Short Story Review: Ace Anthology

I began reading Murder: Month by Month, by Cathy Ace. I have read several novels in Ace's Cait Morgan Mystery series, so I was curious about her ability with the short fiction form. 

The anthology follows the calendar, opening with January. This is a creepy little tale told through diary entries as a woman plots the murder of her husband. I read the story aloud on a road trip. Both my husband and I figured out something was not quite right fairly early in the story, but what that something was came as a surprise.

Cait Morgan appears in February, when a student shows up in her university office. Paris Chow asks her advice for a murder mystery story he wants to tell as part of the Chinese New Year celebration. Cait suspects the story is not fiction, but listens to the end of his tale. Paris is more interested in who didn't do it than who committed the murder. Fans of Cait Morgan will enjoy seeing her in this short story.

Anthologies are nice because you can set them down, picking them up whenever you have time for a story. There's no loss of continuity. I am looking forward to following the calendar with more of Cathy Ace's entertaining mystery stories.

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