Grab your gumshoes and telephoto lens. It’s time to pay ‘Krymphixshon’ a visit to examine the Crime Scenes. This one’s well worth your scrutiny.
I’m not a die-hard crime reader who hoovers up a multiple-book series in a weekend like some people I know. My crime reading is both sporadic and serendipitous. So, when I tiptoe into the nefarious backstreets I want the action to sizzle. No exceptions.
Crime Scenes is a new anthology of crime fiction from Australian specialist short story publisher Spineless Wonders and it delivers the goods in spades. This slim volume held me at metaphorical gunpoint as I tried to second-guess each progenitor’s motive. No dice! Each story delivered an unexpected blow to the head or the solar plexus.
Plot twists? There are plenty. Intriguing characters? They run the gamut. Works from award-winning authors Angela Savage, Peter Corris, Leigh Redhead, Andrew Nette, David Whish-Wilson, P.M. Newton, Carmel Bird and Tony Birch sit alongside those of emerging Australian crime writers Amanda O’Callaghan, Eddy Burger, Melanie Napthine and Michael Caleb Tasker to create a fast-paced and satisfying mix.
Here’s some evidence of the calibre of Crime Scenes and a few of my deductions.
- ‘Thirteen Miles’ by Michael Caleb Tasker is a broody, moody study of love and betrayal. Its gentle tension keeps you guessing right to the end.
- ‘The Teardrop Tattoos’ by Angela Savage has some truly wonderful moments. My favourite description was this: ‘If Brunswick was a body, Sydney Road was the spinal cord that held it all together and made it move.’
- ‘The Good Butler’ by Carmel Bird morphed quickly to keep me cornered. From the comic: ‘Caroline had always been … A punctuator and a gambler’ (trust me this is funny when it’s read in context), to the poetic, ‘and you lie back on the Residential motel blanket—quiet pointed stockinged feet tiptoe, dark red dress, closed eyes, long blonde hair, hair fresh from a blow dry—blow kiss and sip—and you kiss and sip …’ the story exuded appeal.
- ‘The Drover’ by Leigh Redhead probes the competitiveness between writers and the ruthlessness of a particular brand of high school student. From its many great descriptions I most loved this: ‘Her flaming curls and pale, cantilevered bosom’. Cantilevered bosom! Such a berry-burst of delight. I never thought I’d see these two words chest-to-chest and find it so pleasing.
- ‘I Hate Crime Fiction’ by Eddy Burger is a wonderful spoof and romp. One character is called Iyhait Krymphixshon. Another is called (variously) Miss Story, Mystery and Miss Tory. Naff and predictable? Nah, it’s not.
- ‘Saying Goodbye’ by David Whish-Wilson has an eerie feel and uses skilful language to build the reader’s desire to know. Who are these pitiable sons? Who is the daughter (Sharon) that will inherit the properties her cop-father procured through graft? Who is the flawed, dying man at the story’s heart? Favourite quote, ‘Some lives take a tragic arc. Not my wife, who was loved. Not Sharon, who is successful. And who is loved.’ A fabulous story.
- ‘Postcard from Cambodia’ by Andrew Nette continues to chill my blood.
- ‘The Turn’ by Amanda O’Callahan was the worthy recipient of the Carmel Bird award for Crime Writing and has a great first sentence: ‘It’s the turn that tells you.’ The story goes from strength to strength from here.
Enough evidence here to intrigue you? If so, slough off your trench coat, pour yourself a finger of scotch and settle in for some armchair sleuthing. Crime Scenes is an open-and-shut case as far as I’m concerned. But you be the judge and jury.
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