory of The Sibylline by Lou Kemp
Rating: 3/5
It’s a well-known ghost story set during the time Britania ruled the ocean, Dr Perideaux, his pregnant wife and daughter Felicity and his family are sailing on a ship to Seville along with a magician prisoner on board, who helps the family through various difficulties throughout the journey.

I couldn’t get into this one probably because this seems to be ‘heavier’ and longer. It started of slow and then by page 3 the narrative changes which left me confused. Felicity befriends the magical prisoner when the crooked captain gives them up to a pirate halfway through the story. It had adventure, pirates, magic and a charismatic anti-hero but I didn’t attempt to read it again, although the ending piqued my interest. I can’t explain it, but I think there was something missing as we don’t know what happened to the doctor’s family.

Lou Kemp work has appeared in several anthologies including Sherlock’s Opera appeared in Seattle Noir edited by Curt Colbert, and an honourable mention from Ellen Datlow in 2005’s The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror for one of her stories.

The Bloodflower by Martin Meyers
Rating: 2/5
Hope is an unattractive woman who has a terrible job in the mailroom of the cable station. She moves into a new apartment, where she meets her landlady Pandora, who gives Hope an amulet honouring of the goddess Hecate. By magic, Hope becomes a popular, sexy and becomes the host of TV's newest hit show, Sexploits. She’s got it all, but it all comes at a high cost.

The premise of this story started out great but it was written so weirdly I just lost focus. There wasn’t an overt crime story. Pandora doesn’t show up again and it makes me wonder why she ever bothered to help Hope out? It’s full of despicable characters wanting to have sex: Hope’s love interest, Rusty, her best friend, her bosses and her co-workers. Maybe the author was depicting the theme of beauty is skin deep, but in the end, these characters die as a result of their own flaws. I did not like the story nor care about the characters.

I’ll give this author a chance and read his Patrick Hardy PI mystery series.

The Awareness by Terrie Farley Moran
Rating: 5/5
Rynne Bannon is the banshee for the Irish O'Conor family who have immigrated to America. Through several generations, the banshee cried to mark each of their timely deaths and eases their passage into the next life. When a descendant, Casey Rheingold, is murdered, it’s up to Rynne to investigate.

I haven’t read much on Irish lore, nor have I seen the banshee in supernatural literature. I like how Moran explained the banshee’s role and how she can take the form of a young or old woman, which in turn helps with her investigation. Well written, original premise and fun to read. I was not disappointed.

Moran has several short stories published in Murder New York Style and Dying in a Winter Wonderland anthology. she has a successful A Read 'Em and Eat Mystery Series about the owners of a bookstore café keeping tabs on murder. This particular story is from her book the ‘awareness and other deadly tales’ which I am sure to read.

Tadesville by Jack Fredrickson
Rating: 5/5
After the Korean war in 1954, young banjo man, Henry Olton aka Jimcrack recalls the time he and his veteran buddies, Arnie, Billy and Wiffer form a jug and the washboard band. They travel town to town, playing contemporary covers, earning or pilfering just enough to get them to the next small town. They arrive in Tadesville, a seemingly abandoned town. Failing to bring the people of the town out, the men go browsing with a forty-minute time limit. Henry’s job is to steal petrol for the car. Instead, he meets a beautiful ethereal woman in the nearby woods. She asks him if he’s ‘greedy’. After denying it, she gives him a cheap-looking ring and disappears.

I liked this depressing, eerie, macabre story. It had a dreamlike quality that makes you question if it was real or fantasy. Henry also forgets about his band and Tadesville, because for ten years in an unfortunate spell of stealing, drinking, and in prison, always feeling in a state of limbo. Henry thinks about his moral standing and the choices that led him to lose his bandmates. So, after losing the ring in a bet, Henry decides to return to Tadesville and finds out the truth. There was a covert use of crime which allowed the author to create this creepy story and a twist I’m sure to remember for quite some time.

Fredrickson’s first mystery from the Dek Elstrom series, A Safe Place for Dying, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel. In addition, his short fiction has appeared in Chicago Blues and in Michael Connelly’s Burden of the Badge anthologies. I will be checking out his work pretty soon.

Limbo by Steve Brewer
Rating: 4/5

A hitman wakes up on an autopsy table, (scaring the morgue attendant to death) with light streaming out of a bullet hole in his head. With no memory of how he got there, only snippets of a few bad guys from a mafia organization. The hitman bandages his head steals some clothes and leaves for revenge.

Short and action-packed, I like the sense of karma and the interesting supernatural elements of the white light from the hit man’s wounded head. He died from a headshot wound, but does the white light symbolise a heavenly light? That bit wasn’t clear, so it doesn’t get a full five star.

Brewer is the author of more than 25 books, including the Bubba Mabry private eyes series. His first novel, Lonely Street, was adapted into a 2009 independent Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna. His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies including Damn Near Dead, The Last Noel, and West Coast Crime Wave, as well published articles in magazines such as Mystery Scene, Crimespree and Mystery Readers' Journal.

The Insider by Mike Wiecek
Rating: 3/5
It seems that business tycoon Earnest Eppleworth is making way too much money because a ghost of a murdered man is giving him tips on the stock market. Torn between the desire to continue and fear that sinister forces are at work, he hires Clark, a private security man who specializes in ghosts. Earnest wants to know who was the man, who killed the man and why is he haunting him.

I liked the premise and how it all comes together in the end. But I was bored – but I think it's because it's about stock markets. I didn’t care about murdered the man. I was more interested in how the ghost was doing the job. Can ghosts go back and forth in time? I don’t hate or love this story.

Wiecek’s short stories have received worldwide recognition, including a Shamus Award and his first novel Exit Strategy was shortlisted for the ITW’s thriller award.

Swing Shift by Dana Cameron
Rating: 3/5
1940’s, war-time America. FBI officer Harry asks his friend Jake, a former law informant officer to investigate a government leak of valuable codes to the Germans in a research facility in Cambridge. Jake takes on the role of a janitor and discovers one of the research workers innocently leaking the information to her boyfriend. Jake wonder why Harry couldn’t figure it out himself? Is there more to this simple mission? Jake and his supernatural family help Harry, and in turn Harry he discovers who they really are.

I’m on the fence with this one. On one hand, it had a great start with the author building up Jake’s werewolf secret he kept from Harry along with setting the scene of typical noir drug deals, jazz clubs and showdowns. But then it was hard to keep track of all the characters mentioned, especially the showdown between the rivals in the alleyway. I think it's a prequel or a story part of the Fangborn series, so if you’ve read the series, you’d know what’s going on. Because I haven’t, I didn’t enjoy the majority of the story.

I might check out the series in the near future, but I’m not immediately inclined to get into this series. It’s not really my cup of tea. I might check out Emma Fielding Mystery Series instead.

Riding High by Carolyn Hart
Rating: 3/5
Bailey Ruth is what you’d call an ‘emissary’, technically a ghost who works for the Department of Good Intentions. Her job is simple; returning to earth to assist those in trouble and sticking to the rules, which she finds hard to do, hence she’s on probation. As she waits for the Express to take her to heaven, she hovers over a country social club. She notices a woman who appears to be a victim of domestic violence and intervenes before she ends up helping the other who is being secretly abused.

A lot of people like this extract, but I didn’t like the conversational narrative type, it was a tad annoying and I couldn’t care less about Bailey. But it got interesting around halfway through the story, between the couple Brad and Eleanor and their seeming case of ‘domestic abuse’. There was an unexpected original twist in the middle which became enjoyable to read.

This is an extract from Merry, Merry Ghost, book two if the Bailey Ruth Raeburn series.

Grave Matter by Max Allen Collins and Mickey Spillane
Rating: 3/5
Set in the 1950s, Private Investigator Mike Hammer goes to small-town Hopeful. He investigates the death of his friend Bill Reynolds, who was a disabled veteran working as a handyman. which leads him to meet the deceased’s seductive and beautiful employer, Dr Victoria Riddle. Bill was hit by a car and his body was found in the park, just like Dr Riddles last amputee handyman. And is the police chief covering up the dead handymen?

Based on Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer I, the Jury, in 1947. Spillane’s writing style was described as crude, with short words, gruff sex and violent endings. In Collins’s version, it does have a comic book-like feel, (classic noir films and Sin City) compared to the others in this anthology with a typical gothic mansion and cliché characters; Mike Hammer is typical big mouthed, trench-coat-wearing NYC detective and Victoria Riddle is the femme fatale, with both beauty and brains, who’s a mad scientist. Aside from the characters, the plotline was simple with a good surprise from the butler Bolo.

I might give the Spillane’s Mike Hammer series a read in the near future. Collins has been a regular Shamus Award nominee and two-time winner (True Detective, 1984 and Stolen Away, 1992). He won the 2006 Shamus Lifetime achievement award for The Eye.

Death of A Vampire by Parnell Hall
Rating: 3/5

“How do you kill a vampire? Silver bullets?”
“That’s werewolves.”
“Garlic?”
“That’s French bread.”

Stanley Hastings is an actor and private investigator who lives in New York City. He’s been hired by Debbie Dwyer, a gothic college student who wants to know where her boyfriend Morris lives, and importantly, is he really is a vampire like he claims to be. To add to complications, Debbie’s overprotective dad is not keen on her having a boyfriend, so he seems to hate Morris. Stanley is having a tough time tracking the so-called vampire. Regardless of where he lives, he can’t even get a straight answer out of him. A couple of days later, Morris’s body is found with a stake through his heart. It seems that his vampire credibility will go to his grave.

I wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about these characters. Debbie is borderline obsessive, annoying and a tad bit childish when she’s begging her case to Stanley, who seems uncaring and self-interested about the case. And Morris was too philosophical and evasive, but that might be a nod to the forlorn vampire satire (hyped in in 2008 because of Twilight and the Vampire Dairies). It has witty flowing dialogues and had good pace, and I like how Stanley, at the end, is torn between two thoughts; are vampire’s real or that someone, desperate to be loved, would dedicate their dying moments fulfilling another’s impossible ideal of them. Honestly, this was a weird story, a sad but abrupt ending, like – ‘OK, the vampire is dead, maybe Debbie’s dad did it’. There doesn’t seem to be a follow-up, not that it’s expected in a short story, but it feels cut off, much like Sift, Almost Invisible, Through.

Hall wrote this book and it is part book 18.5 of the Stanley Hastings series.

Taking A Long View by Toni L.P. Kelner
Rating: 4/5
Mark, a newbie vampire and his maker/lover Stella go to a gala honouring the grand vampire Vilmos, hosted by a comedic vampire Ramon. But the next day vampire Geoff is murdered, and his human bimbo and greedy concubine Reinette is suspected. Mark, reluctantly represents her in a vampire trial. If she’s found guilty, she’ll spend the rest of her natural life as a slave for Geoff’s maker Vilmos. Stella steps up as judge, Mark figures out the truth and Reinette is proven innocent.

I assume this is a standalone novella but the same characters (Mark and Stella) are featured in another story, How Stella Got Her Grave Back in the anthology Many Bloody Returns. This is the only story that has a courtroom drama set up, unlike the others where its usually a make detective running around town. It had good plot and pacing, although I guessed the twist about halfway through the climactic scene. The characters had more substance because these vampires and mostly Reinette show that they had flaws like lust, pride, greed, betrayal and financial dependence that could be any motive to commit a crime and accuse someone else. Even with all these flaws, these characters were better than the ones in the Bloodflower, who were just horrible, detestable characters. ‘Taking a Long View’ was rounded off the collection nicely.

If Kelner wrote a series about Stella and Marc then I would check it out, but for now, I’ll make do with Laura Fleming Southern mysteries series and Where Are They Now? series.

SummaryThis is a great follow-up and maybe on the same league as the previous Many Bloody Returns anthology, I’ve read. Some of these stories were great. with a 1930’s to 1950’s noir detective vibe and others were based on some urban legends. With a variety of writing styles, tone, viewpoints, originality and detailed stories, my favourites were, Hixton, Madeeda, House of Horrors, The Bedroom Door, Tadesville and The Awareness for characters, vampire twists and plot. Some were great and others not so much, but I have discovered new authors and series which I will read.

Overall, a worthwhile read. Next, Death’s Excellent Vacation.

Overall Average Rating: 4/5
Publishers: Gollancz
Publication date: (fist published) January 1st 2010 (this edition July 1st 2012)
Genre: Horror/Short Stories/Anthology