Inspired by some other short story writers on social media, I snapped a picture of my 2024 publications—and have to admit feeling pleased to look productive here, especially since the year also seemed one where I got very little new writing done.
I want to shout-out one in particular that attendees at the Sisters in Crime Chessie Chapter Author Extravaganza in December seemed excited about: “After Their Convictions, Six Murderers Reflect on How Killing Mr. Boddy Changed Their Lives,” co-written with my wife, Tara Laskowski, edited by Michael Bracken, and published by Black Cat Mystery Magazine & Wildside Press. Our first foray into fan fiction (!) lets us riff on the fates of our favorite board game characters AFTER the envelope is opened and their guilt is revealed—six linked flash fiction segments in all.
“We Keep The Wall Between Us As We Go” in Mystery Tribune is a story told backwards, tracing violence between neighbors back to the root of their troubles.
“Two for One” in Murder, Neat: A SleuthSayers Anthology is about a woman who’s tired of the static relationship with a coupon-clipping boyfriend, yearning for something more, and then in maybe over her head.
“The Gained Ground” in Midsummer Mysteries follows an older man on an annual hike, honoring a friend who’d died in childhood.
“Tuesday Night Teas” in Agatha and Derringer Get Cozy features an advice columnist and a group of friends solving what may be a murder armchair-detective style—in an homage to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple story “The Tuesday Night Club.”
“Dark Threads, Loose Strands” in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine is told from three perspectives: a man driving past a public school and witnessing a fight on the playground, and then two of the boys involved in the fight.