Reviews
“Editor Judy Penz Sheluk has assembled a stellar group of crime fiction authors for this extraordinary collection. Storytelling at its best!”—David Bart, short-story specialist, contributor to the Anthony Award-winning Mystery Writers of America anthology “Crime Hits Home.”
“From thieves in a seedy Detroit bar to a nasty murder in Santa Cruz, Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers reflects the creative knack of editor Judy Penz Sheluk, who has arranged these extraordinary stories by a host of talented authors into one fascinating anthology”—Wil A. Emerson, multi-published Derringer nominee.
“Judy Penz Sheluk has the knack for putting together uniquely themed anthologies and this is her most recent one. In Midnight Schemers, Daydream Believers, she has selected 22 stories of slick manipulators and those who thought they were craftier than they really were. Sometimes the reader wants to cheer for them and hope their plans for revenge or gain work out; in others the reader wants their nefarious schemes to meet the end they deserve. Regardless of whether it’s a down-and-out hopeful seeking a happy ending or an unscrupulous schemer playing the system, the twists and turns in these stories keep the reader guessing and marveling at the minds of the talented writers who concoct such unusual tales of dreams that sometimes turn into nightmares.”—Lesley A. Diehl, author of the Maddie Sparks Mysteries
“An excellent collection of twenty-two stories that include all emotions tied to desire, dreams, revenge and retribution. Although all the stories were well-written, I particularly enjoyed “Secretly Keith,” (Charles Kondek), “Quincy and Crow” (Joseph Walker), “Evening Escapade” (KM Rockwood), and “A Foolproof Plan” (Judy Penz Sheluk). A must read!”—Debra H. Goldstein, Award-winning author.
“A collection of twenty-two tales of schemes, crimes, and more, is wide ranging tone and story style, along the lines of the title theme. What caught them and brought them together in the net of this book is the sharp eye of editor, Sheluk who realizes that readers of short story collections want more than an assembly of cookie cutter adventures. Unique characters, unique tales, tones vary from very dark to light. (I admit a preference for the lighter ones, myself.)
I’m not going to insult future readers by naming my favorites because unless your tastes and mood when reading exactly mirror mine you/they will likely name different set of tales as your preferred. IN fact, if I were to reread it today, I might have a different set, What is important is that the quality is uniformly an exercise in good story craft. Warning, some of the darker tales are quite dark indeed.
Each tale is worth reading not only for the tale itself, but also simply for the variety of styles. One writer uses an old-fashioned long sentence description method, others (most of them) the crisper approach of brevity, a flick of one or two adjectives or adverbs, But in each description serves the tale—whether with a storm, by a cascade of coincidences, or other devices. These tales show humanity at its best and worst. There were protagonists I despised so that the ending of my time with them on the page made me sigh with relief, and protagonists I admired.
What you see in the title is what you get with this book…twenty-two distinctive tales. It took me a while to read the entire book. These stories m like mini novels, in their power. I needed breathing time between them to mull over what made the twists work and what the authors had done to cleverly enable me to hold my breath in belief suspension for the length of their tale. There’s not a clunker in the bunch.
This is the perfect book to take with you on a trip or for anyone who has short bursts of time to devote to reading.
Thank you, Judy for curating such a wonderful, diverse collection, and for your own tale at the end, which if I had to name a favorite…….
I gave it 4.5 stars. I am very sensitive to the darker tales and lost some sleep over one or two in this collection. If you like very dark tales, you might swing the other way, giving it a 5.5″—Joan Leotta, multi-nominated author and storyteller.
“After an introduction by author/editor/publisher Judy Penz Sheluk that explains the inspiration for the new anthology, Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery and Suspense, it is on to the stories. All are good ones. Some resonated with me more than others. Some of those that struck me more are listed below. My personal choices do not mean that they are better than the others. They just clicked with me more.” Read the rest on Kevin’s Corner