cover image Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Malice from the Land of Minnesota Nice

Fifteen Tales of Murder, Mayhem, and Malice from the Land of Minnesota Nice

Minnesota Crime Wave. Nodin (www.nodinpress.com), $16 trade paper (176p) ISBN 978-1-935666-43-1

For their third anthology (after Resort to Murder), the Minnesota Crime Wave (Carl Brookins, Ellen Hart, and William Kent Krueger) are joined by 12 fellow crime writers from the Land of 10,000 Lakes in contributing stories of primarily regional interest. Krueger%E2%80%99s "Woman in Ice" relates an eerie tale about the strong, strange reactions of the villagers who view the titular sight through the prisms of their own consciences. In Hart%E2%80%99s "Overstuffed," a terminally ill woman%E2%80%99s suspected murder by her ex-husband obsesses her sister until a stroke of poetic justice arrives. In Joel Arnold%E2%80%99s "Blue-Eyed Mary," a man manages to locate the half-brother lost to him since being given up for adoption at birth, but the mother and child reunion that follows has an unexpected result. A mobster relies too much on a tarot reader%E2%80%99s skills in David Housewright%E2%80%99s amusing "A Turn of the Card." Other contributors include Elizabeth Gunn, Richard A. Thompson, and Judith Yates Borger. Few winners emerge from a slim volume likely to have only limited appeal. (Oct.)