Other Short Stories Include:

“Mercy 101” in Still Waters: Crime Stories By New England Writers (Level Best Books, January 1, 2007). You can hear it read aloud on the Lit101 podcast here. The grief-stricken mother of a policeman killed by a hit-and-run driver while returning to his vehicle after a routine traffic stop on Highway 101 drives it each night to try to sooth her pain. Her husband fears that an increase in deadly traffic accidents on 101 is connected.

“Circulation” in Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Writers (Level Best Books, January 1, 2008). You can hear it read aloud on the Lit101 podcast here. Small-town editor Edward Philbrick has three months to increase the circulation (and profits) of the local newspaper or lose his job. A murder turns out to be the boost it needs.

"The Lesson" in Best New England Crime Stories 2012: Dead Calm (Level Best Books, November 11, 2011). Middle school teacher Richard Springfield suspects mysterious mail missives that began with blank pieces of paper and progressed to ever-larger black dots was a prank by his students or maybe his friends. Then the harassment turns deadly to those around him as he struggles to understand why someone is targeting him.

“Be Not Afraid” in Masthead, Best New England Crime Stories (Level Best Books, December 15, 2020). Edward Manning often repeated the adage “behind every fortune lies a great crime” and when he and his wife Janie are found murdered in their Maine island summer mansion, their daughter is suspected of killing them for their money. But her life also is in jeopardy.

“Greetings of the Season” in The Ledge Poetry & Fiction Magazine 25th Edition (The Ledge, Winter 2013). Every year for the past two decades, Charlotte Bergeron receives an unsigned Christmas card with $100 inside in the first week of December. Her search to find the sender is fruitless. Then she finds a photo of her mother with a woman who became a famous author.