Synopsis (from
the publisher):
Thirty-one thought-provoking mystery stories by acclaimed author
Stephen D. Rogers, all set in the cities and small towns of his native
New England.
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Shot to Death
Short
Story Collection
Stephen
D. Rogers
Mainly Murder Press (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-9825899-0-5 (0982589905)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9825899-0-8 (9780982589908)
Publication Date: February 2010
List Price: $14.95
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Review: Author
Stephen D. Rogers gathers 31 of his stories of murder and mayhem into
one collection titled Shot To Death:
31 Stories of Nefarious New England.
Ordered alphabetically by story title (as good a way as any), these
stories are told from the perspective of both good guys and bad guys,
sometimes in third person but mostly in first person, and yet they all
have a similar "voice". It's an easy-going style that subtly draws the
reader in to the story's premise, then suddenly springs an unexpected
twist. Though it may seem to get repetitive, and to be sure, not all
the stories have one, it really isn't. The author always plays fair,
with the twist often foreshadowed but frequently in an unforeseen
manner.
** SPOILER ALERT (for just one story) **
For example, in "C.O.D." (a really clever title, incidentally), a man
is tormented by a couple of kids who repeatedly knock over his mailbox
with their truck. The sheriff doesn't care, boys will be boys he says,
and brush it off. That the boys are the sons of the sheriff is an
incidental fact. The man goes home to repair his mailbox yet again, as
described in this rather innocuous paragraph:
I spent this afternoon digging
a deep hole, building a temporary support for the steel shaft, pouring
in quick-dry cement. Four hours later, I slid the plastic mailbox post
over the shaft, disassembled the support, and replaced the sod.
When the boys hit the mailbox later that night, "[their] pickup was
wrapped around the steel shaft, the engine dead but ticking from the
heat." The driver is killed, his passenger severely wounded. The story
ends as flashing lights approach the man's house.
"C.O.D." is typical of the stories in this entertaining collection,
written by an author who clearly knows his craft and, more importantly,
his audience. Two minor quibbles: some of the longer stories (those
over 10 pages) are really too long and could have been shortened; and
though subtitled as stories set in New England, there's very little of
this region in most of the tales, which often have no geographic
reference at all.
Special thanks to Stephen D. Rogers for providing a copy of Shot to Death for this review.
Review Copyright © 2010 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Shot to Death? How would you rate it?
Short Story Collections by this author …
Shot to Death
Mainly Murder Press (Trade Paperback), February 2010
ISBN-10: 0-9825899-0-5 (0982589905)
ISBN-13: 978-0-9825899-0-8 (9780982589908)
Omnimystery keywords for Shot to Death ...
Location(s) referenced: New England.
