OTHER SHORT STORIES
by Carole Nelson Douglas
(None of these stories have either Midnight Louie or Irene Adler in them.)| Story | Book(s) where found (summaries below) |
|---|---|
| Alice Holds the Cards | First Lady Murders 1999, edited by Nancy Pickard |
| Catch a Falling Angel | Angel Christmas 1995, edited by Mary Balough |
| Christmas Magic | Dreamspun Christmas 1994, edited by Marilyn Campbell |
| Cold Turkey |
Wild Women 1997, edited by Melissa Mia Hall |
| Dirty Dancing |
Mystery's Most Wanted 1997, edited by Mystery Scene Magazine Malice Domestic 4 1995, edited by Carolyn G. Hart Death Dance 2002, Edited by: Trevanian Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories, fifth annual edition 1996, Mystery Scene staff |
| Lawn and Order |
Deadly Housewives 2006, edited by Christine Matthews |
| Night Owl |
Past Lives, Present Tense
1999, edited by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. |
| Scrogged: A Cyber Christmas Carol |
Death By Dickens
2004, edited by Anne Perry |
| Shadows of My Father |
Fathers & Daughters
1999, edited by Jill Morgan |
| Special Surprise Guest Appearance By . . . |
Murder By Magic
2004, edited by Rosemary Edghill |
| Strangers in a Strange Land |
Thou Shalt Not Kill: Biblical Mystery Stories
2005, edited by Anne Perry |
| Sunset: A Monologue in One Act |
Marilyn: Shades of Blonde
1997, edited by Carole Nelson Douglas |
| Texas Bound |
Forever Texas
2000, edited by Mike Blakely and Mary Elizabeth Goldman |
| Those Were Pearls That Were His Eyes |
Much Ado About Murder
2002, edited by Anne Perry |
Alice Holds the Cards
by Carole Nelson Douglas and friend Jennifer Waddell. Written about Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Teddy Roosevelt and cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This is interesting in that "First Lady Murders" implies a murder mystery, but I didn't find any murder in this story. There was espionage, however. Alice tries to catch a spy; there was no spy caught, but one suspected. Leave it to CND to do things different from everyone else. Still, it is well written and humorous about a woman who doesn't really care about standards society sets for her or in being a "lady". Self willed, I guess you'd call her, smoking, playing poker, and dressing in trousers. I enjoyed the story.Catch a Falling Angel
This story involves the death of one Adrian Ashworth, aka Lord Heathford, who is somewhat bad, but not bad enough to go to Hell. Certainly not good enough for Heaven. He comes back to earth in another time (1995) as Adrian Lord, a rock singer, to try to be bad enough to get into Hell. There are angels involved, here, including dark angels.Christmas Magic
A romantic fantasy, Melody Johansen buys an old watch, and steps back in time one hundred years. Not sure whether she is dead or alive, or how to get back into her own time, like a ghost, no one can see or hear her. She goes to her home and finds it looking different, a man is using her room now. Gradually her invisibility goes away and she affects the family living there. The watch she bought is still with her, she finds out who owned it and ends up back in her own time, back in her own clothes. The watch is no longer available in her own time, but the Christmas tree from a hundred years ago is so she tries to buy it.Cold Turkey
Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories,seventh annual edition , 1998, edited by Ed Gorman and Martin GreenbergA nurse disassociates to treat a patient and saves another victim.
Dirty Dancing
Linda, a 50 year old widow, goes to an office party and ends up dancing with a guy who does push dancing, a cousin to slam dancing. She is humiliated since she knows nothing about this kind of dancing and ends up falling down, the guy pulls her back up and keeps dancing. This sort of dancing should only be done with people who have practiced it and know what they're doing. She decides to tell the jerk off, so that he doesn't end up hurting the next woman he dances with. He, however, is hard to find, so she ends up playing detective. Everyone tells her to forget him, there's nothing she can do about it anyway. Or is there? Very good ending.Lawn and Order
A mother in law is relegated to an over the garage loft, her cat is poisoned (accidentally?) and her son's wife is always criticizing her, won't let her do anything useful, and is trying to convince her to go to a home for older people. Everything is about show in this upscale neighborhood. The mother brings a little life into this neighborhood, and death helps a little.Night Owl
Introduces an interesting topic of 'blended' souls. Dr. Chimera, is the first, the souls of a happily married couple are blended into one person. Perhaps one of them died first and the technique was used on the other. It involves taking DNA from one person and somehow inserting it into the brain of another. Dr. Chimera spoke in the combined voices of tenor and alto.The story is about an autistic girl, Athena, whose caretaker tries to help by using 'soul blending' to bring her out of herself into the real world. The DNA from Florence Nightingale is used with mixed results.
This story was hard for me to understand. Perhaps if I had more experience with autism or knew more about Florence Nightingale, I would have enjoyed it more.
Sunset:
A Monologue in One Act