Dead Letters: Stories of Murder and Mayhem

by Chris F. Holm

This collection from award-winning author Chris F. Holm features nine stories of crime, horror, and, uh, whatever you'd call a tale that takes place at the North Pole and stars an elf-detective. Featuring "Action," which first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine; the Anthony-nominated novella "The Hitter," which was selected by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES 2011; and a brand new, never-before-seen horror yarn called "One Man's Muse." Also included are "The Putdown," "A Native Problem," "The Man in the Alligator Shoes," "A Night at the Royale," "The Final Bough," and "Green."

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2013

About the author

This author also publishes under the name Chris Holm.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I'm finally starting to come around on short story collections. While I've read a few that I couldn't quite get behind, the ones that I'm enjoying are seemingly outnumbering the ones I don't. I was a big fan of John Connolly's Nocturnes as well as Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars and now you can add Chris F. Holm's Dead Letters to that exclusive club.

There's a lot to like about this collection. While most of them were enjoyable, a select few completely blew me away. My favorite of the bunch involved a couple moving into a home believed to previously have been inhabited by a famous writer from Maine. Without giving anything away, Holm crafted an ending that gave me chills the likes of which I cannot recall. In addition to that, there's a fantastic story involving a murder mystery featuring the characters from Rankin Bass' Rudolph The Rednose Reindeer. Holm had me laughing out loud injecting these G-Rated personalities into a noir-style setting.

A few other great ones include "Action", a hilarious bank robbery involving pretentious artists that goes awry, "A Native Problem", a downright chilling tale involving cannibalism (or zombies) and "The Man With The Alligator Shoes", a story that seems to mirror the frustration following the 2008 market crash.

Oh, and it would be a crime not to mention the story that kicks things off. "The Putdown" was certainly interesting enough given the style in which Chris chose to narrate the story. For someone not from the south, writing in a southern twang had to have been challenging. However, it was the ending that gripped me. I knew after finishing that solid opener, I had some interesting stuff ahead of me.

At the risk of sounding like a fanboy, I can't get enough of Mr. Holm's work. Between his Collector series and now this short story collection, he's an author that everyone should be looking out for in the coming years. Now, time to get 8 Pounds.

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Cross Posted @ Every Read Thing

[sj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally posted here.

I finished Chris F. Holm's new collection of short stories ( Dead Letters:  Stories of Murder and Mayhem ) last night (Friday) and have been pondering how to go about discussing it meaningfully since then.

It should come as no surprise to any of you reading this that I'm already a fan of Holm's work (click to visit other posts where I've talked about it), so I knew before I even started that I'd swipe the last page with a smile on my face.  The difficulty stems from the fact that writing about short stories is fucking hard, yo.

The first story - "The Putdown" - was a very difficult read (Holm admits in the introduction that it was even difficult for him to write), and I ended up more than a little weepy as I sat in the corner with my phone plugged in (this book is currently kindle only, but on his blog, he tells us that he's working to get it in other formats for the rest of us - in the meantime, yes I read it on my phone!), but then the second story - "Action" - had me laughing so hard my 13y/o turned around to check on me to make sure I was okay.  Most of the house was already in bed by that time, and I was attempting to stifle my laughter so I'm pretty positive I sounded like I was choking to death.

After finishing this book (and really, I was more than a little sad when I realized how close I was to the end), I can say that my reactions to the first two stories very much set the tone for the rest.  As with the rest of his work, this author is quite adept at blending the humourous with the horrific, and nearly everything in between.

Each story is fairly chock-full of Holm's noirish sensibilities, so there's a commonality between them all - but other than that, they've little enough in common with each other that I've had a hard time picking a favourite, or even one that I'd tell you all you HAD TO READ RIGHT NOW, ZOMG! because really...I just want to recommend them all.

Wait.  I lied.  Read "One Man's Muse" (because I think all fans of that other author from Maine have wondered what happened to the trailer he lived in where he wrote his earliest works [sidenote:  this one scared the bejeezus out of me, and having just re-read Carrie and 'Salem's Lot, it hit a lot harder than anticipated]) and "The Hitter" (a novella that managed to be gross, terrifying and lovely all at the same time).

(One last parenthetical statement, there's a story about cannibalism, so I'm totally counting it for Zombruary.  WIN!)

There you go.  Why are you still sitting here reading my crappy blog when you could be reading the work of someone far better at entertaining you than I?  Go!  Buy it now!  (click here to do so)

[Hilary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Chris F. Holm's work, and even though I'd read most of these stories when they were first published, I was thrilled to find them gathered in one volume. Other reviewers have already described the contents, so let me just mention my favorite story: "The Hitter," an exceptionally well-written, gripping piece about a hired killer. (To be honest, stories about hired killers aren't usually my thing, so the fact that this taut tale rates so highly is serious praise.) Don't just take my word for it: "The Hitter" was named one of the Best Mystery Stories of the Year for 2011.

PS After you finish Holm's short stories, you'll want to pick up his crime novels, starting with DEAD HARVEST and THE WRONG GOODBYE. His writing is brilliant and seriously addictive.