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Malice Domestic #4
Carolyn G. Hart Presents Malice Domestic
An anthology of original mystery stories includes the writings of Annette Meyers, Rochelle Majer Krich, K.K. Beck, Carole Nelson Douglas, P.M. Carlson, Linda Grant, and Ralph McInerny
273 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1995
About the author
Carolyn G. Hart
126 books949 followersAlso writing as Carolyn Hart.
An accomplished master of mystery with 46 published books, Carolyn Hart is the creator of the highly acclaimed Henrie O,Death on Demand, and Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. Letter from Home (2003), her standalone mystery set in Oklahoma, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest book is Dead by Midnight (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2007). She is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization for women who write mysteries. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma."
New Books: Dead By Midnight Carolyn Hart
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart On Sale March 29
The police say suicide. Annie Darling suspects murder. Max is unconvinced until Annie follows a trail behind the dead woman's house.
Annie unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the interesting lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Max plunges deep into the woods to find incriminating evidence.
Annie sets the perfect trap for a merciless killer, but her cell phone rings and Death is on the line.
www.CarolynHart.com
And for cat lovers:
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart
I love to have fun when writing a mystery. If I laugh, I think a reader will laugh. In the Death on Demand series, I especially enjoy writing about Annie Darling's ditzy mother-in-law, Laurel Roethke. Laurel is usually excited about a new interest, something that surprises and often confounds Annie.
In Dead by Midnight, Laurel creates Cat Truth Posters, which she wants Annie to hang in the bookstore. Annie thinks books should be the store's focus, but the posters enchant her.
Each poster features a cat's photograph with a caption. Here are three of the Cat Truth posters;
. . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow.
A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, cholocolate colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero: Always Say Yes to Adventure.
. . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. Its face appeared almost angelic: Always try a Smile First.
And yes, one of the posters points to a killer.
Fun for me and fun, I hope for readers
An accomplished master of mystery with 46 published books, Carolyn Hart is the creator of the highly acclaimed Henrie O,Death on Demand, and Bailey Ruth Raeburn series. Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards. Letter from Home (2003), her standalone mystery set in Oklahoma, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest book is Dead by Midnight (William Morrow/HarperCollins, 2007). She is one of the founders of Sisters in Crime, an organization for women who write mysteries. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma."
New Books: Dead By Midnight Carolyn Hart
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart On Sale March 29
The police say suicide. Annie Darling suspects murder. Max is unconvinced until Annie follows a trail behind the dead woman's house.
Annie unravels the mystery of a towel hidden at midnight in a gazebo, the interesting lack of fingerprints on a crystal mug, blood on a teenager's blue shirt, and the secret of a lovers' tryst. Max plunges deep into the woods to find incriminating evidence.
Annie sets the perfect trap for a merciless killer, but her cell phone rings and Death is on the line.
www.CarolynHart.com
And for cat lovers:
DEAD BY MIDNIGHT by Carolyn Hart
I love to have fun when writing a mystery. If I laugh, I think a reader will laugh. In the Death on Demand series, I especially enjoy writing about Annie Darling's ditzy mother-in-law, Laurel Roethke. Laurel is usually excited about a new interest, something that surprises and often confounds Annie.
In Dead by Midnight, Laurel creates Cat Truth Posters, which she wants Annie to hang in the bookstore. Annie thinks books should be the store's focus, but the posters enchant her.
Each poster features a cat's photograph with a caption. Here are three of the Cat Truth posters;
. . . a silky furred, mitted, and bicolored Ragdoll stretched out on a red silk cushion, looking as comfy as Eva Longoria in a Hanes ad: Go with the Flow.
A rectangular-muzzled, green-eyed, cholocolate colored cat appeared as brooding as a Gothic hero: Always Say Yes to Adventure.
. . . a thick-furred, piebald Siberian forest cat, its white front a brilliant contrast to a charcoal back and head. Its face appeared almost angelic: Always try a Smile First.
And yes, one of the posters points to a killer.
Fun for me and fun, I hope for readers
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 20, 2025
A case of mistaken identity in Ralph McInerny’s story, Mister Smithereens, leads to his protagonist waking one morning to news coverage of his own dramatic death. I enjoyed the story at first, but the solution was falling over itself in its rush to be revealed by the end. Maybe it could benefit from a longer format, but I think something as simple as another rewrite might have better cleaned it up.
Regrets Only by Rochelle Majer Krich tells the story of a woman’s midlife crises... That’s it, the whole story. There’s no mystery, just complaining. Will she find a way to be satisfied with her husband? Will her daughter pull away as she grows up? Not only is this little family drama boring but it has nothing to do with the mystery genre, yet somehow it was cherry-picked for inclusion in this anthology. What the actual hell is going on?? Gah, this one gets me so mad. I kept waiting for the mystery to kick in but we got nothing!
A recently widowed woman takes an inadvisable turn on a dance floor with a masochistic jerk in Dirty Dancing by Carole Nelson Douglas. Well, we got the prologue to a mystery with this one, but it’s not great. By the end of the story there’s a lot of people who know what the protagonist has been up to, many of whom even have a good shot at identify her in a line-up, and yet she’s strangely confidant that no one will point the police her way.
The time comes for a villain from the past to face the Rule of Law (by K.K. Beck) at the hand of his childhood victim. Finally, one I can enjoy. The ending was interesting, too. It’s one of the few – if not only – mystery stories I’ve read where the author emphasizes massive wealth being up for grabs, but it’s irrelevant to the antagonist’s (protagonist’s) goals.
(I’m starting to wonder about this collection. It’s certainly sticking true to the implied ‘human emotions’ theme, but almost at the cost of the stories.)
Thomas Edison makes an appearance in Put Out the Light; or, The Napoleon of Science by P.M. Carlson, when suspicious accidents coincide with the formation of Edison General Electric. It’s pretty meh. Nothing else I can say about it.
An employee’s grandson is up on murder charges, so our private investigator swoops in to retrace the victim’s steps in the hopes of landing on the real murderer’s doorstep. Another halfway decent story, Kathy Hogan Trocheck’s Killer Fudge is funny and exciting, and a solid mystery.
Y’all need to read Linda Grant’s Ashes to Ashes. It’s yet another family drama/suspense included in a mystery anthology, but I’m not even mad. It’s an absolutely stunning read. Not a mystery but still my overall favourite story of the book. And at the rate this book is going overall, probably the only one whose author I’m going to look up. In it, a mother confronts her two sons with a hard lesson and they each betray her in their own fashion over it. I loved the mother trying to force a fair equilibrium between her sons, not realizing that they’d been too poisoned by their upbringing to want it. One is a slimeball who’s made success his entire identity, and the other is a whiny martyr who’s done the same with failure. Some people you just can’t help.
An aging starlet collects enemies like trading cards in the Knife of the Party by Annette Meyers. It’s late in the book but we’re finally getting into the good stuff. It helps that I’m a Broadway lover and this kind of drama is right up my alley. The solution is solid and oh so satisfying. Probably my favorite (mystery) of the batch.
A natural death results in a hit out for The Dog Who Remembered Too Much (by Elizabeth Daniels Squire). A solid story that the reader actually has a shot of figuring out with the information we’re given. It’s not often I see that in a short mystery. The protagonist is likeable and I might just be checking out this author, too.
Two mothers chatting in the pick-up lane leads to a terrifying case of misplaced trust. Waiting for Pixie by Mignon F. Ballard is another family drama/suspense, but it’s another good one. And it’s got a bit of a kinda sorta mystery if you squint, but I’m probably just looking at the suspense aspect too hard.
It’s a Sign of the Times when the local paper’s horoscope section takes off in popularity, but when the luck turns it may leads to a headline no one expected. Patricia Sprinkle’s story is one you can really get your teeth into, with love triangles (squares?) and a clever scam ripe for abuse.
Five vice-presidents meet each evening to vent about their new boss with round of The Murder Game, where they plot the man’s fictional death. Jean Hager’s story is a treasure, and oddly enough I particularly enjoyed the ending, where the protagonist suddenly looses what little respect he managed to garner from the reader.
EDITING:
No problems here.
ENJOYABILITY:
The most of the latter stories were good, but the beginning ones were either mediocre or flat out ‘meh’. Why do the books of this series always seem to be lopsided like this?
THEME:
What the heck were Regrets Only and Ashes to Ashes doing in here? I’ll only deduct a half star for Waiting for Pixie since it’s so heavy on suspense that it’s almost a mystery. The theme was adhered to if you take the theme to be ‘intense human emotions’ as implied (never outright stated) by the introduction, but I can’t ignore the fact that the ‘mysteries’ part was a bust.
THE VERDICT?
Well, yet another review saved by a single category. There were a couple in here that I really enjoyed so I’m not disappointed that I’d spent money on the book, but sometimes that’s all you can hope for.
Regrets Only by Rochelle Majer Krich tells the story of a woman’s midlife crises... That’s it, the whole story. There’s no mystery, just complaining. Will she find a way to be satisfied with her husband? Will her daughter pull away as she grows up? Not only is this little family drama boring but it has nothing to do with the mystery genre, yet somehow it was cherry-picked for inclusion in this anthology. What the actual hell is going on?? Gah, this one gets me so mad. I kept waiting for the mystery to kick in but we got nothing!
A recently widowed woman takes an inadvisable turn on a dance floor with a masochistic jerk in Dirty Dancing by Carole Nelson Douglas. Well, we got the prologue to a mystery with this one, but it’s not great. By the end of the story there’s a lot of people who know what the protagonist has been up to, many of whom even have a good shot at identify her in a line-up, and yet she’s strangely confidant that no one will point the police her way.
The time comes for a villain from the past to face the Rule of Law (by K.K. Beck) at the hand of his childhood victim. Finally, one I can enjoy. The ending was interesting, too. It’s one of the few – if not only – mystery stories I’ve read where the author emphasizes massive wealth being up for grabs, but it’s irrelevant to the antagonist’s (protagonist’s) goals.
(I’m starting to wonder about this collection. It’s certainly sticking true to the implied ‘human emotions’ theme, but almost at the cost of the stories.)
Thomas Edison makes an appearance in Put Out the Light; or, The Napoleon of Science by P.M. Carlson, when suspicious accidents coincide with the formation of Edison General Electric. It’s pretty meh. Nothing else I can say about it.
An employee’s grandson is up on murder charges, so our private investigator swoops in to retrace the victim’s steps in the hopes of landing on the real murderer’s doorstep. Another halfway decent story, Kathy Hogan Trocheck’s Killer Fudge is funny and exciting, and a solid mystery.
Y’all need to read Linda Grant’s Ashes to Ashes. It’s yet another family drama/suspense included in a mystery anthology, but I’m not even mad. It’s an absolutely stunning read. Not a mystery but still my overall favourite story of the book. And at the rate this book is going overall, probably the only one whose author I’m going to look up. In it, a mother confronts her two sons with a hard lesson and they each betray her in their own fashion over it. I loved the mother trying to force a fair equilibrium between her sons, not realizing that they’d been too poisoned by their upbringing to want it. One is a slimeball who’s made success his entire identity, and the other is a whiny martyr who’s done the same with failure. Some people you just can’t help.
An aging starlet collects enemies like trading cards in the Knife of the Party by Annette Meyers. It’s late in the book but we’re finally getting into the good stuff. It helps that I’m a Broadway lover and this kind of drama is right up my alley. The solution is solid and oh so satisfying. Probably my favorite (mystery) of the batch.
A natural death results in a hit out for The Dog Who Remembered Too Much (by Elizabeth Daniels Squire). A solid story that the reader actually has a shot of figuring out with the information we’re given. It’s not often I see that in a short mystery. The protagonist is likeable and I might just be checking out this author, too.
Two mothers chatting in the pick-up lane leads to a terrifying case of misplaced trust. Waiting for Pixie by Mignon F. Ballard is another family drama/suspense, but it’s another good one. And it’s got a bit of a kinda sorta mystery if you squint, but I’m probably just looking at the suspense aspect too hard.
It’s a Sign of the Times when the local paper’s horoscope section takes off in popularity, but when the luck turns it may leads to a headline no one expected. Patricia Sprinkle’s story is one you can really get your teeth into, with love triangles (squares?) and a clever scam ripe for abuse.
Five vice-presidents meet each evening to vent about their new boss with round of The Murder Game, where they plot the man’s fictional death. Jean Hager’s story is a treasure, and oddly enough I particularly enjoyed the ending, where the protagonist suddenly looses what little respect he managed to garner from the reader.
EDITING:
No problems here.
ENJOYABILITY:
The most of the latter stories were good, but the beginning ones were either mediocre or flat out ‘meh’. Why do the books of this series always seem to be lopsided like this?
THEME:
What the heck were Regrets Only and Ashes to Ashes doing in here? I’ll only deduct a half star for Waiting for Pixie since it’s so heavy on suspense that it’s almost a mystery. The theme was adhered to if you take the theme to be ‘intense human emotions’ as implied (never outright stated) by the introduction, but I can’t ignore the fact that the ‘mysteries’ part was a bust.
THE VERDICT?
Well, yet another review saved by a single category. There were a couple in here that I really enjoyed so I’m not disappointed that I’d spent money on the book, but sometimes that’s all you can hope for.
April 29, 2026
This was another collection that contained witty and unique tales hidden beneath boring drab stories as well as stories that simply went nowhere.
My biggest disappointment in this anthology was Carole Nelson Douglas's "Dirty Dancing" that read like the beginning of a marvelous revenge thriller, which had had only one chapter written.
I am not going into the boring tales. But there were a few that has compelled me to look for single-author collections from their creators. They were~
1. K.K. Beck's "Rule of Law";
2. "Put Out the Light; ot, The Napoleon of Science" by P.M. Carlson;
3. "Sign of the Times" by Patricia Sprinkle;
4. "The Murder Game" by Jean Hager.
Four of out Twelve found to be rather enjoyable. Regrettably, that can't justify more than two stars.
My biggest disappointment in this anthology was Carole Nelson Douglas's "Dirty Dancing" that read like the beginning of a marvelous revenge thriller, which had had only one chapter written.
I am not going into the boring tales. But there were a few that has compelled me to look for single-author collections from their creators. They were~
1. K.K. Beck's "Rule of Law";
2. "Put Out the Light; ot, The Napoleon of Science" by P.M. Carlson;
3. "Sign of the Times" by Patricia Sprinkle;
4. "The Murder Game" by Jean Hager.
Four of out Twelve found to be rather enjoyable. Regrettably, that can't justify more than two stars.
October 8, 2012
I love short stories, but would call this one of the least rewarding/fulfilling/enjoyable collections I have encountered. Of course collections/anthologies are always hit and miss, but for me only Killer Fudge connected as a hit. If not for that story I would not even recommend that you check this out, there were for me a few other decent worthwhile reads...but for the most part I struggled to complete this volume.
Mister Smithereens by Ralph McInerny - 3 stars...a cool little story about a living man who is dead and his friend who died and watching who may have killed him...the ending was a little bland but the story was decent.
Dirty Dancing by Carole Nelson Douglas- 2stars- Much to long and tedious IMHO...It had possibility but did not seem to fulfill it.
Put Out The light or the Napolean of science by P.m. carlson - 1 star...Aaaaaaaaaauuuuugggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!
killer Fudge by Kathy Hogan Trocheck - 5 stars...absolutely one of the best short story mysteries I have read in quite some time...I must check out more by this author
Knife of the Party by Annette Meyers- 2 stars...This story just never drew me in and never seemed to gather any momentum.
The Murder game by Jean Hager- 3 stars- haven't we all had a boss like this...and thoughts like this....
Waiting for Pixie by Mignon F. Ballard- 3 stars- quite the creepy read
Ashes to Ashes by Linda Grant- 2 stars-
Regrets only by Rochelle Majer Krich- 2 stars
Mister Smithereens by Ralph McInerny - 3 stars...a cool little story about a living man who is dead and his friend who died and watching who may have killed him...the ending was a little bland but the story was decent.
Dirty Dancing by Carole Nelson Douglas- 2stars- Much to long and tedious IMHO...It had possibility but did not seem to fulfill it.
Put Out The light or the Napolean of science by P.m. carlson - 1 star...Aaaaaaaaaauuuuugggghhhhh!!!!!!!!!
killer Fudge by Kathy Hogan Trocheck - 5 stars...absolutely one of the best short story mysteries I have read in quite some time...I must check out more by this author
Knife of the Party by Annette Meyers- 2 stars...This story just never drew me in and never seemed to gather any momentum.
The Murder game by Jean Hager- 3 stars- haven't we all had a boss like this...and thoughts like this....
Waiting for Pixie by Mignon F. Ballard- 3 stars- quite the creepy read
Ashes to Ashes by Linda Grant- 2 stars-
Regrets only by Rochelle Majer Krich- 2 stars
Read
February 6, 2024Twelve traditional mystery (short) stories all by different authors. Some good, some not.
Helmet: 15 (kirja, jolla on vähintään kolme tekijää)
Popsugar: 27 (a book where someone dies in the first chapter)
Pohjoinen: 6 (hyllynlämmittäjä)
BCNumerohaaste
Helmet: 15 (kirja, jolla on vähintään kolme tekijää)
Popsugar: 27 (a book where someone dies in the first chapter)
Pohjoinen: 6 (hyllynlämmittäjä)
BCNumerohaaste
October 26, 2018
Short stories are tricky. That being said, these are mostly bad, with the exception of the one by Carole Nelson Douglas.
June 20, 2023
Not my favorite group of short stories in the series.
July 12, 2024
Audiobook format. I like mysteries and these were easy to listen to while driving. Some of the stories were more engaging than others.
September 3, 2013
I did quite enjoy this - some stories more than others, and it was great to dip in and out of the book as I felt like it. Not sure if I would actively seek out the other anthologies, or the longer books by the authors, but I would definitely read them if they fell into my hands.
January 22, 2016
Short stories that add backstory to authors you love and introduce you to new authors. This series is awesome.
Read
March 5, 2017Read Patricia Sprinkle's story, Sign of the Times.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews