by Diana Hockley

Details at the end of this post on how to win an ebook copy of Flash and Bang, along with a link to purchase the book.

Margo Power, publisher of Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine founded a Short Story Mystery Fiction Society in 1996. The magazine, Mysterical-e was a spin-off from this and resulted in the Derringer Awards for stories up to twenty thousand words. The society has now grown to around one thousand six hundred members.

This year’s project, Flash and Bang, is a collection of nineteen short stories from Herschel Cozine, Bobbi A. Chukran, Su Kopil, P.A. De Voe, Laurie Stevens, Tim Wohlforth, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Sandra Murphy, Julie Tollefson, O’Neil De Noux, John M. Floyd, JoAnne Lucas, Andrew MacRae, Judy Penz Sheluk, Albert Tucher, Earl Staggs, Barb Goffman, BV Lawson and Walter Soethoudt.

It is not possible to mention them all, but my favorites were “Rosie’s Choice” by John Floyd, “The Bag Lady” by Laurie Stevens, “Silent Measures” by BV Lawson, and the shocking “A Day Like No Other” by Walter Soethoudt.

Rosie, a granny who has put up the money for her daughter’s bric a brac shop, is confronted by two “stand-over” men. How Rosie deals with this is sheer genius on the part of the author. I loved this little tale, so much so that I had to read it several times!

How do you meet a ghost on the train? Or is the bag lady a ghost? “The Bag Lady” is a bright and intriguing little story by Laurie Stevens will have you guessing!

“Silent Measures” is a scary tale when a young, deaf boy is kidnapped. How will he be found? Well, in the most amazing way – and if you like classical music you will follow this one perfectly!

“A Day Like No Other” had me gasping at the final line – no, no peeping, because you’ll spoil it! I felt myself bristling at the injustice of this one, but society being what it is now, I can understand how this might happen.

KRL staff member Sandra Murphy also has a story in this anthology called “Arthur.”

All in all, a great little anthology!

To enter to win an ebook copy of Flash and Bang, simply email KRL at krlcontests@gmail[dot]com by replacing the [dot] with a period, and with the subject line “Flash,” or comment on this article. A winner will be chosen January 2, 2016. U.S. residents only. If entering via email please include your mailing address, and if via comment please include your email address.

Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & short stories in our mystery section.

Click on this link to purchase this book:

Flash and Bang: A Short Mystery Fiction Society Anthology

Diana Hockley is an Australian mystery author who lives in a southeast Queensland country town. She is the devoted slave of five ratties & usually finds an excuse to mention them in her writing, including her recent novel, The Naked Room. Since retiring from running a traveling mouse circus for 10 years, she is now the mouse judge for the Queensland Rat & Mouse Club shows. To learn more, check out her website.