Annie's Snow - appearing in the anthology Journeys into Possibility: Tales from the Pikes Peak Writers. Available at: https://books2read.com/Journeys-into-possibility
Eighty-three year old Annie talks her granddaughter into taking her for a drive into the mountains. Annie misses her deceased husband Clarence fiercely, and their active life hunting, camping, and hiking. During the drive, she realizes her granddaughter shares her love of nature. Annie just might have some wisdom, and a few more stories, to share with the new generation of naturalists.
Eighty-three year old Annie talks her granddaughter into taking her for a drive into the mountains. Annie misses her deceased husband Clarence fiercely, and their active life hunting, camping, and hiking. During the drive, she realizes her granddaughter shares her love of nature. Annie just might have some wisdom, and a few more stories, to share with the new generation of naturalists.
Claire's Cabin - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - March/April 2023
In Claire’s Cabin, three women settle beside the fireplace in a mountain cabin after a successful deer hunt. Friends since high school, each faced small town gossip and condemnation for their youthful indiscretions. They discuss an old mystery – the disappearance of an eccentric artist's abusive husband fifteen years ago. The former owner of the cabin they're in used found materials, including dead animals, in her artwork. After her husband vanished, Claire moved to a New Mexico artists' colony and found the peace she always desired. The women hunters puzzle over the mystery, while enjoying the second chance they each have achieved.
In Claire’s Cabin, three women settle beside the fireplace in a mountain cabin after a successful deer hunt. Friends since high school, each faced small town gossip and condemnation for their youthful indiscretions. They discuss an old mystery – the disappearance of an eccentric artist's abusive husband fifteen years ago. The former owner of the cabin they're in used found materials, including dead animals, in her artwork. After her husband vanished, Claire moved to a New Mexico artists' colony and found the peace she always desired. The women hunters puzzle over the mystery, while enjoying the second chance they each have achieved.
Cindy's Storm - Eccentric Circles - February 16, 2022
Anthology available in paperback or e-book here.
Encircle authors gathered together to publish a collection of short stories based on their novels.
My contribution, Cindy's Storm, involves secondary characters Cindy and Herb Lyons from my Rock Shop Mystery series. Cindy hopes to reignite the spark in their fading relationship during an elk hunting trip with her distracted husband. When they're trapped in a blizzard, her marriage becomes the least of Cindy's worries.
Anthology available in paperback or e-book here.
Encircle authors gathered together to publish a collection of short stories based on their novels.
My contribution, Cindy's Storm, involves secondary characters Cindy and Herb Lyons from my Rock Shop Mystery series. Cindy hopes to reignite the spark in their fading relationship during an elk hunting trip with her distracted husband. When they're trapped in a blizzard, her marriage becomes the least of Cindy's worries.
HazMat Holiday - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - January/February 2022
Chemist Charles and his college intern Tony return in HazMat Holiday. Charles is a dignified gentleman who loves his career as a chemist. He recently began a relationship with a wheelchair bound art museum docent from Israel, who introduces Charles to Hanukkah.
Tony is a college student / laboratory intern. He aspires to be hip. Thanks to my middle granddaughter for correcting my flawed Boomer attempts at slang. She enabled Tony to grasp for coolness in the midst of his nerdiness.
Charles insists on completing a vitally important lab test and report, despite Tony's anxiety about dire weather reports. Trapped in the factory by a Christmas blizzard, Charles experiences a Hanukkah miracle.
The story was inspired by my experiences working in a manufacturing facility for over twenty years.
Chemist Charles and his college intern Tony return in HazMat Holiday. Charles is a dignified gentleman who loves his career as a chemist. He recently began a relationship with a wheelchair bound art museum docent from Israel, who introduces Charles to Hanukkah.
Tony is a college student / laboratory intern. He aspires to be hip. Thanks to my middle granddaughter for correcting my flawed Boomer attempts at slang. She enabled Tony to grasp for coolness in the midst of his nerdiness.
Charles insists on completing a vitally important lab test and report, despite Tony's anxiety about dire weather reports. Trapped in the factory by a Christmas blizzard, Charles experiences a Hanukkah miracle.
The story was inspired by my experiences working in a manufacturing facility for over twenty years.
Industrial Gold - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - March/April 2020
Industrial Gold sees frustrated actor Marlin Hammerbach return to a dreaded factory job. Marlin is hired to work undercover to discover the source of mysterious apparitions on the night shift. Instead, he stumbles onto a plot with more serious consequences.
Industrial Gold sees frustrated actor Marlin Hammerbach return to a dreaded factory job. Marlin is hired to work undercover to discover the source of mysterious apparitions on the night shift. Instead, he stumbles onto a plot with more serious consequences.
Real Cowgirls Don't Cry - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - May/June 2019
When Katie Roberts discovers an illegal greenhouse on her ranch, she gets a lesson in the ambiguity of the new Colorado marijuana laws. While she may have mixed feelings about the issue of legality, her thoughts are clear on what should happen to the person responsible for injuring her favorite saddle horse, the cantankerous rescue mustang Daisy.
When Katie Roberts discovers an illegal greenhouse on her ranch, she gets a lesson in the ambiguity of the new Colorado marijuana laws. While she may have mixed feelings about the issue of legality, her thoughts are clear on what should happen to the person responsible for injuring her favorite saddle horse, the cantankerous rescue mustang Daisy.
Do-Over - Blood and Gasoline Anthology
Release date July 10, 2018 - short fiction anthology from Hex Publishers
Available from Barnes & Noble, on Amazon and: www.hexpublishers.com/store_blood-and-gasoline.html
Kirkus review
My story Do-Over is about vengeance, and a survivor’s hope that enacting justice can erase a painful past.
Blood and Gasoline is described as Mad Max meets Sons of Anarchy.
Seventeen stories screaming past the red line, tires tearing across the highway, guns stained with smoke and gore.
Seventeen stories of heroes and anti-heroes on desperate journeys, white knuckles on steering wheels, hearts pounding to the staccato beat of magnum hollow points slamming against flesh and steel.
Seventeen stories of hard-bitten souls hurtling over asphalt, the desert, the sea, and even through space itself in adventures fueled by vengeance, betrayal, madness, and murder.
Seventeen stories of tough justice, redemption, and salvation.
Hang on.
Release date July 10, 2018 - short fiction anthology from Hex Publishers
Available from Barnes & Noble, on Amazon and: www.hexpublishers.com/store_blood-and-gasoline.html
Kirkus review
My story Do-Over is about vengeance, and a survivor’s hope that enacting justice can erase a painful past.
Blood and Gasoline is described as Mad Max meets Sons of Anarchy.
Seventeen stories screaming past the red line, tires tearing across the highway, guns stained with smoke and gore.
Seventeen stories of heroes and anti-heroes on desperate journeys, white knuckles on steering wheels, hearts pounding to the staccato beat of magnum hollow points slamming against flesh and steel.
Seventeen stories of hard-bitten souls hurtling over asphalt, the desert, the sea, and even through space itself in adventures fueled by vengeance, betrayal, madness, and murder.
Seventeen stories of tough justice, redemption, and salvation.
Hang on.
Unrepentant Sinner - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - May / June 2017
On an Oklahoma farm, a reluctant granddaughter assists her feisty grandmother do the Lord’s work of ridding His garden of some weeds.
On sale 4/25/2017
On an Oklahoma farm, a reluctant granddaughter assists her feisty grandmother do the Lord’s work of ridding His garden of some weeds.
On sale 4/25/2017
The Chemistry of Heroes - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - May 2016
Derringer Award finalist
The Marshall Gasket Company renovation hits a snag when a body is discovered under a newly poured concrete floor. The factory is plagued with thefts of supplies used in meth labs, while animal rights activists protest an art gallery display of taxidermy. Chemistry holds the solution when Dr. Charles Jerome Harrison and his young assistant Tony Gilbert once again become entangled in a murder case.
On sale 3/29/2016
Industrial Gray - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - December 2015
Marlin Hammerbach believes he is overqualified for the life of a worker bee in a dismal factory, but his community theater acting career has stagnated. He needs his much-hated supervisor’s signature to apply for a promotion, but Paul Sneed is nowhere to be found.
I was thrilled to receive an email praising Industrial Gray:
Dear Catherine Dilts,
I wanted to take a moment to write and say how much I enjoyed your story "Industrial Gray" in December's issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. There were several elements that made me know I was in the reassuring hands of a strong storyteller, from the light tone and propulsive pace you set to your ability to sketch the quirky personalities of multiple characters through brief descriptions and some well-chosen and revealing dialogue. Using Paul Sneed's animal shorthand from his planner to give the reader an immediate sense of the characters was an inspired touch. The chemistry between your leads Marlin and Jazzmyn was both engaging and, by the end, a little poignant.
It was interesting to see on your website comments that the story was inspired by an assembly-line job that you once held. That binary between the blue collar workfloor drudgery and the separated, snooty office environment of white collar administration was really intriguing. Thanks for creating that story; it was a pleasure to read.
I look forward to seeing future stories from you! All best wishes for a productive and creative 2016 ---
Sincerely,
Jason Half
www.jasonhalf.com
Marlin Hammerbach believes he is overqualified for the life of a worker bee in a dismal factory, but his community theater acting career has stagnated. He needs his much-hated supervisor’s signature to apply for a promotion, but Paul Sneed is nowhere to be found.
I was thrilled to receive an email praising Industrial Gray:
Dear Catherine Dilts,
I wanted to take a moment to write and say how much I enjoyed your story "Industrial Gray" in December's issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. There were several elements that made me know I was in the reassuring hands of a strong storyteller, from the light tone and propulsive pace you set to your ability to sketch the quirky personalities of multiple characters through brief descriptions and some well-chosen and revealing dialogue. Using Paul Sneed's animal shorthand from his planner to give the reader an immediate sense of the characters was an inspired touch. The chemistry between your leads Marlin and Jazzmyn was both engaging and, by the end, a little poignant.
It was interesting to see on your website comments that the story was inspired by an assembly-line job that you once held. That binary between the blue collar workfloor drudgery and the separated, snooty office environment of white collar administration was really intriguing. Thanks for creating that story; it was a pleasure to read.
I look forward to seeing future stories from you! All best wishes for a productive and creative 2016 ---
Sincerely,
Jason Half
www.jasonhalf.com
The Last Real Cowboy - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - September 2014
Katie Roberts is willing to do just about anything to protect her Colorado cattle ranch, including confronting a drunk cowboy in possession of a firearm. When she finds the old guy dead in the bunkhouse, Katie doesn’t believe he committed suicide. With the help of her ranch hand Tosh, a dreadlock wearing buffalo soldier wannabe, Katie tries to determine whether it was the elderly cowboy’s womanizing ways that got him killed, or his sudden interest in an endangered toad living in Katie’s pond.
Individual electronic issues can be purchased through Magster.
Katie Roberts is willing to do just about anything to protect her Colorado cattle ranch, including confronting a drunk cowboy in possession of a firearm. When she finds the old guy dead in the bunkhouse, Katie doesn’t believe he committed suicide. With the help of her ranch hand Tosh, a dreadlock wearing buffalo soldier wannabe, Katie tries to determine whether it was the elderly cowboy’s womanizing ways that got him killed, or his sudden interest in an endangered toad living in Katie’s pond.
Individual electronic issues can be purchased through Magster.
Tweens - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - May 2014
Caroline Omiata is a Tween - too old to find a job, and too young to retire. When living with her daughter's family doesn't work out, Caroline accepts an offer from a brassy former co-worker that she can't refuse. The late night deliveries and envelopes full of cash convince Caroline they are disposing of Mob hits, but her troubles escalate when she joins an environmental group seeking publicity for their cause, no matter the cost.
http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/
http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/
The Jolly Fat Man - Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - April 2013
Dr. Charles Jerome Harrison, scientist at a gasket factory, plays the role everyone expects of him – the jolly fat man. When a back-stabbing employee is murdered, Charles cannot fathom how he lands in the center of the investigation. He is certainly not the only employee to have opportunity and motivation. His new intern, a skinny college kid with a bad case of ebonics, suggests that being African American makes them both the focus of police scrutiny, a paranoia seemingly confirmed by the detective’s probing questions. Besides, as the kid points out, threatening the victim just hours before her demise doesn’t exactly make Charles look innocent.
To buy an e-copy of AHMM - http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/digital/
To buy an e-copy of AHMM - http://www.themysteryplace.com/ahmm/digital/