Eighteen

Notes on the Stories

This collection includes my first short stories and my most recent. I haven’t been at this all that long, but I hope you’ll enjoy the mixture of tales within. Here’s a little background on the stories you will find here.

“Devotion” and “A Fine Set of Teeth” feature characters created in my novels. “Devotion” is a new story written especially for this collection, and several of its characters are from Bones.

Ben Sheridan plays a major role in “Devotion”, and as always, I enjoyed writing about him. Judging from my mail, readers like him too. Like other amputees, he is who he is-not defined by this one difference. If he helps to dispel some myths about amputees along the way, that’s thanks to the many people who helped me create him by openly talking to me about their own lives after limb loss.

The dogs are also back. In addition to what I learned about SAR dog work from dog handlers who helped me with Bones and Flight, bloodhound handler Milica Wilson of Colorado gave me information that was invaluable for this story.

“A Fine Set of Teeth” is the first Irene Kelly short story, and was first published by A.S.A.P. Publishing. My husband, Tim Burke, is a musician, and some of Irene’s experiences in this story are drawn from life. Our friends had a field day contributing the musician jokes.

In addition to “Devotion”, two other stories will be new to most of my readers. “The Mouse” is published here for the first time. It isn’t a mystery story, but it’s close to the bone. “The Loveseat” was my first published work, but until now, it has never been published in English. Although I had sold Goodnight, Irene before I wrote “The Loveseat”, the book was not published until almost a year after this story appeared in a suspense anthology in the Netherlands. Meulenhoff, which publishes my novels in Dutch, will always hold a place in my heart because my editor there recognized the story’s dark humor.

“Why Tonight?” was the first of my stories to be published in the U.S. I sold it to Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine not long before Goodnight, Irene was released. I was thrilled to make it into this magazine, which I had read for many years. After several years, I still have an attachment to this story, although I’m not exactly sure why-perhaps it’s the Kansas setting.

“Unharmed” debuted in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine-another magazine stacked in piles next to my bed. On the way home from work one night, Tim heard a news story on the radio. He thought I might be able to do something with it if I wrote it from a certain perspective. He had no sooner finished telling me about it, than I excused myself, ran into my office, and wrote “Unharmed” in one sitting. Tim had to finish making dinner that evening, but he didn’t seem to mind.

Many of these stories reflect my love of history. I’m especially grateful to Sharan Newman, who heard me complaining about a character-a medieval knight in my imagination who really wouldn’t leave me alone. She offered me the chance to write an historical short story. She didn’t get the story about the knight (he still pesters me from time to time), but she did give me a home for “A Man of My Stature”-it’s inspired by a true crime which took place in the U.S. in the late 19th century. I took the basic idea behind the crime and came up with a different set of problems for the narrator than the ones which led to the capture of his real-life counterpart.

Others inspired by true stories are “The Haunting of Carrick Hollow”, “Two Bits” and “Miscalculation”.

“The Haunting of Carrick Hollow” was the result of my first and (so far) only attempt to work with a writing partner. I doubt anyone else could have made it as painless as Paul Sledzik did. Paul’s a good friend who works as a forensic anthropologist, has been the Curator of Anatomical Collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine, and (among other areas of expertise) is known for his ability to recognize tuberculosis in skeletal remains. He came up with the question that became the center of this story, and wrote some of the most difficult scenes. My hope is that he’ll continue to try his hand at fiction, because I found his work on this one to be exceptional. The story is set in late nineteenth century New England.

“Two Bits” was inspired by a famous kidnapping case of the nineteenth century-I read about it while researching Hocus. I married this true story to some observations made by a searcher concerning a much more contemporary kidnapping. The outcome and the family portrayed in the story are entirely fictional, a blend of all these elements with lots of “what if?”

“Miscalculation” is set aboard the Queen Mary and based on a little known fact about the ship’s wartime service. I read a single sentence in a large book about the ship, and that sentence so disturbed me, I decided I needed to explore the Queen Mary’s history for more information. As it turns out, it’s not easy to get anyone to talk about this particular tragedy, and I appreciate the help given to me by those who confirmed my early research into the matter.

Two stories are set in Regency England: “An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart” and “The Abbey Ghosts”. I became attached to the Regency through the works of Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Terry Baker of the Mystery Annex bookstore knew I loved Austen’s works, and introduced me to those of Heyer. Heyer’s wit, insight, and knowledge of that period helped me to escape the grim images that were left dancing in my head while I researched Bones. When I read her books at night, I’d be magically transported to the world of the haut ton before I fell asleep. “An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart” is an homage to Ms. Heyer, but no one should take that to mean that I think I’ve captured her style or come close to her achievements-she was one of a kind. I enjoyed writing it, but I have never done so much research for so few pages in my life. I have a fondness for this narrator, so he may return.

“The Abbey Ghosts” is a different style of story, although also set in Regency England. Audrey Moore of the bookstore Mysteries to Die For, in Thousand Oaks, California, asked me to write a Christmas story. To my surprise, it also ended up being a ghost story. Cathleen Jordan kindly chose to publish it in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine.

“The Man in the Civil Suit” is a humorous story written for the Malice Domestic 9 Anthology. The anthology was a tribute to Agatha Christie, and contributors were asked to include some reference to a Christie title or work somewhere in the story. The Man in the Brown Suit has always been a favorite of mine.

Writing short stories allows me to venture beyond the world of Las Piernas, the contemporary beach city in the Irene Kelly books. “Mea Culpa” is set in the 1950’s, and allowed me to explore writing from the point of view of a young boy. “White Trash” and “Revised Endings” allowed me to play “what if” in situations where one might feel frustrated enough to do violence. “The Muse” allowed me to write a story interwoven with references to the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

Some years ago, I’d been reading ghost stories in preparation for a Halloween event at Beth Caswell’s Sherlock’s Home mystery bookstore when I decided to try my hand at one that might be a little different. “Ghost of a Chance” was first heard by Beth’s customers.

To all the mystery writers, past and present, whose short stories have delighted me, my thanks for giving me a love of this form. My thanks to Jim Seels, Cathleen Jordan, Janet Hutchings, Martin Greenberg, Sharan Newman, Miriam Grace Monfredo, Elizabeth Foxwell, Lia Matera, and the many others who’ve work so hard to bring mystery short stories to readers. And most of all, my thanks to you who read our stories, who keep the fine tradition of the mystery short story alive. I hope you’ll enjoy this collection.

Jan Burke

Southern California