Devil's Snare: Best New England Crime Stories 2024

by Susan Oleksiw, Ang Pompano, Leslie Wheeler

Devil's Snare brings together 24 crime stories featuring the innocent to the professional hitman in circumstances that highlight shrewd, the clever, the professional, the accidental, the reluctant sleuth and more. Authors are Christine Bagley, Nancy Brewka-Clark, Bruce Robert Coffin, Hans Copek, Michael Ditchfield, Christine Eskilson, Kate Flora, Connie Johnson Hambley, Sean C. Harding, Kathryn Marple Kalb (Nikki Knight), Chris Knopf, Alison McMahon, Paula Messina, Susan Oleksiw, Eugenia Parrish, Ang Pompano, Stephen D. Rogers, Clea Simon, Sarah Smith, Shelagh Smith, Gabriela Stiteler, Mo Walsh, and Leslie Wheeler.

287 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 5, 2024

About the author

"People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading." Logan Pearsall Smith

I can't imagine a life without books. Some of my best memories of a quiet rainy afternoon when Dad let me poke among his books and pick something to read.

Born and raised in New England, I have long been fascinated by the traditional New Englander and the way of life found here. I try to capture that world in two of my series.

My most recent book, Below the Tree Line, is set on a farm in central Massachusetts. Felicity O'Brien has inherited the family farm, but she has also inherited, from her mother and ancestors, the ability to heal. This is both a blessing and a burden.

My first mystery series features Chief of Police Joe Silva, in the town of Mellingham. The books in the series follow the ups and downs of people in the town but also the changes in Joe's life. He begins as a bachelor and in the most recent books is clearly a happy stepdad.

In the second series, my sleuth is an Indian-American photographer who lives at her aunt's tourist hotel on a popular beach. Raised in India, she has no desire to leave and follow her parents home to the States. She finds herself involved in all sorts of problems trying to keep her aunt's hotel solvent and out of trouble. Her aunt, for her part, despairs of ever turning Anita into a proper young Indian woman. The stories give me a chance to write about a country where I once lived and which I have loved since a child.

All three series are cozies, with fun as well as surprises.

Series:
* Joe Silva Mellingham
* Anita Ray

Reviews

[Sharon Healy-Yang · Rating 4 out of 5]

By and large, an excellent collection of mysteries ranging from the gritty to the gritty and haunting to the whimsical to the unnerving. It's a collection that's perfect for whiling away a cold winter's afternoon or evening. "Let the Chips Fall" and "The Ave" plunge you into the grittiness of Boston, the first with an eerie twist you may or may not see coming. "The Business of Others" is understated and elusive, but Gabriela Stiteler conveys more with unspoken hints than many with a plethora of words. Leslie Wheeler gives us a frightful, fanciful, tongue-in-cheek tale of every writer's Book Club nightmare. "A Capital Offense" takes us to Nazi Germany for a bittersweet ironic twist of fate for subversive and Gestapo agent alike. "Lessons from Nature" is down home insightful with some beautiful twists about never connining a conner. Watch out for those Snappers! There are many more that I loved but I just don't have time to go on. Turn off the T.V. or computer and settle down for a chilling, delightful winter's read.

[L.M. Pampuro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engaging stories that ask readers to consider the twists and turns of being human.

[Christine Nault · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories involving crime, mostly murder. Some Really good. Some not great but none terrible.