Short Story Wednesday: "Lucky Dip" by Liza Cody

A few weeks ago I transferred a group of books from one wire cube to a new improved one. In the back of the cube, I discovered some books I had forgotten I had. One of them was A Woman's Eye, an anthology of short stories published in 1991 and edited by Sara Paretsky. That book consists of 21 short stories by women; the stories all feature female sleuths. The first story in the book is "Lucky Dip" by Liza Cody.

"Lucky Dip" by Liza Cody

The primary character in this story is a homeless young woman, Crystal, eighteen years old, who supports herself by begging for handouts or looking for food in dumpsters. One night she happens upon the body of dead man. He is dressed well; she quickly takes his wallet and his watch and leaves the area. When she discovers that the wallet has a lot of money in it she is pleased, but there is a downside, because the bills are too large for her to spend without getting into trouble. The other downside is that now she has people looking for her, thinking that she took something important to them. This story is about how she deals with that situation.

The story is told in 1st person narration by Crystal and I liked hearing her thoughts about her predicament, her life, and her actions. 

Previously I have only read one novel by Liza Cody, Dupe, the first book in her Anna Lee detective series, and three of her short stories. In all cases, I was very impressed with her writing. Cody tells a story well and creates interesting characters. 

 

A Woman's Eye features 20 more stories, all published in 1991. Other authors featured are Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Julie Smith, Amanda Cross, Carolyn G. Hart, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Dorothy B. Hughes, Antonia Fraser, and more. 

 

Short Story Wednesday: Crime Hits Home

 

Crime Hits Home is an anthology from Mystery Writers of America, edited by S. J. Rozan. The book was published in April 2022 and all of the stories in the book were first published in this book.

The theme for the stories in this book is home and the crimes that endanger it. The definition of home can be expanded to be a group of people that you feel comfortable with, a team, an ethnic group.

I read the first three stories in the book. 

"Grand Garden" by Naomi Hirahara

I found this to be an incredibly sad story in so many ways. The setting is a beautiful garden in Pasadena in the early 1900's; a young Japanese-American boy lives in a Japanese-style house on the grounds of the garden. The child is ashamed of his home and knows the white boys in his school will look down on him if they find out where he lives. One day a schoolmate visits the garden with his brothers and bullies his way into the house. He insists on playing with a samurai sword, and the result is tragedy. 

"The World's Oldest Living Detective" by David Bart

This is my favorite story of the three I have read. It has an elderly sleuth and a cat named Ripley. The protagonist is a retired private detective living in a retirement home. 

Four mysteries are resolved in the 22 pages of this short story, but the best one is a case from the detective's past, where he had to work for a sleazy Senator who wanted him to retrieve a videotape from his ex-girlfriend. 

"Little House in the Big Woods" by Sara Paretsky

Paretsky tells the complicated story of Ana, a college student who is under the influence of a female priest, Reverend Olive Kanba, who supports social justice missions to Nicaragua. She meets Lance, another student working with the priest, and they end up renovating a small building in the woods that is used by the group for overnight get-togethers. This building, which is special to Ana, is central to the story. Thirty years later, Ana looks back on those times, and a traumatic event which resulted in the disappearance of both Lance and Olive. An interesting story with a lot of revelations at the end. Very satisfying.

All of these stories were excellent and each very different. If the rest of the stories in the book are of the same quality, I have a lot of good reading ahead of me.

Also see a review by Sam Sattler at Book Chase. He discusses four different stories from this book.

The anthology features these authors:

• Naomi Hirahara
• David Bart
• Sara Paretsky
• Susan Breen
• Gary Phillips
• Neil S. Plakcy
• Renee James
• Connie Johnson Hambley
• Gabino Iglesias
• A.P. Jamison
• Walter Mosley
• Tori Eldridge
• Ellen Hart
• G. Miki Hayden
• Jonathan Santlofer
• Jonathan Stone
• Ovidia Yu
• Bonnie Hearn Hill
• Steve Liskow
• S.J. Rozan

Crime Fiction Reading in May 2017

The most notable thing about the books I read this month is that they are all written by women. I did not get the idea for this theme until I had read a couple of books, and it was fun choosing my next book based on this criteria.

Books I read this month:

Cocaine Blues by Kerry Greenwood (1989)

This is the first book in Kerry Greenwood's long running series about Phryne Fisher, a rich young woman who was born in Australia but lives in London as the series begins. A friend of her father, Colonel Harper, asks her to go to Melbourne, Australia and check on his daughter. He and his wife fear that she is being poisoned by her husband. Phryne would prefer traveling and detecting to the boring society events in London so she agrees to take the trip and see what she can do. Set in 1928, this is an interesting look at Melbourne at that time.

Murder in Jerusalem by Batya Gur (2004)

This is the final book in the Michael Ohayon series by Batya Gur. Each book takes place in a particular environment; in this book it is a TV station in Jerusalem, and a woman's body in found in the wardrobe and prop warehouse. The story is more of a psychological mystery than a fast-paced thriller. Murder in Jerusalem was not my favorite in the series, but I enjoyed this last visit with Chief Superintendent Michael Ohayon and his coworkers as they solve the mystery.

Blanche on the Lam by Barbara Neely (1992)

This debut novel about Blanche White, an African-American housekeeper in North Carolina, won the Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for best first novel. My thoughts on the book are here.

Murder... Now and Then by Jill McGown (1993)

This is the 6th book in the police procedural series featuring DCI Lloyd and DI Judy Hill. Jill McGown is one of my favorite authors. See my thoughts here.

Indemnity Only by Sarah Paretsky (1982)

This description from Goodreads sums it up pretty well: 

The vice-president of a Chicago bank hires V.I. Warshawski to find his son. She's pleased. The head of the International Brotherhood of Knifegrinders hires her to find his daughter. She's not so pleased. Who's the boss in this dangerous game of insurance fraud, murder contracts and gunmen?

The Last Billable Hour by Susan Wolfe (1989)

Susan Wolfe is a lawyer, and in this book she writes about a Silicon Valley law firm filled with sleazy and / or ambitious lawyers. She writes well about this subject; I hope she hasn't ever had to work in such a corrupt  firm. Howard Rickover is an inexperienced lawyer and has only been at Tweedmore and Slyde for a few months when one of the founders, Leo Slyde, is killed. Homicide detective Sarah Nelson enlists his help in uncovering the murderer. I liked this book a lot, even though it is an amateur sleuth mystery, and it is shame that the author did not continue with more books about this pair.

The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths (2010)

This is the second book in the series featuring forensics archaeologist Ruth Galloway. Ruth lives in Norfolk in an isolated cottage on the saltmarsh. She is called in as an expert when the bones of a young child are found on a building site. I enjoyed this book and will continue on the the next in the series, The House at Sea's End.

"Freud at Thirty Paces" by Sara Paretsky

Continuing on my journey with the Deal Me in Short Story Challenge, this week I drew the Jack of Hearts and thus read  "Freud at Thirty Paces" by Sara Paretsky.  The story was first published in 1st CULPRIT: A Crime Writer's Annual edited by Liza Cody and Michael Z. Lewin in 1992. I have discovered, in only the few stories I have thus far encountered in the Crime Writer's Annuals, that the stories are all written by crime writer's but not all the stories are crime fiction. This one is humorous and it is interesting, with a substantial story, but it is not about a crime.

What I found very curious about this story is that is was also published a year later in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror Seventh Annual Collection edited by Terri Windling and Ellen Datlow. As far as I can tell, the story is neither fantasy or horror. It is not strictly realistic, but I can't see it classified as any kind of fantasy. I would love to know why it was included in that volume.

The short introduction to the story in that volume (written by Terri Windling) describes Sara Paretsky as "the acclaimed bestselling author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries. Her work is informed by a keen ear for dialogue and a sly sense of irony, yet retains a strong humanity. Vic, as only her friends may call her, works Chicago, where Paretsky lives."

The one sentence summary of the story is:

"Freud at Thirty Paces" is a hilarious account of two men at war with each other whose weapons are theory, Freud, and their own enlarged egos.

I cannot think of anything to add to that. I enjoyed the story, it was entertaining, and it was not the story I expected.

Every other week I draw a random card to determine what short story I will read. My list of short stories for the Deal Me In Short Story Challenge is here. Jay at Bibliophilopolis hosts the challenge.