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LAXtras: Los Angeles-style Crime Stories
321 pages, Paperback
Published November 13, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2025
Last winter we all watched with deep concern as wildfires swept through parts of Los Angeles and its surrounds, causing massive damage to property and many deaths. This anthology of twenty crime stories, all set in and around Los Angeles, was the brainchild of its editor, crime writer and blogger Margot Kinberg, with the aim of raising money for the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Recovery Fund.
A highly laudable project, then, and Margot’s writing friends rallied round heroically, so that within a very few months she was able to publish this substantial collection of stories, ranging from noir to cosy fun, with murders, thefts, cons and misunderstandings, solved by police officers, PIs and sometimes quirkier ’tecs, like animals, AIs and even ghosts! And what a talented bunch Margot’s friends turn out to be! Apart from Margot herself, all nineteen of the contributors were previously unknown to me, so I really didn’t know what to expect in terms of either style or quality. But I found the standard uniformly high, giving the vast majority of the stories at least a four-star rating and several the full five. I had a great time reading a story each evening and was sad when I finally ran out.
Let me give you a flavour of a few of the ones that I enjoyed most:
Petal on Los Feliz by Mark Bastable – A thief is targeting local small businesses, turning up wearing a mask of someone famous and demanding the money from the till. But the thief has reckoned without the special skills of our narrator – Petal, a small blonde Jack Russell who lives with her humans in the local bakery, and has a nose for treats and criminals! This is a lovely little story – Petal may think in human language but she’s all dog in the way she behaves. Very funny – I fell in love with Petal and wished she could have her own series!
Because of Forty Carats by Calene McAdams – Wealthy married couple Nan and Devon are producing a play at Theatre Palisades. The leading lady is supposed to be bedecked in jewellery, and Nan, who has an eye for gems, is horrified at the cheap fake necklace the props department has provided. So she lends the theatre her own very valuable diamond necklace – a gift from Devon. When it is stolen, Nan knows Devon will be mad at her carelessness. This is a fun story, with a nice twist in the tale. McAdams has written this as a tribute to the real Theatre Palisades, which was destroyed in the fires. Happily, there are plans underway for it to be rebuilt – one of many phoenixes due to rise again from the ashes.
Death Comes a Story by John A Tures – Art Intrepid, a character in a pulp crime novel, is told by the author to find out who it is who keeps deleting characters overnight. All the characters in the book are based on ‘real’ people – the author’s wife, agent, rival, etc. – and they’re all disgruntled about how he treats them. It’s a long-running series and many of the characters are regulars, and they have no autonomy – the author can be as mean to them as he likes. So plenty of the characters have a motive for getting back at him, even though they risk him writing them out, sometimes brutally! Art himself is a newly created character, so he has to start by getting to know the others, and listening to their complaints. The entire story takes place inside the confines of the novel, and Art Intrepid has to work out what’s going on before any more deletions occur! Such an entertaining premise, this, and Tures handles it really well.
Poolside by M.E. Proctor – PI Jack Carver is helping his lawyer friend to find a property for a very wealthy lady. She has set her heart on having a pool exactly like the one in a David Hockney painting, Big Splash. The problem is that Hockney imagined the pool. So Jack has been to nearly every rich house in LA with no success, and is about to give up when he spots it – the identical pool! He meets the owner – an elderly man, now alone, but who had been one half of a gay couple till his partner died. They had built the pool in tribute to the painting and he has no desire or need to sell the house. For me, this was the major stand-out story in the collection – very well written, with a sympathetic portrait of a gay couple old enough to have lived through less liberal times, and contrasting true art appreciation with the acquisitiveness of uncultured greed.
There’s lots of variety on display here – even more than my small selection suggests. The authors have taken us to nearly every area of LA, and introduced us to characters from all backgrounds. Some nod to Hollywood, some show us people living in less salubrious circumstances, some characters are simply passing through the airport, some are coming for a sun-filled vacation. A great collection, that has added far too many authors to my list for further exploration. Buy it because it’s for an excellent cause, and then sit back, relax, and get ready to be entertained!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
A highly laudable project, then, and Margot’s writing friends rallied round heroically, so that within a very few months she was able to publish this substantial collection of stories, ranging from noir to cosy fun, with murders, thefts, cons and misunderstandings, solved by police officers, PIs and sometimes quirkier ’tecs, like animals, AIs and even ghosts! And what a talented bunch Margot’s friends turn out to be! Apart from Margot herself, all nineteen of the contributors were previously unknown to me, so I really didn’t know what to expect in terms of either style or quality. But I found the standard uniformly high, giving the vast majority of the stories at least a four-star rating and several the full five. I had a great time reading a story each evening and was sad when I finally ran out.
Let me give you a flavour of a few of the ones that I enjoyed most:
Petal on Los Feliz by Mark Bastable – A thief is targeting local small businesses, turning up wearing a mask of someone famous and demanding the money from the till. But the thief has reckoned without the special skills of our narrator – Petal, a small blonde Jack Russell who lives with her humans in the local bakery, and has a nose for treats and criminals! This is a lovely little story – Petal may think in human language but she’s all dog in the way she behaves. Very funny – I fell in love with Petal and wished she could have her own series!
Because of Forty Carats by Calene McAdams – Wealthy married couple Nan and Devon are producing a play at Theatre Palisades. The leading lady is supposed to be bedecked in jewellery, and Nan, who has an eye for gems, is horrified at the cheap fake necklace the props department has provided. So she lends the theatre her own very valuable diamond necklace – a gift from Devon. When it is stolen, Nan knows Devon will be mad at her carelessness. This is a fun story, with a nice twist in the tale. McAdams has written this as a tribute to the real Theatre Palisades, which was destroyed in the fires. Happily, there are plans underway for it to be rebuilt – one of many phoenixes due to rise again from the ashes.
Death Comes a Story by John A Tures – Art Intrepid, a character in a pulp crime novel, is told by the author to find out who it is who keeps deleting characters overnight. All the characters in the book are based on ‘real’ people – the author’s wife, agent, rival, etc. – and they’re all disgruntled about how he treats them. It’s a long-running series and many of the characters are regulars, and they have no autonomy – the author can be as mean to them as he likes. So plenty of the characters have a motive for getting back at him, even though they risk him writing them out, sometimes brutally! Art himself is a newly created character, so he has to start by getting to know the others, and listening to their complaints. The entire story takes place inside the confines of the novel, and Art Intrepid has to work out what’s going on before any more deletions occur! Such an entertaining premise, this, and Tures handles it really well.
Poolside by M.E. Proctor – PI Jack Carver is helping his lawyer friend to find a property for a very wealthy lady. She has set her heart on having a pool exactly like the one in a David Hockney painting, Big Splash. The problem is that Hockney imagined the pool. So Jack has been to nearly every rich house in LA with no success, and is about to give up when he spots it – the identical pool! He meets the owner – an elderly man, now alone, but who had been one half of a gay couple till his partner died. They had built the pool in tribute to the painting and he has no desire or need to sell the house. For me, this was the major stand-out story in the collection – very well written, with a sympathetic portrait of a gay couple old enough to have lived through less liberal times, and contrasting true art appreciation with the acquisitiveness of uncultured greed.
There’s lots of variety on display here – even more than my small selection suggests. The authors have taken us to nearly every area of LA, and introduced us to characters from all backgrounds. Some nod to Hollywood, some show us people living in less salubrious circumstances, some characters are simply passing through the airport, some are coming for a sun-filled vacation. A great collection, that has added far too many authors to my list for further exploration. Buy it because it’s for an excellent cause, and then sit back, relax, and get ready to be entertained!
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
November 17, 2025
You really have to love a collection of stories that were written to support a charity! And I'm not just saying that because I have a story in this book.
I'm proud to be part of this collaboration of fabulous authors, all writing stories set in Los Angeles, across multiple genres, to support the victims of the devastating fires there. There isn't a bad story in the bunch, and something to suit every taste!
Thanks to the incomparable Margot Kinberg for putting the collection together.
I hope you will support this worthy cause and treat yourself to a great read at the same time.
I'm proud to be part of this collaboration of fabulous authors, all writing stories set in Los Angeles, across multiple genres, to support the victims of the devastating fires there. There isn't a bad story in the bunch, and something to suit every taste!
Thanks to the incomparable Margot Kinberg for putting the collection together.
I hope you will support this worthy cause and treat yourself to a great read at the same time.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews