Book: Cornered (R, S, M)

This is a collection of three short stories. Overall grade: B+

"Fooling Around" (Linda Turner)

Josie London is a Seattle librarian who inherits a home and half of a detective agency. She falls for the other detective and discovers she has a knack for being a private eye.

I know short stories have a limited focus, but this one shut down pretty quickly after the couple Got Together. It started off strong, but couldn't hold my attention to the end. Grade: B

"The Man in the Shadows" (Ingrid Weaver)

P.I. Erika Balogh has been mourning her fiance's death for one year. Suddenly, she finds herself held hostage by a brutal man who looks just like Sloan.

The crime storyline here was interesting, but was eventually neglected in favor of the romance. It also took this woman WAY too much time to unravel the mystery. Plus, she seemed pretty needy and clingy for a P.I. (I guess I like my detectives, even the women, more hard-boiled than this one.) Grade: B-

"A Midsummer Night's Murder" (Julie Miller)

Hannah Greene is an English professor on a hiking expedition with the difficult people she works with. When she discovers the corpse of their guide, she radios for help and finds her own strength as she tries to get the group to work together before another one of them gets killed.

This was the best story of the three. The hero, the heroine, and the overall mystery were very compelling; this story would have made a great full-length novel! Grade: A