This exciting collection of short stories features crime writers working with a “mystery tour” or travel theme. Showcasing the diversity of the contemporary crime-fiction genre, these 28 compelling stories will take you on a memorable trip – and you’ll not even have to leave your armchair.

This anthology includes:

1. “The Queen of Mystery” by Ann Cleeves
2. “Return to the Lake” by Anna Mazzola
3. “You’ll be Dead by Dawn” by C.L. Taylor
4. “The Last Supper” by Carol Anne Davis
5. “The White Goddess” by Cath Staincliffe
6. “High flyer” by Chris Simms
7. “Accounting for murder” by Christine Poulson
8. “Travel is dangerous” by Ed James
9. “Take the money” by Gordon Brown
10. “No way back” by J.M. Hewitt
11. “Mystery tour” by Judith Cutler
12. “Wife on tour” by Julia Crouch
13. “The naked lady of Prague” by Kate Ellis
14. “Snowbird” by Kate Rhodes
15. “The Repentance Wood” by Martin Edwards
16. “A mouthful of  Restaurant” by Martine Bailey
17. “Cruising for a Killing” by Maxim Jakubowski
18. “Three on a trail” by Michael Stanley
19. “The Riddle of the Humming Bee” by Paul Charles
20. “Writer’s Block” by Paul Gitsham
21. “Lady Luck” by Peter Lovesey
22. “A Postcard from Iceland” by Ragnar Jónasson
23. “A Clever Evil” by Sarah Rayne
24. “The Prodigy” by Shawn Reilly Simmons
25. “A Slight Change of Plan” by Susi Holliday
26. “Bombay Brigadoon” by Vaseem Khan
27. “Matricide and Ice Cream” by William Burton McCormick
28. “The Spoils” by William Ryan

It has been too long since I’ve immersed myself in a tome of short stories. I know that they are not for everyone.  Myself, I enjoy them a lot, I own a lot of anthologies, yet, inexplicably, I tend to read novels most of the time.

I read short stories to see how some of my favourite authors cope with the limited word count of the short story.  I also read short stories to discover potential new to me authors.

My favourite stories in this collection were:

“Return to the Lake” by Anna Mazzola

“High Flyer” by Chris Simms

“No way back” by J.M. Hewitt

“Mystery tour” by Judith Cutler

Many of these short stories had a astonishing ending.
The story that most shocked me was: “A Clever Evil” by Sarah Rayne

One story that I didn’t care for was:

“Accounting for Murder” by Christine Poulson: a story told solely through a series of receipts for goods & services.  This might have been a clever way to tell a story, but it wasn’t to my taste.

New (to me) authors from this collection that I intend to read more of:

Anna Mazzola

Chris Simms

Ragnar Jónasson

These stories were concise and powerful. In my opinion, anyone who enjoys crime fiction will enjoy this collection, whether or not they are a fan of the short format.  Recommended!

I received a digital copy of this anthology from Trafalgar Square Publishing/Orenda Books via NetGalley.

Martin Edwards was born at Knutsford, Cheshire and educated in Northwich and at Balliol College, Oxford University, taking a first class honours degree in law. He trained as a solicitor in Leeds and moved to Liverpool on qualifying. He published his first legal article at the age of 25 and his first book, about legal aspects of buying a business computer at 27, before a career as an equity partner of a law firm, where he is now a consultant. He is married to Helena with two children (Jonathan and Catherine) and lives in Lymm. A member of the Murder Squad collective of crime writers, Martin is Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association and in 2015 he was elected eighth President of the Detection Club. He is also Archivist of the CWA and of the Detection Club.