Book Review: Silence of the Loons: Thirteen Tales of Mystery by Minnesota's Premier Crime Writers

Reviewed By: Cheryl - RAM

Silence of the Loons: Thirteen Tales of Mystery by Minnesota's Premier Crime Writers     Amazon US TPB Amazon Canada TPB
Minnesota Crime Wave , M. D. Lake , Mary Logue , William Kent Krueger , Judith Guest , Monica Ferris , K. J. Erickson , Ellen Hart , Carl Brookins , Deborah Woodworth
Class/Genre:   Mystery   [Short Stories]
Nodin Press 2005

This collection of thirteen short stories is presented by the Minnesota Crime Wave - Carl Brookins, Ellen Hart, William Kent Krueger and Deborah Woodworth (www.minnesotacrimewave.org) - and provides a view of Minnesota that is more than "green pines and blue water".

The stories' settings range from urban to rural; the characters from children and teens to their parents and grandparents; and the crimes from murder to actions that cross the controversial borderline between sane and insane, moral and immoral.

There are many interesting characters in the stories - bored teenagers always excepted. Even those of us who have never been to Minnesota can recognize the elderly ladies, the unhappy married people and criminals - clever, inept and unlucky.

Some of the stories have particularly clever plot twists, which I always enjoy and which can be difficult to work out within the constraints of a short story.

As a common thread, all authors were asked to include four of a list of eight clues or elements in their stories. It's a sign of the cleverness of the authors that by the end of the book, I'd sighted only two of the clues, although they were all present.

Overall, this is an excellent introduction to a variety of regional writers, and, in its own right, an entertaining collection of short stories.

Cheryl - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Cheryl - RAM