A Merry Band of Murderers: An Original Mystery Anthology of Songs and Stories

by Claudia Bishop (Editor), Don Bruns (Editor)

A Merry Band of Murderers is more than a compilation of short mystery stories from some of the genres finest writers. It is also an exploration of music. Conceived by Claudia Bishop and Don Bruns, the collection is staged in two acts: first, a non-fiction discussion of short stories, mysteries, and music; and second, a compilation of musical short mysteries.
The first act opens with an essay by Bishop explaining the role of the short story in mystery writing and another essay by Bruns discussing writers who play, sing, and compose.


The second act is more whimsical. There are thirteen music-centered stories from authors Mary Anna Evans, Jim Fusilli, Bill Moody, Rupert Holmes, Rhys Bowen, John Lescroart, Nathan Walpow, Peter Robinson, Jeffery Deaver, Tom Corcoran, Val McDermid, and, of course, the editors themselves. Each story is accompanied by a short introduction, song lyrics, and an interview with the writer.


The book is packaged with a music CD with recordings by the authors. A one-of-a-kind collection.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery

315 pages, Hardcover

First published August 30, 2006

About the author

Claudia Bishop is the nom de plume of mystery & fantasy author Mary Stanton.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, most of these stories were subpar, with the exception of a few. Great idea but, alas, this collection is nothing to write home about.

[Shanna Klutts · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these were awesome, most were just meh. The concept is interesting - write a story based on the song, but it fell a little flat because there were some that just were not great stories.