Medium of Murder-Susan Budavari and Suzanne Flaig(ed)

Medium of Murder
Edited by Susan Budavari and Suzanne Flaig
Red Coyote, $14.95
ISBN: 9780976673347

These eighteen murder paranormal mysteries turn McLuhan upside down as “The Medium is the Message” (by S.M Harding) with a wide connotation from the authors. The tales range from a connection to the sprit world with some fraudulent (“Dead Reckoning” by Gary Earl Ross) and some genuine (“Dead Even” by Frank Zafiro); while some tales focus on the hocus pocus of the mass media (iRomance by Gary Tolti Kinsman). Each tale is well written and entertaining with no clinkers in the anthology. By having some diversity in definition, the compilation becomes more fun to read as the audience does not know which track the writer takes. Personally I enjoyed all the entries, but my favorites are John Randall Williams’ avenging “Rose” by any other name is a killer, Kris Neri’s “Hocus-Pocus on Friday the 13th”, “Neither Rare nor Well Done” by Judy Starbuck. However, the best of this strong compilation in my opinion is the terrific twisting “Medium Risk” by Susan Budavari. All are solid tales as this collection runs the gamut of MEDIUM OF MURDER.

Harriet Klausner