The Book Club and Other Stories by Natalie Conyer

Title: The Book Club and Other Stories

Author: Natalie Conyer

Genre: Crime

Publisher: Clan Destine Press

Published: 1^st November 2024

Format: Paperback

Pages: 202

Price:  $32.95

Synopsis: A group of librarians open an S&M club.

A Victorian maid disrupts a séance.

An older woman stands up for herself.

A jewel thief uncovers a love story.

A detective searches for a robot.

Sherlock Holmes becomes a woman.

Ned Kelly award-winning crime writer Natalie Conyer offers up her first collection of also-prize winning mystery short stories for your reading pleasure.

The 19 stories within – 11 of which won category prizes in the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awardsrun by Sisters in Crime Australia – run the gamut from dark and noirish through charming to silly, and beyond.

So put up your feet, pour a glass of something tasty, and enjoy – but make sure to look over your shoulder every now and then while you read Natalie Conyer‘s The Book Club.

~*~

Get ready for some scintillating and devious short stories by Natalie Conyer in a new venture from Clan Destine Press called Crime Waves. Crime Waves is a new series from Clan Destine Press that has kicked off with two books, and the first is a series of short stories that span time, space and the world by Natalie Conyer. This anthology is filled with dark crimes, murders, accidental crimes, and Sherlock Holmes as a woman.

Each story is a unique take on various crime tropes, and takes readers on a journey through the world of crime. They toy with characters, motives, plots and stories that we know well, and give a fresh take on the genre. There are nineteen very intriguing short stories that are filled with cops, detectives, criminals, and figures we know from classic detective fiction like Sherlock Holmes, with a wide array of crimes. Or at least, mysteries that are not always solved, or that don’t always have an answer. In a short story, sometimes an ending that doesn’t wrap things up nicely can be quite satisfying. There isn’t always the space to tease out motives and follow red herrings and leads, especially if it reads like a vignette of what could be a longer story, or simply an examination of human nature and the desire to get revenge. Natalie Conyer’s latest book includes eleven stories that won various categories in the Scarlett Stiletto awards over the years. The other eight are new, and there is a list of the award-winning stories in the back.

Crime is the main focus of these stories, but each one explores themes of gender, of love, of AI, and how people respond to these things, whilst allowing sleuths of all ages and backgrounds, as well as victims and the killer in some cases, to speak, and have their voices heard. Each story explores the extremes of human nature and what drives people to commit crime or investigate crimes. Or even, how people react to crimes and threats and use their skills and knowledge to take it out on the person they’re being threatened by, with varying results.

I enjoyed reading these stories, which give readers a taste of what a crime story can be and the many ways it can play out on the page. It is no longer about the cop or amateur detective being the investigator. It can be about the impact of crime, how someone uses crime to get revenge but manages to fly under the radar because nobody expects it, or even how someone, an ordinary person can be driven to murder. It reflects the changing face of crime fiction, where there are a more diverse range of stories being told these days that reflects the way crime exists in the world and that at times, there are layers and complexities that are at play when looking at crime and its place in society.