More Shorts Within a Mystery — Ben Steinlage

More Shorts Within A Mystery By Ben Steinlage A little over a year ago, my wife said I should put together an anthology of short stories. I could see why she suggested what she did, for my collection is in the hundreds. Though I wanted to please her, I did have a problem with the idea. Like so many, I've read a number of such books. In doing so, I've found a short story here, or there I liked but others bored me. Whenever I found one of these, I wished there was something else to think about. So in fulfilling her request I came up with “Writing My Shorts.” With my thoughts being what they were, I loosely patterned the main character after myself. He or “Jim,” is a writer, as well as a member of a “Writers Group.” As so often is the case, he finds himself in a position of doing something he doesn't really want to do. In that book as well as this one, he ends up solving a murder mystery. In the process, he is asked via Email, to critique a story or poem for different members of the group he belongs to. I thought it was a cute idea, but never expected to get the response from readers that I did. So here is another murder mystery, woven through thirty plus short stories and poems. I hope you enjoy “Writing my Shorts within a Mystery,” as much as I did putting it together.