All the stories in Malice In Memphis: Bluff City Mysteries are pure fiction, even if the locations in which they take place aren't. Our mystery writers group, Malice in Memphis, is always looking for interesting local landmarks to use as settings for great mysteries. The characters who inhabit these places in our stories are also fictional, as are the things they do, both good and bad. Mystery writers walk into a room for the first time and consider where we could most efficiently kill somebody in an interesting way. We discuss untraceable poisons in restaurants-and terrify the poor people who wait on us. We wonder whether the beam that runs across the ceiling in church would hold up a hanging corpse, and how long a dagger would have to be to puncture a heart. We are essentially peaceful. We can always bump off unpleasant people in our writing. No reason to do it in actuality. So don't blame the blameless landmarks we've used. Remember, it's all fiction...

The storytellers of Malice in Memphis specialize in taking historical locations and fictionally embellishing them with new characters, mysteries, and murder. They have now taken on Memphis' finest active burial ground, the famous Elmwood Cemetery. They are now adding their special touch to the myriad of stories drifting among the mausoleums.

The writers of Malice in Memphis understand that any time you get a big group of people together to go hog wild, there's a perfect opportunity for crime. Each of the tales in Mayhem in Memphis deals with murder or theft or some other action, polite - and not so polite - that society frowns on.Needless to say, the stories are fiction, and so are all the characters, but the settings are quite real.This is the fourth Malice in Memphis anthology of crime-ridden short stories set around the Memphis bluff.Read them all, why don't you?You'll have a blast.Contributing authors: Phyllis Appleby, Mary Balsamo, Kristi Bradley, Barbara Christopher, Juanita D. Houston, Larry Hoy, Lynn Maples, Carolyn McSparren, Elaine Meece, Geoffrey Meece, James C. Paavola, PhD, Jackie Ross Flaum, Angelyn Sherrod, and Dr. Susan Wooten.

The ghost stories and the characters in this book are pure fiction, even if the locations in which they were set are not. The tales showcase some of the Mid-South's more interesting historical locations. Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, we hope that you'll enjoy these eerie stories of southern supernatural doings.

Memphis is a city that uses any excuse to party down.When times were hard after the Civil War, our response was to crank up the blues. When that nasty bug, the Boll Weevil, infested our lush fields of cotton, a group of tricksters put on boll weevil costumes and invaded parties, drank the hosts' bourbon, and danced with the ladies (whether they wanted to or not.)One week mid-May was chosen as a blow-out in praise of cotton and the money it brought to us. With the advent of other crops, however, the party became known merely as "Carnival." More recently it has expanded to laud the whole area during May, our last coolish month until October. Even with air conditioning, nobody can celebrate in high summertime down here.The stories in this anthology are centered loosely around this party that has kept our spirits up in one form or another through yellow fever epidemics, boom times and depressions, wartimes and peace times.The writers are members of our local mystery-writers group, Malice in Memphis. We understand that any time you get a big group of people together to go hog wild, there's a perfect opportunity for crime. Each of these tales deals with murder or theft or some other action, polite-and not so polite-that society frowns on. Needless to say, the stories are fiction, and so are all the characters.This is our fourth Malice in Memphis anthology of crime-ridden short stories set around the Memphis bluff. "Mayhem in Memphis" received the Imaginarium Convention's 2020 Imadjinn Award for Best Anthology.

In this fifth anthology, members of the award-winning Malice in Memphis writers group relate tales about the Mississippi River and its denizens. The people who live and work and love and die on her banks or in her muddy current recognize she is nobody's water park. There is something for every reader. Meet the characters whose lives are defined by secrets, barbecue, blues, ghosts, killers and rescuers, lovers and haters, crime and-sometimes-punishment. All are touched by the river for good or more frequently by evil. The characters and the stories are fiction-the river is not.