Mystery Weekly Magazine May 2021
At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Weekly Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers. The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery. In this issue: In our cover feature, "The Cost Of Living" by Saul Golubcow, it's 1972 and Frank Wolf, a Holocaust survivor and private eye, along with his grandson, investigate the murder of a Brooklyn butcher.A convicted drunk driver celebrates the end of his forced sobriety by hiring an unusual driving service, "Handr" by Gerard J Waggett. "The Big Thaw" by Michael Compton: when an Inuit man must accompany his disabled father on his yearly trip out to sea, the quixotic quest becomes a confrontation with dark secrets from the past. "Fool Me Once" by Edward Lodi presents a Riddle: When is a door not a door? Answer: When it's ajar. In his checkered career private eye Tony Atti has committed his share of blunders, but entering a house with its door ajar might prove his last. In "A Crummy Way To Die" by Stephanie Bedwell-Grime an undertaker turns up dead in his own funeral parlor. Can he help a young detective solve the mystery of his untimely demise? "Sometimes Trigger" by Paul Tobin is the story of a dog, and of the lengths even men in society's underbelly will go to preserve their own sense of honor in the world, as skewed as both might be. "Slice Of Life" by John Joseph Ryan warns you to be wary of Lucy One-Way, who fears anything left-handed: she even avoids making left turns. At Furr's Cafeteria, where she works the line, she keeps her phobia controlled-until a tour bus full of hungry New Orleans Saints fans overwhelms the buffet. "The Damn Rodents Are Everywhere" by Kevin R. Tipple asks, "Have you ever wanted to kill somebody? I have. I did. It was glorious. My problem was the damn body went missing. Yep, the damn thing up and vanished." "Double Dipping" by Michael Bracken: when Lightfinger Louie Levoy accidentally lifts the wallet of a homicide detective near the scene of a murder, he puts his life in danger. "Ants, Plants And Romance" is a You-Solve-It mystery by Jeffrey A. Lockwood: when a diamond necklace is stolen at a rustic, luxury resort, the obvious suspects are the maid and maintenance man. But the local plants and ants turn out to be serendipitous, silent snitches for a savvy sheriff. Custom Cover Art by Robin Grenville Evans.