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Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers
New England Crime Story Collection Explores Back Roads and Dark StreetMystery lovers and fans of the short story alike will find a compelling read in Deadfall, Level Best’s sixth annual anthology of crime stories by New England writers. From a weary dad facing failure in his rusted trailer in rural Maine to an angry old woman running a struggling mom and pop store in a gritty urban city, from the chilling whisperings of the pets in an elegant Boston townhouse to a stalker lurking in a dark mall parking lot, and from the genteel anguish in a Cambridge therapist’s office to the desperate merriment of a church hall bingo game, good guys and bad guys and gals struggle for love, honor, money, and truth. This collection of twenty-six stories includes the 2008 Al Blanchard Award-winning story, Family Plot, where a death in the family exposes a struggling single mom to the greed of relatives she didn’t even know she had."Sixth annual anthology"--Cover. Includes "Promises to Keep" a Quincy Lazzaro story by A. J. Pompano as well as stories Stephen Allen, Norma Burrows, Kathleen Chenchank, John Clark, Christine Falcone, Kat Fast, Kate Flora, Judith Green, Woody Hanstein, Vaughn Hardacker, Janice Law, Steve Liskow, Ruth M. McCarty, Libby Mussman, Susan Oleksiw, Margaret Press, Pat Remick, Joe Ricker, Stephen D. Rogers, J. E. Seymour, Clea Simon, John Urban, Mo Walsh, Leslie Wheeler and Mike Wiecek.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
281 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
31 people want to read
About the author
Kate Flora
54 books126 followersKate Flora grew up on a chicken farm in Maine where the Friday afternoon trip to the library was the high point of her week. She dreamed of being able to create the kind of compelling, enchanting worlds of the books she disappeared into every week, but growing up in the era when “help wanted” ads were still sex-segregated, she felt her calling was to go to law school and get the job they told her she couldn’t have.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
After law school, Kate worked in the Maine attorney general’s office, protecting battered kids, chasing deadbeat dads, and representing the Human Rights Commission. Those years taught her all a crime writer needs to know about the human propensity to commit horrible acts. After some years in private practice, she decided to give writing a serious try when she quit the law to stay at home for a few years with her young sons. That ‘serious try’ led to ten tenacious and hellacious years in the unpublished writer’s corner, followed, finally, by the sale of her Thea Kozak series.
Kate’s eighteen books will include eight Thea Kozak mysteries, five gritty Joe Burgess police procedurals, a suspense thriller (written under the name Katharine Clark), two true crime books, Death Dealer and Finding Amy (co-written with Joseph Loughlin, a Portland, Maine Deputy Police Chief), a Maine game warden's memoir, A Good Man with a Dog, co-written with Roger Guay, and a book about police shootings from the police point of view, Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, misconceptions, and myths about police shootings, co-written with Joseph K. Loughlin. Finding Amy was a 2007 Edgar nominee as well as a Maine Literary Award finalist, and has been optioned for a movie. Kate’s award-winning short stories have been widely anthologized and Redemption and And Grant You Peace, her third and fourth Joe Burgess mysteries, won the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction.
Flora's fiction, nonfiction, and short fiction have been finalists for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer Awards.
She is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake, the region's annual mystery conference, and the Maine Crime Wave. With two other crime writers, she started founded Level Best Books, where she worked as an editor and publisher for seven years. She served a term as international president of Sisters in Crime, an organization founded to promote awareness of women writers’ contributions to the mystery field. Currently, she teaches writing and does manuscript critiques for Grub Street in Boston.
She has two sons (one into film and the other into photovoltaics) two lovely daughters-in-law, an adorable eight-year-old grandson and five granddogs, Frances, Otis, Harvey, Oscar, and Daisy. When not conducting research for her novels and nonfiction—research that includes riding an ATV through the Canadian woods or hiding in a tick-infested field waiting to be found by search and rescue dogs—Kate can often be found in her garden, waging war against the woodchucks and her husband’s lawnmower, or in the kitchen, devising clever and devious ways to get the men in her life to eat their vegetables.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 17, 2010
When Kate Flora spoke at our local library last fall, she had some of
the Sisters in Crime anthologies for sale, and I bought DEADFALL as a
Christmas gift for my husband. I virtuously waited until he had finished
reading it before picking it up myself. From humorous to chilling,
"cozy" to noir, I really couldn't find a dud in this fine collection of
short stories by SiC-New England members. This is the second of their
anthologies I've read, and I plan to keep on.
the Sisters in Crime anthologies for sale, and I bought DEADFALL as a
Christmas gift for my husband. I virtuously waited until he had finished
reading it before picking it up myself. From humorous to chilling,
"cozy" to noir, I really couldn't find a dud in this fine collection of
short stories by SiC-New England members. This is the second of their
anthologies I've read, and I plan to keep on.
August 21, 2016
I've read most of these anthologies & enjoyed every one. It's a good way to discover new authors & keep up with old favorites. I especially enjoyed Kate Flora' s Flowers for Amelia.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews