'Murder In La-La Land' is an anthology of twelve mystery short stories. The authors present an interesting assortment of their works. A common thread is a melding of science fiction, fantasy and thriller with mainstreaam fiction.
Of the twelve stories, four stand out for me:
'Just Like Jay', by Pam Ripling shows humanism with a most fitting ending.
'Blonde Have More Fun' by Jane DiLucchio was my favorite. Two friends Diega and Marjorie are out celebrating Marjorie's final divorce decree and they are at a gay bar. For a ten page story, this one has humor and a surprise ending which knocked my socks off. DiLucchio has written a concise story that truly holds your interest. I just loved this one!
'This I Know', by Kathy Kingston is a cleverly concocted story taking place at a Halloween costume party and Kingston has not given names to the main characters, a delightful change that really works. 'This I Know' deals with domestic violence and Kingston certainly pulls of a pleasant surprise in her story. Great work!
'Mrs. Spacek' by Lenore Carlson
Mrs. Spacek has just lost her son Bobby, who supposedly fell of a cliff he visited often. She is calm and beautiful and Detective Lim is quite impressed with her acceptance of her son's death. Seems Bobby was almost 20 and his girlfriend Isabel Garcia only 13. Strange. Justice is done in Carlson's story with perception and understanding. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of her characters who had great diversity as well as being compassionate.
'Average Monster, Gabriel Vazquez, left me hanging.
'Death is Golden', Jude McGee, had major revenge as its theme.
This is my first anthology review and it was a nice change of pace, especially the four I chose as my favorites.
FTC: Full Disclosure: Book Provided by one of the authors
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The title of my 2nd favorite should read 'Blondes' rather than Blond. Sorry
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