Good short stories in the Mercy Thompson world
929327
These short stories add additional details to the series. Many intriguing stories, an enjoyable read. Read the series until Night Broken first as there are several spoilers.
2389350
I am completely addicted to the O. Henry Award short story anthologies, which I have been collecting for decades. Some years have a better harvest of stories than others, but for the most part, the editor and the screening committee sift through hundreds of potential winners to offer the best of the best--according to their opinions--between two covers.

This year's collection is good but not outstanding. There were some VERY creative approaches but among them were stories that sounded like the final project for a writing seminar. "Something for a Young Woman," by Genevieve Plunkett, was one of these. Although it held my attention, it didn't give me anything new.

Kevin Berry's "A Cruelty" was one of the standouts, and it stuck with me for some time.

(I admit I have not yet read all of the stories because I like to save some for later in the year.)

I would recommend this series to anyone who loves the short story. Even if you come across some that don't really grab you, there are a lot of gems that you will appreciate. I can't give a full five stars only because I feel like the vision of the editors may be a little narrow, but who knows what next year will bring?

Happy reading !!!
2144197
Great collection of short stories.  I really enjoy Thompson's narrative style.  Awesome read.
1728739
I liked this collection of short stories. There are a handful of stories to keep you busy for a few nights if you are a not a voracious reader. I feel like short stories are a place to experiment and the author has certainly done that going over several different ideas. One thing that I observed occurring across several of the stories is the idea of revelations and the character's decision to ignore them and keep going on about their life, even though they are changed. My favorite stories were the last two: "Hazardous cargoes" and "The vermin episode". Both of these stories alone make the whole book worth it and suggest others to give it a shot.
1218530
This book has a variety of short stories - some sad and some very touching. I enjoyed the book.  The author is a very good short story writer in the traditional sense. His stories have a great opening paragraph that brings the reader into the story.  The story is filled with action sentences  vivid adjectives describing emotions and colorful scenes. It is easy to see how this author also writes screen plays.
3595080
This charity anthology includes two little stories that I contributed, Off the Wall and Hey Diddle Diddle.

It's a cute set up - fairy tale characters having therapy after years of trauma.

My absolute favorite tales were "Snow White and the Psychologist" by Cleve Sylcox and "Glutton for Punishment" by Rebekah Dodson.

Short fun reads for a good cause.
4754701
Mercy Thompson novels are great for 'break' reading. The books are not too complicated but always reward the reader. Fun characters.
1376490
This book had some pretty good stories in it.  I enjoyed Caitlyn Lynch's stories as well as Libby Ward's, Nycola Christian's and Annika Steele's.  Some of the short stories were definitely better than others.  I wish all of them had really had a true Halloween theme.  But it was a good anthology overall and I found s new author I like.
3885518
A really fun book of short stories. This author has a sense of humor and lends it to her writings.
1711517
Lindsay Ahart brings us three short and sweet stories.  Each story is well written, with a good story line, strong characters and a yearning for more of her amazing writing.  I look forward to reading more from Lindsay in the future.
158115
Connie Stevens is an excellent writer.  I enjoyed all three of these stories.  They were intelligent and believable and touching.  I liked that she presented the characters' emotions and personalities in a well rounded way for stories as short as these are.  Sometimes novellas are not quite believable or the characters lack depth or are quite immature in order to perpetuate the conflict.  These were great and I recommend them to anyone, especially if one is unfamiliar with the south post-civil war.
417547
This is a nice collection of short stories, some detective stories, some  not, some murders, and various other crimes. I like Max Bittersohn and  Sarah Kelling, so stories featuring them are always great. I also like  Peter Shandy, and he's here too. But there are several other short stories,  some light-hearted and some a little more serious. This is a great  collection.
2490206
I have enjoyed reading these short stories.  It's interesting and laudable to read stories that place strong women in a positive manner by a male writer.  In fact, the narrative perspective is also from male characters who observe and value the strength of the women they meet, confront, and love.  The stories are interesting and varied in style, length, and substance.  A nice collection.
1359462
This is a collection of four short stories set in the same world and featuring some of the characters from Good Intentions and Natural Consequences.

If you liked those novels, chances are that you'll like this, but there are two things that keep me from giving it a full five star rating.  First, as other reviews have noted, it's short.  I really feel like a fifth story could have been added for extra content.  Second, the first story details Onyx and Molly's first encounter with the Brotherhood of Apollo, which was alluded to in Good Intentions, but the actual events described don't really match the way things were previously described.  In Good Intentions, the encounter was mentioned in a way that made it sound like "magazine salesman who can't take a hint."  Here, well, to quote Firefly (as Elliott Kay is fond of doing), certain words were exchanged.  Also, certain... bullets.
982530
This is a good introduction to Father Brown and the author through some entertaining short stories.  Great reads for busy days!
279616
I have enjoyed Patricia Briggs Mercy series.  This is a story involving a character mentioned and it does not disappoint!
56605
This book is a group of three early novels.  As I only recently discovered the series, I hadn't read the earliest stories. The stories are light reading. Although these stories do touch on the class distinctions and hardships of the underclass, and while they are the same period as Anne Perry's Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series, they do not emphasize the hardships of the time. They are simply fun stories of a kindly, very decent, but perhaps not particularly sharp, police detective who inherits money and now has a staff of household servants and friends who enjoy investigating his murder cases behind his back and dropping him hints to assist in solving the cases. There's bits about early forensic science of bullet wounds, cause of death, and charming and colorful characters you would enjoy knowing.