Smoke and Mirrors by Alex Knight - Review by Jane

4Stars

This is a compilation of five short stories, each one individual but all have a common thread….Murder! also includes six pieces of flash fiction.

Smoke and mirrors ------ Looking for something to fill her time Linda stumbles across an online chat room. Before long she realises she has become quite addicted to this pass time to the point where she hires a maid to do her housework to give her more time to chat. One day she decides to meet one of her new friends but things don’t go well.

In the name of love ----- When Phyllis found her boyfriend dead in his apartment, her first thought was to secure her alibi. What a stroke of luck when she discovered she had a stalker and he could be the one to prove her innocence.

Random chance ----- The story of a reporter ‘Random Chance’ who witnesses a murder and gets drawn into all the mysteries surrounding it.

Precious things ----- Caroline is convinced her husband Adam is trying to kill her, just like she is sure he killed his first wife. But is Adam really the villain here, after all it was Caroline who was spotted buying a gun a few weeks ago.

Under the deadwood tree ----- Diane, a college professor often used real cases in her lectures to open discussions on the perfect crime. She seemed to have an awful lot of knowledge about one of the unsolved murders picked for the topic in this class!

Alex Knight has a penchant for short stories and luckily has the ability to write them well. She is able to build up tension and atmosphere and paint a vivid picture with her descriptions. While each of these stories involves a murder they all have totally unique plots and different characters. I found this compilation more interesting and enjoyable than the previous set I read by this author.

Included in this book is a snippet of Alex’ full length novel ‘What Luck’ but I refrained from reading it as I have the full book to read soon. After reading two of her short story collections it will be interesting to see if  this author has the ability to keep the pace and flow throughout  a whole book.

Copy supplied for review.