Favorite Kills - Top Suspense Group

The writers of the Top Suspense Group return with FAVORITE KILLS, a collection of mystery and suspense stories picked out by the authors as representing some of their best work. I certainly can't argue with that. Here's the line-up:

"Archie's Been Framed", Dave Zeltserman

"Night Nurse", Harry Shannon

"Solomon & Lord Drop Anchor", Paul Levine

"Number 19", Naomi Hirahara

"Sweet Dreams", Vicki Hendricks

"House Rules", Libby Fischer Hellmann

"Angie", Ed Gorman

"Knife Fight", Joel Goldman

"Jack Webb's Star", Lee Goldberg

"Restraint", Stephen Gallagher

"Top of the World", Bill Crider

"A Matter of Principal", Max Allan Collins

I'd read some of these stories before, but I read them again and still loved them, and the ones I hadn't read were equally excellent and entertaining. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Bill Crider's "Top of the World", which is a much darker and nastier yarn than most of the work for which Bill is known. But all the stories are really, really good, and you can't go wrong with any of them.

And you also can't go wrong with the price, which, as I write this, is zip, nada, nothing. Free, in other words. I highly recommend that you grab this one if you don't have it already. It's an absolutely top-notch anthology.

Die, Lover, Die - Top Suspense Group

With a title like an old Gold Medal novel and a cover that shows some vintage paperback influence, I expected to like DIE, LOVER, DIE, the latest round-robin e-book by the members of the Top Suspense Group. And sure enough, I did. Here’s what the promo materials have to say about the story:


“Lauren Blaine is on the run...fleeing across the country, pursued by a pack of ruthless, skilled, and psychopathic killers.


That's because she's dumped her husband and he hasn't taken it well.


Of course, he might have taken it better if he wasn't a major drug dealer with a gale-force temper... and if she hadn't run off with all of his cash.


Now she's marked-for-death, a moving target for every mercenary, hitman, and sadist in the midwest.


What they don't know is that Lauren is nobody's victim... she's a resourceful, brave, and cunning woman who won't go down without a fight.


This is 10,000 words of non-stop action, violence and sex...a wild ride like nothing else you've read before...from twelve masters of suspense, who teamed up to write this rollicking story 250 rapid-fire words at a time, tag-team style, without an outline, without knowing what was coming next. The result is a pure, literary adrenaline rush.”


When they say “10,000 words of non-stop action, violence, and sex”, they ain’t kiddin’, folks. It’s incredibly entertaining, too, and is best read in one sitting if you want to get the full effect. And here’s the best part: I don’t think the story is over yet. The ending is all set up for a sequel, and I, for one, can’t wait. Highly recommended.

Top Suspense Anthology

I’ve just read the first anthology published by the Top Suspense Group, a gathering of fine writers who have joined forces to provide consistently excellent mystery, suspense, horror, and Western e-books. There are twelve authors currently involved, and in this anthology they’ve brought together a variety of stories, some reprints and some new, that share the quality of being top-notch entertainment. Here’s the line-up:


Unreasonable Doubt by Max Allan Collins
Death’s Brother by Bill Crider
Poisoned by Stephen Gallagher
Remaindered by Lee Goldberg
Fire in the Sky by Joel Goldman
The Baby Store by Ed Gorman
The Jade Elephant by Libby Fischer Hellmann
The Big O by Vicki Hendricks
The Chirashi Covenant by Naomi Hirahara
El Valiente en el Infierno by Paul Levine
A Handful of Dust by Harry Shannon
The Canary by Dave Zeltserman
The Chase by Top Suspense Group


What sets TOP SUSPENSE apart from many anthologies I’ve read is that there’s not a weak story in the bunch. They’re all good. I had read some of them before but read those again and thoroughly enjoyed them. Since I’m friends with many of these writers and have known some of them for decades, I hesitate to start listing favorites. That said . . . I really enjoyed Joel Goldman’s Depression-era crime story “Fire in the Sky”, Ed Gorman’s haunting “The Baby Store”, Vicki Hendrick’s Florida-set noir “The Big O”, and “The Chase”, a slightly crazed and highly entertaining round-robin story written by the authors in 250-word chunks. I had to laugh several times because I could almost see the authors at their computers cackling fiendishly as they set something up for the next author in line to tackle. Having been involved in several “collaborative novels”, I can tell you that sometimes that set-up works, and sometimes it doesn’t. In “The Chase”, it works really well.


TOP SUSPENSE is one of the best anthologies I’ve read in quite a while and well worth your attention. Highly recommended.