Crime to blow yer socks off

I'm planning to publish a book. A collection of crime stories but what to include, how long to make it, how selective to be with the stories, what the running order will be? Not even sure if I want to publish a full-length book, or just a short collection, quick read, for promotional purposes.

Dear reader, you may have seen all or some of these stories before but please let me know what you think about the concept. Would you begin with Murder She Wrought or do you think some other of my crime related stories would fit the bill better as the title piece? All comments gratefully received and please feel free to be critical.

My solution is to start by putting together a collection online, and see how that works. Run it up the flag pole and see how it flies, as we used to say (in jest) when I was a magazine editor, long-long time ago.

So here it is. Working title matches that of the first story in the book:

Murder She Wrought

This, I think, is the strongest murder mystery in my collection, or one of them at least and, in four parts, one of my longer short stories. Each part is narrated by a different player, none of them particularly reliable witnesses if it is the evidence of who dunnit and why that you are looking for:

Narrator the first: the authoress

Narrator the second: the 'faithful' servant?

Narrator the third: the husband

Narrator the final: The Unfaithful Servant - "The book that's on everyone's lips" (Fable and Fable).

There is also an epilogue in verse

Which of these narrators is the most reliable?

For running order, I could follow this with:

Tell-tale Crimson Trail

Which, although published in 12 parts, these are all exactly 250 words in length, giving a total of 3,000 words.

I think I might follow this up with a story about an unsuspecting detective, who finds himself falling in and out of consciousness in his hospital bed. He learns he has been shot, almost fatally and can't think who might want to kill him. His confused dreams help to lead him to the would-be murderer but, who is it? This story might be the first chapter in an ongoing mystery if I can ever think how to continue the narrative.

Dreams in which I'm dying

The following Drabble might help to break up the weightier narrative and, though it may be included in this crime collection, might appear anywhere, given the story's start in:

Grand Central Station New York

Another murder mystery, this time written into a love triangle:

Tunnels of love

The rest of the stories are all random crime and crime-related tales. Not sure whether to include them all in the book or not. I would appreciate any views on this point, or on the running order, or whether I should include a few sample, non-crime stories at the end.

A macabre profession

To me, the ‘eerie’ silence of the secluded sepulchre was a welcome respite from the hustle and bustle of the wicked world outside. If I found what I was looking for inside the tomb, it would certainly be worth tonight's visit. Continue to read: A macabre profession

Window to the soul

The rest of the stories

The inside job

Two's company

Lord help poor fishermen

A great train robber

Not a morning person

Slave to love

The Night Watch

What do you think? Would this collection of stories make a good collection of crime compendium for me to publish? Should I leave any out? Are there any gaps I should fill, by writing some more crime fiction? Any comments will be received with gratitude.

Before I make a start on this I need to complete the collection of stories from the 'Oh, Jeff challenge.' If you are one of the kind authors who agreed to let me republish their work, please look out for updates coming soon.

For now, here is the provisional contents list of

Murder She Wrought: and other stories

Contents and running order

1. Murder She Wrought
2. Tell-tale Crimson Trail
3. Dreams in which I'm dying
4. Grand Central Station New York
5. Tunnels of love
6. A macabre profession
7. Window to the soul
8. The inside job
9. Two's company
10. Lord help poor fishermen
11. A great train robber
12. Not a morning person
13. Slave to love
14. The Night Watch

Thanks for reading and do please let me know your views.

Ray