Kay Hadashi

This is entertaining reading, but with a book of short stories, every story is not of the same quality. My take on the eight selections in this book:

MADAME KOSKA AND LE SPECTRE DE LA ROSE: An interesting tale not because of a murder or the circumstances around it, but because of the insights into the world of ballet and the lives of its divas. The setting is an expatriate world populated by artists nostalgic for a Russian societal past.

TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY: There is enough violence and gore in this story to make a sensitive reader give up the remainder of the book. And this is a story of true love found

THE END OF JUNE: Adam, a detective, has to be a multi-tasker to work on a couple of suspicious death cases at the same time. Many detectives claim luck plays a big part in case resolution; that is definitely the case here.

THE FERGUSON SHOOTING: The focus of this story is on a victim/criminal named Ferguson. Readers should not confuse it with a current in-the-news place name. The rest of the story has thinly veiled references to present day radicals and near to present day famous court cases and courtroom players.

THE GIRL ON THE BEACH: An extremely detailed account of forensic procedures from attempts by a pathologist and a detective to establish an ID on a found body. After reading this, I feel I know enough to do an autopsy.

THE WHITE TURTLE AND THE CHILDREN’S CEMETERY: A very creepy story involving child death and the way parents cope with it. All the children in the family are dead.

THE BOX: Not a great ending. And I can’t tell you why because it would be a spoiler.

A FIRE AND OLD ICE: Sam is at his verbal best as the police chief in this story. He again manages to defuse a situation of civil unrest in a clever way. The story is worth reading because of the dialogue alone.
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