It's a Crime!: ...an eclectic collection of 30 short mysteries to chill the warmest heart.

IT'S A CRIME is a collection of 30 eclectic, spellbinding short mysteries, a "new and improved" edition of its 2019 progenitor, newly edited and formatted, with two new stories and two sneak previews of my newest mystery novels.

Crime fiction is a pretty broad genre. That's one of the things that makes writing it fun. Sometimes it's hard to even tell if a crime has been committed, as in "Sleeping Beauty," "The Audition," or "Prince of the Leafcutters." Some erudite critics might even bestow upon those particular stories the lofty title of literary fiction.

Other crime subgenres include hardboiled, rock 'em sock 'em violent crime, as in "Honey Pot," to the more gently soft-boiled, as in "Elephant Seals." Or humorous, as in "Buffaloed" and "Brotherhood." Then there are the Western mysteries, and I've got five of them starring the introspective cowboy, Jefferson Dance. And the amateur sleuth, featuring the irascible Daniel Jacobus, who you either love to hate or hate to love. And police procedurals, featuring retired NYPD Police Chief, Maury Gross. And how could we forget spy stories, here represented by "The Case of the Burqa-ed Busker" and others? There's even one, "A Family Plot," which is less of a story and more of a puzzle, though a tragic crime has indeed been committed. Let's see if you can figure it out.

Regardless of the subgenre, this collection of short crime fiction is meant to entertain. Whether you're reading outside on your patio on a bright, sunny summer day with your steaming morning coffee or huddled under your blankets on a dark and stormy winter night, don't turn around, because you might not want to know what's behind you.