Detective story with different Short Stories: one about a successful crime reporter, another about a woman pub owner collecting insurance money, another about a woman in love with an inmate in prison for murder. Read 2010-2016. Spoilers.

[Natacha]

Hi everyone! I'm quite desperate in finding this book.. everything I've tried so far has been unsuccessful. Hopefully you can help!

I believe I read the book in the years 2010 - 2016. I remember the stories but not how they are linked together. Perhaps they are all independent from one another, perhaps they are linked by the main character who tells the tales ?

WARNING, SPOILERS AHEAD:
The crime reporter is always on site first and always gets the best scoop / best pictures. All other detectives wonder how he does it. One day, he has a terrible tooth ache and must have a tooth removed. This is the day his career ends because the reason why he was always the first on site is because he was able to receive police radio through his tooth filling.

The woman owns a pub / bar, she receives life insurance money by having men who drink at her bar sign the papers when they're drunk so they don't remember and then she finds a way for them to die.

The last story I remember is about a woman who falls in love with a murderer while watching his trial and she starts writing him letters while he is in prison. I don't remember if he ever writes back, but one day he shows up at her place and tries to kill her. Luckily she defends herself and comes out alive.

Looking forward to receiving your ideas! Thank you!

[Irene]

What format did you read this in? (from a physical library, libby app, kindle, etc)? It sounds interesting and I'll try to help you find it. Do you remember anything about the setting (U.S.?), if it was recently published or if it could be a really old book, what the cover looked like, etc?

[Natacha]

Irene wrote: "What format did you read this in? (from a physical library, libby app, kindle, etc)? It sounds interesting and I'll try to help you find it. Do you remember anything about the setting (U.S.?), if i..."

Thank you so much, Irene!
It was a physical book and I believe it was set in the US. The writing style ressembles a Grisham and so did the cover, typical crime thriller covers but it was not too old, the publication must have been between 2008 and 2016.

[Irene]

Thanks, Natacha! I have some more questions if you're able to answer them:

- do you remember if the book was by a single author or if it was an anthology featuring stories by many different authors?
- was the author possibly Grisham, or do you remember if it was an author whose name you recognized? any recollection if the author was male or female?
- roughly how many stories were in the collection? less than 5, between 10-20, more than 40, etc (or alternatively, do you remember how long each story was?)
- was this possibly not a detective book but just broadly a crime book? I'm curious because it doesn't seem as though a detective always appears in the stories based on your descriptions of the ones you remember.

[Natacha]

Hi Irene,
Here are my answers:
- It was by a single author. My father believes (but isn't sure) it would include the name "Mark" as either first or last name but I've researched quite a bit already and have not found anything, so i wouldn't trust that information too much. It was definitely not Grisham and a most likely a man.
- Less than 10 stories for sure, more around 5. I would say one story was around 15-20 pages.
- Yes perhaps broadly a crime book? SPOILER ALERT: The story with the bartender lady was definitely told from a detective's perspective (or insurance fraud detective?) because he went to investigate and fell in love with the bartender as well and she tried killing him but failed.

Thanks again so much for your help!

[Natacha]

Irene wrote: "Thanks, Natacha! I have some more questions if you're able to answer them:

- do you remember if the book was by a single author or if it was an anthology featuring stories by many different author..."

Hi Irene - any luck on your side ?

[Irene]

Hi, I'm still looking! Just had a couple more questions for you:

Do you remember if the tone was serious or humorous/ironic? I'm seeing a lot of descriptions of stories meant to have an ironic ending or a bit of a humorous feeling, and just wanted to know if I could rule them out.

[Natacha]

Hi Irene - thanks a lot!
Yes that is very possible, the stories definitely had an ironic side to them.

[Kajehas]

Natacha wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm quite desperate in finding this book.. everything I've tried so far has been unsuccessful. Hopefully you can help!

I believe I read the book in the years 2010 - 2016. I remember t..."

More Good Old Stuff

[Kris]

Google Books preview of More Good Old Stuff by John D. MacDonald - Kajehas's suggestion:

- https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1f...
- There are different cover images.

[Natacha]

Kris wrote: "Google Books preview of More Good Old Stuff by John D. MacDonald - Kajehas's suggestion:
- https://books.google.com/books?id=Q1f...
- There a..."

Thank you! I've just ordered it and will read it asap to make sure it's the one !!

[Irene]

Natacha, I hope it's your book! Please report back if it isn't - I've paused my search for now (although I had narrowed it only to books published after 2000 so it might have been way off anyway!).