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    Murder in the Family
    Murder in the Family
    Murder in the Family
    Ebook78 pages1 hour

    Murder in the Family

    By Cora Buhlert

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    About this ebook

    Nine tales of love, death, vengeance and murder.

    He got to keep the minivan, but lost the family he bought it for. But sometimes, murder is a cheaper solution than divorce…

    A travelling salesman vanishes, leaving behind a wife, two children, countless lonely housewives and his hat floating in a stream. But what really happened to Jack Bryce?

    A foundling, a newborn, abandoned and left to die. But tonight, he will have his revenge on the parents who deserted him. Tonight, they will pay, at the very place where the story once began, at Lovers' Ridge…

    Thirty years ago Jimmy Donnelly was sent to prison. Now he's free again and eager to finally avenge himself on the man who put him behind bars. But thirty years is a long time. And sometimes, it's too late for vengeance.

    You don't want to owe a favour to the mafia, especially not when the boss himself comes to collect. But what could a hairdresser possibly have to offer to the mob?

    Jack Slater is the worst sort of criminal scum, a pursesnatcher who hangs out on cemeteries to relieve old ladies of their handbags. But when he snatches Eudora Pennington's purse, Jack gets more than he bargained for.

    She'd seen something she shouldn't have. He was commanding of the death squad sent to eliminate her. But one look into each other's eyes changed both their lives…

    Peter Simmons was a man of roaming hands, who wouldn't take "no" for an answer, a man who took whatever he wants, whether it's cookies from a jar or the single Mom who moved in next door. But sometimes, getting caught with a hand in the wrong cookie jar can be deadly…

    Waiting for your boyfriend to finally come home from work can be hell, especially if it's your anniversary and you suspect he forgot – again. But does the ringing of the doorbell promise roses and sex and the long overdue proposal or something far more sinister?

    A collection of nine short crime tales of 18800 words altogether.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPegasus Pulp Publishing
    Release dateAug 11, 2012
    ISBN9781498947329
    Murder in the Family
    Author

    Cora Buhlert

    Cora Buhlert was born and bred in North Germany, where she still lives today – after time spent in London, Singapore, Rotterdam and Mississippi. Cora holds an MA degree in English from the University of Bremen and is currently working towards her PhD. Cora has been writing, since she was a teenager, and has published stories, articles and poetry in various international magazines. When she is not writing, she works as a translator and teacher.

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      Book preview

      Murder in the Family - Cora Buhlert

      Introduction

      pinstripe

      Like almost everybody born in Germany after 1945, I grew up reading short crime fiction. Because German magazines, whether TV mags, women’s mags or gossip mags, inevitably included an abgeschlossener Kurzkrimi, a short self-contained crime story about one magazine page in length. Indeed, the Krimi was as much a staple of German postwar magazines as the crossword puzzle, the horoscope or the agony aunt page.

      I did not much care for agony aunts and horoscopes and my mother usually solved the crosswords before I could, but I always read the crime stories. In fact, those Krimis were my true introduction to the short story form, regardless of the serious short fiction that my teachers tried to ram down my throat.

      German magazine crime shorts have their own distinctive form — one might almost call it a formula. They’re short for starters, usually between one and two thousand words, that is barely longer than flash fiction. They’re not really mysteries — quite possibly because telling a classic mystery is difficult in less than two thousand words — though some of them are. And while most of the stories are centred on murders, it’s not a requirement. I’ve also read crime shorts featuring bank robberies, heists, burglaries and the like. But whatever the crime, the stories inevitably end on a twist.

      When I started writing, it was only natural that I would start writing crime shorts modelled after the Kurzkrimis of my youth. I’d read enough of them, after all, so I knew how to write them. Besides, there was clearly a market for such stories, considering that every magazine out there published a crime short week after week after week.

      There was only one problem. I insisted on writing in English. And British and American magazines did not feature a new crime short in every single issue. On the contrary, the market for short English language crime fiction was limited to a handful of specialist magazines. So eventually I abandoned the field of short crime fiction for greener pastures, leaving behind a body of crime shorts, several of them never before published.

      And now, for the first time ever, all of the crime shorts I wrote in the style of the Kurzkrimis I grew up reading in the backpages of German magazines, are collected in a single volume. So prepare to enter a world of mystery and crime and family secrets, a world where crime is personal and murder usually happens in the family.

      Family Car

      pinstripe

      Daddy, daddy, Sandy cried out the moment she saw him. She would have run to him immediately, had her mother not held her back.

      Sandy’s voice tore at Alec’s soul. His eyes met Helen’s. They were of a warm brown, yet her expression was cold as ice. Her most marked feature, her nose, protruded like a dagger from her face. Alec looked at her and realised once again how much he hated her.

      Slowly, he walked up to his wife and his daughter. Sandy tore herself loose and embraced him, yet Helen immediately pulled her back, crushing the unwilling child to her body like a particularly precious possession.

      She hasn’t been feeling well all week, Helen snapped without even a word of greeting. I don’t think it’s a good idea if you take her out today.

      But I want to go with Daddy, Sandy pleaded.

      Helen ignored her and focused straight on Alec. I think you should see her less often, she said, that old familiar tone of reproach in her voice, It’s confusing for her. She’s always upset, when she returns from her time with you. She won’t sleep, she cries and keeps me awake all night. If this goes on, I’ll talk to my lawyer.

      Alec took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the desire to strangle her on the spot, to slam his fist into her face and shatter that sharply pointed nose of hers. I have rights, Helen, he said calmly.

      So do I. And you keep ignoring them. I still haven’t received your alimony cheque. If I don't have the cheque by Monday, I will have your assets seized.

      Helen, it’s not easy for me at the moment.

      That’s not my problem. I want my money. Her gaze, cold and hard, fell upon his car, a dark green Minivan. And I want the car. I’m grounded here without a car. Besides, it’s not as if you need a family car anymore.

      Alec forced himself to be calm. He tried not to listen to Helen’s never-ending nagging, her constant demands. He tried to focus solely on Sandy. He pictured every little detail. Her red, curly hair, the scatter of freckles upon her cheek, her missing front teeth. But the most haunting thing about his little daughter were her eyes — large, dark and incredibly sad.

      Can we go now? he asked.

      Well, it seems I can’t stop you. But bring her back by seven. I warn you, if you don’t return the child on time, I will send your colleagues after you. And trust me, you don’t want that.

      The child. Not Sandy or my daughter, just the child. As if Sandy was just another of her damn possessions.

      Alex put his arm around Sandy, when her mother finally let her go. The little girl huddled up to him, sending warmth spreading through his body for the first time in a month.

      Be seeing you, Helen, he said, knowing fully well that he would never see her again.

      And don’t forget my cheque, she screeched after him, I want my money.

      She wouldn’t get his money, he thought. Or his house. Or his car. And least of all, she would get his daughter. Helen would get nothing out of him. Except what she deserved.

      pinstripe

      Alec often wondered why he had married Helen in the first place. What

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