Status Updates From Playing Dead: Short Stories...

#17. Frances Brody - Blood on Ice
A young couple, and their life together, from the 1960s to present day. “Will ice or fire end the world?”
I enjoyed this one, not exactly a mystery, but a nice twist at the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#15. Michael Jecks - After Henry? No Commitments.
An apparent suicide in an Am-Dram group may not be all it seems. Great character sketches, fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#16. Liza Cody - Character Assassination.
A 3-verse Haiku. A bit strange. ⭐️

#14. Lynne Truss - Bells and Whistles
Another farce, this time set in a police station and BBC Broadcasting House in 1957. The foley artist of long-running children’s radio play, The Spiffing Six (definitely NOT the Famous Five) is found dead. A bit of fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#13. David Stuart Davies - An Old-fashioned Murder Mystery
Starts like a Poirot knock-off, quickly becomes farce. Funny, stupid. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#12. Christopher Fowler - The Luncheon
Two “friends” meet up for lunch at a very fancy restaurant, each have something to tell the other. This was not really a mystery, but fun nonetheless. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#11. Catherine Aird - Dead in Deptford
Retired Police Officers discussions old cases talk about the death of Christopher Marlowe. Seriously! ⭐️

#10. John Harvey - Criss-Cross
A body discovered on Hampstead Heath, leads to a dark story. Nothing surprising, lots of characters to keep up with. Not my favourite. ⭐️⭐️

#9. Elly Griffiths - The Woman in Whitechapel
Strange story, not much of a mystery. Meh. ⭐️

#8. Michael Ridpath - Silver Fox
An Icelandic tour operator, a middle-aged American woman and her abusive husband, all connected in a well-told story, that doesn’t go the way you might think. I enjoyed this one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#7. Alison Joseph - Murder at Mousecomb
The narrator of the book, Jan, is the understudy on a long-running play, speaking to the audience on the first night back after the strange death of her best friend and lead actor, Irene. How did Irene die? What about her husband? What about Jan’s mother?
Interesting way of telling the story. A bit of fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#7. Martin Edward’s - Sanctuary
A letter written to the detective who failed to discover the murderer, from someone claiming to be the murderer. Sort of.
I didn’t get this one, just didn’t do it for me. ⭐️⭐️

#5. Kate Ellis - Lookalike
A down-on-his-luck actor, reduced to impersonating other more famous people, gets an unusual job, but things take a turn for the worse. Fun premise, with a twist in the tale. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

#4. Peter Lovesey - Just A Minute
A convicted prisoner, with a love of the BBC panel show of the title, may be about to reveal where the bodies are buried, but in an unorthodox way - by simulating an episode of the show with the prison chaplain and Governor. A nice conceit, a little forced, but fun. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#3. Ann Cleeves - Sleeping Beauty. More of a ‘whydunnit’ than a ‘whodunnit’, simple plot, well written. I enjoyed it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#2. Andrew Taylor - Dead Ground
Four teenagers discover a dead body, but don’t do anything. 25 years later, two of them meet up, and the story continues. Nice twist in the end. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#1. L.C. Tyler - Crimes Ancient and Modern
Simple story of two crime writers found dead in their bed. How did they die? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️