Winning

by Alafair Burke

A female officer who is attacked in the line of duty must protect her own husband from his worst impulses in this short story, first published in The Blue Religion (Michael Connelly, ed.) and recognized as one of 2009's Best American Mystery Stories (Jeffery Deaver, ed.).

15 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2010

About the author

Alafair Burke is the New York Times, Edgar-nominated author of fourteen crime novels, including The Ex, The Wife, The Better Sister, and the forthcoming Find Me. She is also the co-author of several novels with Mary Higgins Clark. A graduate of Stanford Law School and a former Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, Alafair is now a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she teaches criminal law and procedure.

Reviews

[Mary Core · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Great short story to read. Really enjoying the author and all her works, great and small. Recommend reading her books!

[Heather · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Alafair Burke but this was too short to get invested.

[Kristen Jett · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with short stories is they're often SO short that you don't wind up caring about the characters. That was a problem here. The writing was also choppy, and thus a bit confusing at times. I love Alafair's work, but you can skip this one.

[Lori Sagala · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointment

2 star rating due to choppy structure of the plot. Would like to have seen more of a connected flow in the story. But it did reflect emotions accurately.

[Carianne Carleo-Evangelist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty sure I read this in an anthology or something as it sounded very familiar. Good, quick read. I want a Sushi

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story! Too short, only complaint. Takes longer to post a review on goodreads than to read this story.

[J Norman Gilfillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Keeps you engrossed

Was short but complete to a point. Makes you want to see an enlarged or lengthened version. Hope there is a complete book length version of this.