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SinC Desert Sleuths #5
SoWest: Crime Time
20 original short stories by members of the Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter. Ever been in the wrong place, at the wrong time? Feel safe where you are now? In this volume from the Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths Chapter, 20 authors show why you need to keep your guard up. Be ready to react. In the desert, in the mountains, in the Valley towns of Arizona, when you least expect it...It’s CRIME TIME.
224 pages, Paperback
First published August 17, 2013
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About the author
Deborah J. Ledford
32 books225 followersDEBORAH J LEDFORD is an Agatha Award winner and two-time nominee for the Anthony Award. REDEMPTION and HAVOC are from the Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran Native American suspense series.
Her first series, the Smoky Mountain Intrigue Native American police procedural series, includes the titles CAUSING CHAOS, CRESCENDO, STACCATO, and the Hillerman Sky Award Finalist and New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards Finalist, SNARE.
Three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, her award-winning stories appear in numerous print publications as well as literary and mystery anthologies.
She is also a former Arizona State University adjunct professor for The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Ledford is President/Producer for the independent media company, IOF Productions Ltd. She produced the CAUSING CHAOS and CRESCENDO audiobooks as well as The Blind Eye.
Part Eastern Band Cherokee, Ledford spent her summers growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, where her Smoky Mountain Inquest book series is set. She lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area with her extremely patient husband and their awesome Ausky.
She is a member of: International Thriller Writers Association (ITW), Sisters in Crime National (SinC), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC), Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Past-President of Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths (AZ) Chapter.
Her first series, the Smoky Mountain Intrigue Native American police procedural series, includes the titles CAUSING CHAOS, CRESCENDO, STACCATO, and the Hillerman Sky Award Finalist and New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards Finalist, SNARE.
Three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, her award-winning stories appear in numerous print publications as well as literary and mystery anthologies.
She is also a former Arizona State University adjunct professor for The Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing. Ledford is President/Producer for the independent media company, IOF Productions Ltd. She produced the CAUSING CHAOS and CRESCENDO audiobooks as well as The Blind Eye.
Part Eastern Band Cherokee, Ledford spent her summers growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, where her Smoky Mountain Inquest book series is set. She lives in the Phoenix, Arizona area with her extremely patient husband and their awesome Ausky.
She is a member of: International Thriller Writers Association (ITW), Sisters in Crime National (SinC), Crime Writers of Color (CWoC), Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Past-President of Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths (AZ) Chapter.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2021
This short story collection is precious—a golden bag with sparkling gems of different hues. Twenty authors provide too much to admire in one short review, but here are a few flashes. Shannon Baker’s “Neighborhood Watch” kicks us off, with a “bedroom slipper of a dog” and an antagonist called MoRon providing sardonic humor. I’m a disease investigator, so I love a mysterious illness as the inciting incident in Yvonne Corrigan-Carr’s “The Legacy.” Don’t miss the wonderful surprise ending.
This wouldn’t be a mystery collection without whodunit police investigations in Merle McCann’s “Murder at Wickersham Farms” or grab-you-by-your-throat story openings in Isabella Maldonado’s “Cleañoritas, Inc.” and Amy Schuster’s “The Sun City Zone.”
All the stories have vivid Arizona settings, including the western saloon in “Death by Deception” by Laurie Fagan and the desert heat in “Crosswind” by Machelle Langseth.
Great interior dialogue pulls us into the characters: “I don’t break cameras when my picture’s taken but I won’t be voted sexiest man by People Magazine either” from “Guy Walks Into a Bar” by Katherine Herbert and “She wouldn’t debate ethics with a tomcat” from “Make the Final Cut” by Margaret Morse. Strong dialogue between characters drives “Vanity Pays” by Susan Budavari.
Accomplished authors bring stories to life with creative figures of speech: “the fingernail moon” from “Abigail’s Cat” by Louise Signorelli; “his muscles seemed as strong as the canyon walls” from “Grand Canyon Standoff” by Kris Neri; “The sun came up over the Mazatzal Mountains, glowing like an electric apricot in the turquoise sky” from “Most Important Meal of the Day” by Nancy Newcomer; and “Flames flickered upward toward the patio cover like evil sprites set to devour their surroundings” from “The Good Neighbor” by Kari Wainwright.
The Southwest provides glimpses of multiple cultures including Native American in “Woman in the Maze” by Toni Niesen and “Faces of Time” by Martin Roselius; Hispanic in “Woman’s Work” by Cathy Rogers; and Chinese in “Li and the Daughters of Joy” by Jackie Sereno.
Finally, no mystery collection would be complete without some kick-ass female protagonists, like those in “Lucky in Cards” by RK Olsen and “The Make-Believe Wives Club” by Kate Steele.
This wouldn’t be a mystery collection without whodunit police investigations in Merle McCann’s “Murder at Wickersham Farms” or grab-you-by-your-throat story openings in Isabella Maldonado’s “Cleañoritas, Inc.” and Amy Schuster’s “The Sun City Zone.”
All the stories have vivid Arizona settings, including the western saloon in “Death by Deception” by Laurie Fagan and the desert heat in “Crosswind” by Machelle Langseth.
Great interior dialogue pulls us into the characters: “I don’t break cameras when my picture’s taken but I won’t be voted sexiest man by People Magazine either” from “Guy Walks Into a Bar” by Katherine Herbert and “She wouldn’t debate ethics with a tomcat” from “Make the Final Cut” by Margaret Morse. Strong dialogue between characters drives “Vanity Pays” by Susan Budavari.
Accomplished authors bring stories to life with creative figures of speech: “the fingernail moon” from “Abigail’s Cat” by Louise Signorelli; “his muscles seemed as strong as the canyon walls” from “Grand Canyon Standoff” by Kris Neri; “The sun came up over the Mazatzal Mountains, glowing like an electric apricot in the turquoise sky” from “Most Important Meal of the Day” by Nancy Newcomer; and “Flames flickered upward toward the patio cover like evil sprites set to devour their surroundings” from “The Good Neighbor” by Kari Wainwright.
The Southwest provides glimpses of multiple cultures including Native American in “Woman in the Maze” by Toni Niesen and “Faces of Time” by Martin Roselius; Hispanic in “Woman’s Work” by Cathy Rogers; and Chinese in “Li and the Daughters of Joy” by Jackie Sereno.
Finally, no mystery collection would be complete without some kick-ass female protagonists, like those in “Lucky in Cards” by RK Olsen and “The Make-Believe Wives Club” by Kate Steele.
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November 16, 2013Since I am one of the authors in the anthology, I don't want to rate it--but I will say I enjoyed many of the crime short stories in the book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews