and enjoyed, a number of Ian Rutledge stories
590070
I have read, and enjoyed, a number of Ian Rutledge stories.  I found that this one had such a great number of interconnected characters, that I had trouble keeping it all straight.  But I like Rutledge/Shamus very much and I'll not give up on Charles Todd.  .
1949489
Through a serendipitous sequence of events, I was introduced to Diamonds & Moths. On stressful days at work this summer, I would slip it into my laptop bag, and read a story as I was walking up the hill between hospitals.  Steve has a gift at transporting the reader, quickly, into an alternate universe. These slim stories are finely crafted, and in a few short pages, they end, and you are left wondering. Some of the stories are more along the line of urban fantasy (i.e. the dentist to vampires) and others remind one of Hassidic wisdom tales. One is left wondering who actually is the village idiot or wise man, and what would have been the ethical choice to make. There are some slips. A couple of the stories end too abruptly, without any wonder or satisfaction to make up for it. However, there are far more diamonds. Some of the stories I still turn about in my head several months later, trying to unwrap the edge of mystery that the author was able to brush against.
3927051
A Pig in the Rumble Seat & other short stories
Edward Hujsak

This collection of 23 short stories and poem collection was a refreshing read.  The stories are a mix of real life tales of the past, works of fiction and works of science fiction along with a collection of poems.  The stories range from fantasy science fiction to real life science history, with stories from the great depression era and historical family memories.
The author has many different writing styles.  Each story was unique in its own way, and while I didn't always enjoy each story, I knew the next story would be a fresh start and a different tone.

Edward Hujsak did a wonderful job with his writings.  The publication is what you would expect from the title, an intriguing collection of short stories.  The cover art of this collection of stories will grab your attention and lure you into the contents.  A Pig in the Rumble Seat was one of my favorite stories along with San Diego's Missile, Killing a Rooster and The Still.

I learned a lot of history by reading this book.  I felt I was given an insight into the past, a revelation of time and how things have changed.  I loved reading this because I grew up in southern New Hampshire and have spent many years in the same area as the author.  It was very interesting to compare his memories with mine and how things have grown and changed over the course of years, but managed to somewhat stay the same.  It made me miss home and long to go back.

I enjoyed this book for many reasons.  I learned things I did not know about in regards to science and missiles.  I was amazed at the intelligence of the author, and enjoyed hearing his accounts first hand.  The stories were all very different, but many of them were funny, insightful and useful.  I felt I received a bit of American history through the readings, along with personal history and generational history.  This collection of stories will stay with you.  There is something in this book for everyone.  I enjoyed reading it.
262574
This book contains a wide variety of short stories, most by authors I'd never heard of. There was no commentary in the book explaining how the stories were chosen. Having said that, most of them were engrossing and entertaining. A few, however, felt a little clunky, but that may seem that way because writing styles have changed since these stories were first published. Also interesting were the attitudes of many of the characters, especially towards women. One story refereed to women as only capable of asking asinine questions, for example. These attitudes and the somewhat dated feel (computers were barely used) did not detract, but gave insight into the beliefs of the time and what they thought the future would hold.
1281437
A collection of interesting suspense stories - enjoyable.
4959833
If you're a fan of mystery series novels, definitely give these Inspector Rutledge books a look-see.  I love the unique sense of time and place which adds so much to the mysteries.  Ian Rutledge is, I think, unique among the many mystery novel heroes.

"Wings of Fire" is the second in the series.  I did not start out reading the books in sequence and it is not necessary to do so  in order to enjoy them, but it does keep Rutledge's back story more in line to read them in order.
789538
Uneven collection of four stories.  The title story, a Perry Mason mystery, is the weakest of the four.  The "Jeweled Butterfly" introduces two new "detectives" - Peggy Castle and her Uncle Benedict.  They solve the mystery is somewhat leisurely fashion. "Something Like a Pelican" is from the Lester Leith series. These are all fun.  This one features Leith trying to become a writer, struggling over how to begin his article. No doubt Gardner himself experienced this challenge at some point during his writing career.  The fourth story, "A Man is Missing", is a gem. What makes this story so appealing is Gardner's enthusiastic description of a pack trip into rural Idaho.  It's clear he once went on such a trip and loved it.  The mystery is OK, too, but mostly this story makes me wish that I could replicate this trip for myself.
717285
I very much enjoyed most of the stories in this book. There is lots of humor and compassion. A couple of the stories were really good except they tended to defy history. Books, or in this case short stories, which glorify the Confederacy and villify the Northern armies irritate me. Even if the story has meaning far beyond Civil War it is difficult to focus on the greater while being pummelled by what at times felt like outright lies. The reason I gave this book four stars is that most of the stories are good and make for nice "tea and a story" reading.
3662187
Many of the stories provide background info about Reachers childhood and share experiences that add to his persona. A few are too short; they end before you want them to.
278168
I've read these stories several times. And it was worth rereading.
3499381
I love this series, so I was most gratified to find a few stories I hadn't read, collected along with a few I was glad to read again.

There did seem to be some minor inconsistencies between the young Mary's diary entries for the weeks and months after the death of her family and the way the adult Mary describes the experiences of that time in some of the novels.

I may have missed, the first time around, the delightful if fleeting mention of Lord Peter Wimsey and his reformed burglar friend in "The Marriage of Mary Russell."
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.
3836680
I cringe a little whenever I pick up a book of short stories all written by the same author, because there's the chance that the tales will all turn out sounding the same.  But here, the settings are varied (in both time and place); the lengths of the stories are varied (from 3 to 50 pages); and none of the themes/critters repeat themselves.

  Some of the stories are light in tone; others are much darker.  Some involve the natural world; others invoke the supernatural.  Some entail the mundane things in life; others deal with the out-of-the ordinary.  In each case, I enjoyed trying to guess the twist that Marlin Williams was going to give the tale.  I failed every time.  Thats a real plus.

  For reference sake, the 8 stories offered here are :

  01)  The Killing Kind
  02)  Life Form
  03)  Lint
  04)  The Same Old Nightmare
  05)  The Agency
  06)  Them
  07)  Cracked.
  08)  Boucherie

  My personal favorites were 02, 03, 06, and 08, which also happen to be the four longest stories.  Your favorites will most likely be different from mine. The other four tales are still good, just short.

  The usual caveats about short stories apply.  Dont expect a lot of depth-of-character.  Dont expect a complex plotline.  Do expect to be drawn into the story within a page or so, or even within the first couple paragraphs.  Do expect the events and action to be fast-paced.  And regardless of genre, do expect something unexpected to occur.

  By those criteria, *Twisted Tales* succeeds admirably.  Each of the tales kept my interest, and thats all you ask for from an anthology.
1769758
A handful of stories in this anthology are exceptional, a few seem to have come from by talented but novice writers, and the rest of the stories lie in varying degrees in between.  All in all, it's worth the read and I look forward to seeing more from the contributing authors.
4752176
Though not a totally stellar collection, there are some stories that I consider real clunkers in this, it is a nice collection by an author not widely known to many people.
  The stories aren't sheer entertainment here, they are entertaining, generally, but of a higher caliber, thought-provoking and displaying a wide-breadth of subject matter and technique. As I mentioned, they can be somewhat cynical, sometimes whimsical,and always satirical.
  Tenn's afterwords to each story provide some interesting insights, and in a couple cases give good reason anyone would display some cynicism
  Overall it was good enough that I shall be trying to get the second volume. The good stories repaid the effort put into reading them and more than made up for the stories I personally did not like.
4064084
Undressed To Kill: The Investigations of Ralphy, written by David Andrew McGlone, is a short collection of stories about the cases of an alcohol addicted and fairly useless private investigator. Ralphy is pretty much a low life who spends his days and nights looking for his next drink and his next woman. He has a two-track mind: getting drunk and getting laid. That's probably why the cases he does get aren't exactly cream of the crop but he does seem to always come out on top, albeit usually with a little help from friends.
 The book starts with a nice little introduction that gives a bit of a background about Ralphy and his personal life as well as his work. It also introduces Rachel, Ralphy's assistant, who alternates between sleeping with him and saving his behind when need be. Rachel is by far my favorite character in the collection. There was no way I could like Ralphy who is a complete waste of skin but that's the way he is written and meant to be. Think back to the hard-boiled detective novels from the sixties and seventies and that's what these case stories seem a lot like. There are six short stories in all and for the most part all are quite entertaining and somewhat funny. I could picture Ralphy starring in a half hour television show about his cases. Each story is written in a format perfect for just that set-up. The solution to the cases isn't always obvious and the author does a good job of providing enough suspense to keep things entertaining. My favorite case out of the six in the book was Ralph Gets Lucky. A fast little tale about blackmail and intimidation with an ending that proves maybe Ralphy isn't quite the idiot he consistently portrays himself to be. For those that miss the days of Hawaii Five O and Rockford Files, Undressed To Kill is a nice throwback to that era with maybe a bit more sex.
1934140
I had only read a few of Sterlings books so I was happy to try a collection of short stories. It gives me a faster taste of the authors style on a wider range of narratives.

Some of the stories are interconnected and I like how a minor character in an earlier story becomes the protagonist of a later story. The bicycle repairman was one of my favorites.

Sterling writes a convincing future.