Racing Can Be Murder edited by Brenda R. Stewart and Tony Perona

Racing can be tough...

This collection of 19 short stories center in and around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, especially the Indy 500. Just to tell you up front, I am a big fan of both mysteries and the Indy 500 (I've been to every 500 since 1986)

Most of the stories in Racing Can Be Murder are about 12-18 pages long and between the stories are little bits of information about the track or the Indy 500, including biographies and odd facts written by Wanda Lou Willis.

The stories are of varying quality, which is to be expected with so many authors contributing to this volume. I was especially fond of "Race to the Rescue" by Andrea Smith, "One Cold Dish" by S.M. Harding, "The Early Bird" by Lucy Coyle Schilling, "Driven to Death" by Tamera Huber and "The Volunteers" by Tamera Phillips. In all of them, the feel of Indianapolis and its West Side was well-portrayed, but it was especially well done in "The Land Grab" by Tony Perona. He tied in current events in the little town of Speedway quite nicely.

"Pre-Race Jiggers" by Wanda Lou Willis seemed out of place since it is much more of a ghost story than a mystery.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Racing Can Be Murder.

Reviewed on March 28, 2008.