Free short stories

by Carola Dunn

My deadline is rushing ever closer, so I'm just going to post links to three free mystery short stories. I wrote these for anthologies, two of which were published and the third never came to fruition. They're available for download in a variety of formats.

The published ones are both Daisy Dalrymple mysteries, set in London in the 1920s, featuring the main character of my 20-book series (it's the deadline of #21 that is almost upon me).

STORM IN A TEA SHOPPE: Daisy and her friend Lucy go out to lunch and find themselves in the soup...

http://www.belgravehouse.com/online/freestorm-in-a-tea-shoppe-p-465.html

UNHAPPY MEDIUM: A seance takes a deadly turn:

http://www.belgravehouse.com/online/free-unhappy-medium-p-466.html

 The third story is set in 1830, at the opening of the first public passenger railway in the world, from Liverpool to Manchester. It's closely based on the real event, but my elderly sleuth, Miss Primrose, discovers that the accidental death of the local Member of Parliament was no accident:

MISS PRIMROSE AND THE MARCH OF PROGRESS

http://www.belgravehouse.com/online/free-miss-primrose-and-the-march-of-progress-p-480.html

Enjoy!

You can find a list of all my mysteries in the correct order at:
http://www.cozy-mystery.com/Carola-Dunn.html

Signing all the way...

by Carola Dunn

I've spent the last couple of weeks dashing up and down I-5, to bookstores and libraries, talking about and signing Anthem for Doomed Youth. Trillian accompanied me on the California trip. She was welcomed into several mystery bookstores. Here we are at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego.


Book 'Em in South Pasadena and Mystery Ink in Huntington Beach are also dog-friendly.

More to come--I'm heading for Portland next Saturday to speak at Murder by the Book, and the following weekend it's Seattle Mystery (Sat. April 30 at noon) followed by B&N in Silverdale (Sun. May 1 at 1pm).

Next month I leave I-5 and take to the skies. I'm off to CrimeFest in Bristol (the UK edition of Anthem comes out just in time), and while I'm in England, I have signings at Hatchard's, the 200+ year-old bookstore in London, and Heffers in Cambridge. Recently Hatchard's featured some of my books in their window. The first 6 books in the top row are mine:


I feel as if I've become part of a historic monument! It's like a dream come true.

Strangers in the Night

Chester Campbell’s post describing a hotel robbery during a convention gave me pause. I tramped through some pretty exotic places during my traveling years, sometimes with a group, sometimes alone. I was careful (usually), and I was never afraid.

Looking back, I don’t know whether I was just lucky, or whether a whole platoon of guardian angels went into action every time I started packing a suitcase.

Anyone old enough to remember the 1940 movie WATERLOO BRIDGE? Or maybe you’ve seen it on cable TV late some night. A real tear-jerker, with Robert Taylor and Vivien Leigh as star-crossed lovers during World War I. I don't remember when or where I saw it, but it left a lasting impression.

I associate it with a brief, bright memory of London, on a night when our tour group visited a wine bar located in a boat docked on the River Thames. At some point I went outside for fresh air, and stood at the bridge railing to look across the black water at lights on the other side.

I was lost in thought, remembering that old movie, oblivious to the world around me. I dug a cigarette out of my purse, put it between my lips, and click! There was a man standing beside me, lighting my cigarette. I have no idea where he came from. I didn’t hear him walk up. There was just a quick glimpse of his face in the flame from the lighter. Then he tipped his hat, and strolled off across the bridge.

It was right out of an old movie—lucky for me, not a movie about Jack the Ripper.