A Festive Crime Collection

A Festive Crime Collection

Bruce Von Stiers

Seven women of color, who also write crime fiction, got together and put forth a great collection of stories. The title of this collection is Festive Mayhem 3. The book is the latest in a series of mystery and crime laden stories from a collective of imaginative writers.

The book has an introduction that explains how the series came about. It also explains that some of the stories are new, and one had been published earlier. Two of the stories were from the first volume in the collection but had been brought back by popular demand.

The first story in the collection is Black Easter by Francelia Belton. Aside from her own collections of stories, Belton has been featured in other collections such as Denver Noir and Bizarre Bazaar. This story involves the Black Panther radical movement, bad feelings between family members and a celebration that goes terribly wrong. From a celebration getting a late start, to confrontations to a probable murder, it is a great, ever so slightly noir, story.

Rook had done two tours in Iraq but now was a private investigator with the Harlem based Ross Agency. For his current assignment, he was just supposed to deliver an envelope to a professor. Easy enough. Except the professor was dead when Rook got there. That sets off a whole chain of events that doesn't end well for someone. A phone with pictures of women other than the professor's wife is just one the many pieces of the puzzle that Rook needs to solve. At a bar later, Rook learns another piece that ultimately helps solve the case. This is a gritty, hard-boiled detective story titled A Deadly First and was written by Delia C. Pitts. She has a whole series of novels featuring Rook and the Ross Agency.

Imogene takes in stray dogs and cats. So, when her neighbor Sally comes to her with a stray cat, Imogene has no qualms about helping foster it. But when another neighbor comes calling the cat escapes and then finds a dead body in the next yard. It was someone they knew, and he had been murdered. It's now up to Imogene to find the killer. This delightful cozy mystery short story is titled Whiteout Wipeout. It is a short story companion to the Cozy Cat Caper Mysteries series. The author behind the series, and this story, is Paige Sleuth, who also writes under the name Marla Bradeen.

Stella Oni is the author of the best-selling police procedural novel, Deadly Sacrifice. Her story for this collection is The Troublesome Rich Girl. The subject of the story's title is a young woman named Tay. She is the granddaughter of a socialite and is staying at the Mews Hotel. She comes up missing and then a member of the hotel staff has to find out if Tay being gone is through misadventure or design. Also missing is a young woman who was assigned to help Tay. Was she a willing participant in Tay's disappearance or a victim as well? The end of the story was interesting and something that I hadn't seen coming.

Barbara Howard has authored over a dozen mystery books and others dealing with food under a pen name. Her story here is Trace of Lace. Jules and Milo are about to be married. But there is a serial killer on the loose. On the day of the wedding, Jules turns up missing. The protagonist was pretty easy to figure out, but story was well written.

Brianna is a home health aide in the story A Christmas Tip. Most of her clients don't give tips, let alone anything substantial. In fact, she could get into trouble if a client gave her too big a tip. So, when Brianna gets a huge tip from a stingy client, things work out in a very strange way. It is a very interesting story by Elizabeth Wilkerson, one of Silicon Valley's first cyber-lawyers turned thriller author.

The final story in this collection is Serenade For Suicide. Bertie Bigelow is a music professor at a Chicago area community college. She has an old friend who's a Grammy winner who is going to teach a songwriting workshop. But there is a problem. Her friend is a deadbeat dad. Bertie paid his fee for the workshop out her own savings. But everything starts to go off the rails when the guy's ex-wife shows up. The conclusion of the story was definitely other than what I had thought. I don't want to give away too many details, but it was a really good story, with just a sliver of noir blended in. The author of this story is Carolyn Marie Wilkins. She has written a few mystery novels, including Mojo For Murder.

Festive Mayhem 3 is a fantastic crime story collection. Not only are the stories great, but the collaboration presents a great way for readers to be introduced to women of color who happen to be crime fiction authors.

Festive Mayhem 3 was a limited edition publication. As such, it is no longer available. But three of the stories, Whiteout Wipeout, Trace of Lace and A Christmas Tip are available to purchase as individual stories. And A Deadly First is available as a free story. You will find the links to all four of the stories on the Paige Sleuth/ Marla Bradeen website. That link is https://www.marlabradeen.com/books/anthologies/festivemayhem3

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