The Bearded Lady by Ross MacDonald

This novelette was first published in 1948 and was a fine, plot twist infused story with a missing friend of Lew's, a missing painting and a missing sketch of a bearded woman.

My God, everybody in the story had a part to play in the deaths!  It was fun and cleanly written.

Ross MacDonald

Death by Water by Ross MacDonald

Originally written in 1945 this story did not see print until 2001 in the three-story anthology, edited by Tom Nolan, in the book Strangers in Town.

The story was about a nice old millionaire living in a hotel with his wheel chair bound wife.  He befriends many people in the bar and is thrown out of the pool when he and his newly met friends go for a midnight swim.  The next morning his is found, dead, at the bottom of the pool.

Lew Archer investigates, on behalf of the hotel, to confirm that it was an accident and not something more.  Since there is a sizable inheritance involved it's important to discover the truth.

I liked it, it was a straight-ahead whodunit. Lew Archer starts to show his character here.

Information on Ross MacDonald can be found HERE.

Harry and the Bird by Frank Zafiro

Holy crap!

Two cops are coming on shift when they notice Harry, standing outside on the grass, staring at a bird feeding there. 

You better be sitting down when you read this short but intense story about Harry, a cop who's gone through a bit more than he can handle.

This is really good stuff.

Frank Zafiro

Christmas Eve by Michael Connelly

This came from an ebook, purchased from the Kobo store, called "Angle of the Investigation" a collection of three short stories with Harry Bosch.

Connelly has a very clean way of writing that makes reading his stories effortless.

In this one Bosch investigates the death of a thief found in a pawn shop. There is also a touching side story about a saxophone found in the thief's apartment.

I've had the book for a while now; I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly's website is HERE

The eBook can be purchased HERE

The Bastard Mummy By Frank Zafiro

 One of the next generation of crime fiction authors that I keep an eye on, Frank Zafiro has a steady way of writing that is authentic and readable.

He's a talented short story writer with over 50 published in both paper and digital form.

Most of his novels and shorts are set in River City, a slightly fictionalized version of Spokane, Washington. (Ed McBain did the same thing with Isola, his fictional New York city.). I've often wondered why authors insist on creating new cities. Perhaps the actual city is missing key features the author(s) need or maybe it makes the writing simpler, in that you don't have to worry about putting a real business or neighborhood in a bad light; you can't offend anybody when describing a fictional place. In any case it's fun to read and its refreshing to have a story set somewhere other than New York or LA.

In "The Bastard Mummy" an artifact is stolen from the local museum. It's a straight ahead theft, no bodies present, at least no fresh ones, that relies on real detective work. Sure there is forensic work to help the investigation but this mystery is solved the old fashioned way, by interviewing the suspects, building a time line, hearing alibis and trusting instinct and intuition.

I also liked the casual sense of humor between the two detectives. You really get the feeling that they've worked together for a while and that Zafiro is also familiar writing about them. Which give an over all sense of confidence from the author that comes through on the page. I felt like I was in experienced hands while reading it.

Frank Zafiro

Frank Zafiro's website HERE

You can download the story HERE

Burning My Masterpiece by Frank Zafiro

Wow.

This one kept me guessing. Brian is in the middle of getting a divorce. He's suffering from the terrible emotions that come with it.

Through out the story we kept riding the emotional tides that were controlling Brian's thoughts and actions. We know nothing about Brian that would give us a clue as to how he'd react to his circumstances. I kept hoping he'd handle it better than he does.

I'm not going to lie, my heart skipped a beat and I had to re-read the last few paragraphs to make sure I'd read it right.

Zafiro has a wonderful way of letting you get inside the head of his character that understanding him is natural.

Wonderful, desperate, lonely, ...

Frank Zafiro

Find the Woman by Ross MacDonald

For a first effort and for its time, the story was pretty good; although the murder itself was a bit far-fetched.

Other than an unlikely MO the characters were well written and the story had any easy flow.  Lew Archer himself did not stand out much in this one.
 

This is the first Lew Archer story that was published in the June 1946 issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine under his real name, Kenneth Millar.

Information on Ross MacDonald can be found HERE.

Steadfast Castle by Michael Swanwick

What a fun little story!

This is a quick murder mystery set in the not too distant future. It's very easy to imagine a future where a cop is interrogating the AI of the house a suspects lives in.

Very well imagined and fun. Then it turns dark in a hurry.

Loved it.

The author's website is HERE.  But, be warned, it's out of date.

More current information can be found HERE and HERE.

The story was first published in the September-October issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Baker-124 by Frank Zafiro

Officer Zack is called to a run-down apartment building to assess the safety of a child.

It's a heart breaking situation for him. The story is well told and shows how frustrating it can be to be a cop.

This has the definite feeling of being a personal experience of Zafiro's.

Frank Zafiro

Book Report #49 - Star Trek: Risistance by J.M. Dillard

This book filled the need I had of reading some science fiction where I didn't need to learn all about a new universe.

There is something comforting about being able to dip into a world and have it be familiar.

This book takes place just after the last of the Next Generation movies. Picard is trying to assemble a new crew and is assigned the task of negotiating peace between two races. One of which has joined the Federation. (How many times has that situation been used?)

The mission is interrupted when Picard hears the thoughts of the Borg for the first time in years. He tries to convince Starfleet to let him investigate this new threat. You know how it goes; Picard disobeys his orders to wait for an expert to join the Enterprise and heads off, on his own, to confront the Borg.

I found the book a bit dry and slow, to tell the truth. Although I was happy to read about the crew that remains; Picard, Dr. Crusher, LaForge and Worf; the story was bogged down by the author continually trying to tell three stories at once and by repeating scenes from the different points of view.

Even in the climactic battle Dillard kept taking us back in time to tell every angle of it. I found it distracting and frustrating. I don't want to find out what happens next by first having to hear about what happened to somebody in the next room, especially if it has no bearing on the main plot.

This type of story telling is used a lot in thrillers but, in most cases, the differing story lines merge for the "thrilling conclusion" so there is only one plot line to tell in the final chapters.

This book was only okay.

At least I got my Star Trek fix from it.

More on the author can be found HERE.  (Dillard is a pen name for Ms. Kalogridis)

The Roads Must Roll by Robert A. Heinlein

Have you ever imagined what our cities would look like if the automobile was no more?  Seems almost impossible given, just how important and integrated into our society they are.

In Heinlein's world fossil fuels became so rare and valuable (sound familiar) that the US government decided that the military should have priority access to it.  Fuel prices became so expensive that a new method of mass transportation was created, he re-imagined roadways to be a series of conveyor belts each one going a bit faster than its neighbor, up to speeds of 100 MPH.  These roadways were powered by solar panels; very well imagined considering this story was published in 1940.

At the time the leading thinker on photovoltaic energy was Albert Einstein, who won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work in the area.  Look HERE for more information on that.

It takes a lot of work to keep the roadways rolling, during this story a revolt unfolds from the trade unionists that maintain the infrastructure.

This has all the right ingredients to make a fine modern day science fiction, action movie.  While reading it I kept thinking this story had the same look and feel of the movie I Robot - a gleaming city on top and a gritty world underneath it all, keeping it all running.

Good story even if the end of it is a bit clunky.  I'm sure it could be improved in the movie. (Just kidding)

Information or Robert A Heinlein can be found HERE and HERE

Robert A Heinlein

The story was originally published in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1940

The Cleaner by Frank Zafiro

This is the story that gives this collection it's title.

There's been a murder in a suburban home.  Gary Oster, the victims' husband, hired the cleaner.  The cleaner is a specialist - he cleans murder scenes.  Somebody has to.

There's some nice dark humor in the opening paragraphs like when the cleaner describes his neighborhood and gives it a name; Felony Flats.

While doing his job the cleaner finds the murder weapon the cops missed.  But he does not turn the knife in.

I kept wondering what the hell he was up to.  The moment you hang on to something like that you can be charged for obstruction of justice.

This was a tidy little story with just enough at the end to make you wonder if the character wouldn't do something stupid.

I really liked this one.

Frank Zafiro

Graffiti in the Library of Babel by David Langford

This was a strange little tale about first contact but with a twist.

In it a coded message is sent through the Total Library project, if you think about what Google wants to do by scanning every book ever published you then get the idea of this fictional library.

An alien intelligence is trying to communicate with Earth by tagging quotes from the library.

It is definitely a new twist on the much loved SF theme.

It certainly leaves you wondering if we are looking in the right way to find evidence of alien intelligence.

Information on David Langford can be found HERE, HERE and HERE

Ansible can be found HERE

Helen O'Loy by Lester del Rey

Here's a quirky story.

Two robotics experts create a perfect artificial woman, complete with human emotions.  Through an innocent mistake one of the creators of Helen needs to go to work and leaves her with instructions to clean the house and prepare dinner.  In her free time she was allowed to watch "stereo casts".  This story was published in 1938 and television was still very much in the experimental/start-up phase of the industry.  del Rey took what he knew about broadcast radio and blended it with the cutting edge technology of the day, television.  At the time television, as a term, wasn't coined yet.

In any case Helen spent a lot of time watching - get this - soap operas!  Helen learns how to be a doting wife to one of her creators.

The story is a good one and still stands the test of time.  Maybe not in the preconceived notions of what a woman should be like but in the field of robotics.

Keep in mind that this was a time of aggressive German expansionism; WWII is not far away.

Helen O'Loy was first published in Astounding magazine, December 1938.

Information on Lester del Rey can be found HERE and HERE

Helping Out by Frank Zafiro

Stan, first introduced as "Sean's Dad" ask the narrator, Aaron, a cop, about some trouble he's having with his ex wife. She never sees the kid and when she does she exposes him to her partying and drug use.

Stan asks Aaron to check out his ex wife, just to get a cops-eye-view on things and to asses the safety to his boy.

Aaron knocks on her door and is invited in. A little while into the conversation the boyfriend comes home and, well, things get a bit complicated after that.

A fantastic story to kick off this collection from one of my favorite mystery authors.

Frank Zafiro