Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015

by Art Taylor (Editor & Introduction), J.L. Abramo, Tom Franklin

MWA Grand Master Margaret Maron, Edgar Award winner Tom Franklin, and New York Times bestselling novelist Ron Rash headline a new anthology of 21 tales spanning from traditional detective stories to comic capers to darkest noir and more—something for all tastes.

Murder Under the Oaks is published in conjunction with Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, held in 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina—the City of Oaks. As with the convention itself, the anthology spreads a broad canopy across a wide range of crime writers from across the country and around the world—including both veteran writers and the brightest up-and-coming talents in the field. Celebrating Bouchercon’s first-ever meeting in the American South, several of the stories in Murder Under the Oaks also draw on the region’s history and culture—including the birth of a secret society at the University of Virginia, a mystery from Edgar Allan Poe’s childhood days, and a series of less-than-welcome visits by everyone’s favorite hometown sheriff.

All participants contributed their efforts to support our charity—the Wake County Public Libraries—and by extension readers and writers everywhere.

ALL PROFITS GO TO THE LIBRARY.

Edited by Art Taylor
Including Stories By
J.L. Abramo
J.D. Allen
Lori Armstrong
Rob Brunet
P.A. De Voe
Sean Doolittle
Tom Franklin
Toni Goodyear
Kristin Kisska
Robert Lopresti
Robert Mangeot
Margaret Maron
Kathleen Mix
Britni Patterson
Karen Pullen
Ron Rash
Karen E. Salyer
Sarah Shaber
Zoë Sharp
B.K. Stevens
Graham Wynd

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2015

About the author

Art Taylor won the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for "English 398: Fiction Workshop," originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. He won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel for On the Road with Del & Louise: A Novel in Stories, and his short fiction has won three additional Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, two Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer Awards. His work has appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Barrelhouse, Needle: A Magazine of Noir, and North American Review, and online at Fiction Weekly, Mysterical-E, PANK, Plots With Guns, Prick of the Spindle, and SmokeLong Quarterly; stories also appear in the Chesapeake Crimes anthologies This Job Is Murder, Homicidal Holidays, and Storm Warning, all from Wildside Press. Art also reviews mysteries for the Washington Post and contributes frequently to both the Washington Independent Review of Books and Mystery Scene. For more information, visit www.arttaylorwriter.com.

Reviews

[Karen Pullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anthologies can be a mixed bag but every story in this one is terrific. (Disclosure - I wrote one.) You'll find clever, dark, funny, twisty, historical, and traditional stories, all very professionally written and edited. It was fun to sit with most of the authors at the reading at Bouchercon in Ralgih, where we each got to speak & read for three minutes. Then we signed a whole bunch of books. It was great!

[Judy Sheluk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well rounded collection of short mystery fiction, beautifully edited by Art Taylor. I especially enjoyed "Walking the Dog" by J.L. Abramo, "Death of a Bible Salesman" by Sarah Shaber, and "On the Ramblas" by Robert Lopresti. A solid read.

[Kris Mehigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a contributing author ("The Sevens"), so I'm a wee bit biased. BUT I believe it's an excellent anthology. Enjoy!

[Chuck Barksdale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable book of short stories that was collected for the 2015 Bouchercon by editor Art Taylor. Some of the stories were written by people associated or being honored at the 2015 Boucheron while others were judged and added without first knowing the author's name. This leads to a collection of well known and less known writers or in some cases, authors who rarely write short stories. I was fortunate to be at the Bouchercon in 2015 where I purchased my book and had it signed by all but 2 of the authors.

Everyone that reads this collection will have a favorite and that will depend as much on the reader's interest as the quality of the story. The first story, "Spring Break" by Margaret Maron was one of my favorites as she tells the story entirely in dialogue. I really enjoyed "#grenadegranny" by Karen Pullen where a woman finds an interesting way of rewarding her neighbors. Robert Mangeot's "Crack-Up at Waycross" is probably the funniest story in the book, where two men attempt to steal a truck of " the mother load of Georgia pecans." Other favorites of mine were written by J.D. Allen, Zoe Sharp, J.L. Abramo, Graham Wynd, Sarah Shaber ant Toni Goodyear.

Lastly, one of Bouchercon's honorees was Tom Franklin. I had never read any of his books but found him very interesting and will definitely read more of him especially after reading his story "Christians." I'm far from an expert, but the writing of his story although with crime elements, appears more literary than a typical mystery story. In "Christians" a woman deals with the apparently justified murder of her son in the late 1880s in a rural southern town. Franklin really makes you feel the emotions of all of the main characters in the story. Great.

[Donna Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half and half

Half were interesting but half were predictable so not much of a mystery. It gives you a sample of authors you might want to read more of and skip those you don't.

[Teddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent stories.

[Maryc2130 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories were well-written and some were quite fun, but per usual with this type of anthology, I enjoyed some stories much more than others. A good introduction to some previously unread authors!