Contact the publisher at www.lightpagesllc.com.
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THE EVIL THAT MEN DO (published by Light Pages, LLC, 2008) is a collection of short mystery and horror stories by Catherine Mambretti. Several of the stories appeared in "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine" and in the ezine, HandHeldCrime. The electronic edition is available in eight parts (one story per part) for easy of access via mobile devices.
ISBN 978-0-9821549-0
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Download: $3.99 “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones” (William Shakespeare). So said Mark Antony at Caesar’s funeral. But even when no one wants to speak ill of the dead, the effects of their evil lives linger forever. These stories explore those lingering aftereffects. In Medieval Catalunya, evil persists on the walls of long-abandoned churches in murals where demons torture saints and martyrs. In Colonial Virginia, native Powhatan bones preserve the tale of genocide. In Post-War Chicago, a P.I. finds evil interred with his mother’s bones, then deduces how the weak are punished for the crimes of the powerful. In the 1990s, a young woman decides there’s no benefit in being more sinned against than sinning.Suitably at the end of this collection, a maid at a resort hotel at the foot of Mount Powhatan uncovers bad memories in the sheets and pillowcases she changes each day—but it’s nothing compared to the evil that stalks the foothills of her Serbo-Croatian homeland.
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Download: FREE This story first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. Of it, editor Linda Landrigan said, "...Catherine Mambretti...brings to life the period of the early European settlement of America...." Mike Grost (http://mikegrost.com/zbest.htm#A2007) lists the story as a "real detective story" and among the best of the year.  Download for Free |
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Download: FREE When an ancient church frescoe peels, an even more ancient crime is revealed. Is this why the nun took a vow of silence--so she wouldn't have to confess? This story first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, April, 2004. Download for Free |
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Download: FREE At midnight, as the 12th century becomes the 13th, a sign appears on a church wall--The End is Near. “Painter of the Seven-eyed Beast,” first appeared as the cover story in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, November, 2002 (Vol. 47, No. 11, pp. 98-115, ISSN-000205224). It was a finalist for the Derringer Award that same year. This is a revised version of the story. Download for Free |
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Download: FREE In the griddle-hot summer of '52, a Chicago skip tracer chases a teenage runaway down Route 66. He soon discovers that "the highway that's the best" passes through his hometown, where he stops to find out what really happed to his mother after his father hog-tied her and threw in the back of the family one-mule wagon. (This story was accepted for publication in Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine and then in Amazon Shorts before both ceased publication.) Download for Free |
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Download: FREE In 1953, if you were the gay defendant in a murder trial, you probably weren't very happy. Rumors about your private life could hang you. A lady librarian juror discovers that she can do the math, even if the crime-lab experts can't. Download for Free |
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Download: FREE Forensic experts may think there's no such thing as a perfect crime, but all that means is they've never caught the perfect criminal. Download for Free |
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Download: FREE In 1997 a management consultant who looks like Sharon Stone conceives of the perfect crime. There's just one problem: her victim isn't as stupid as she thinks he is. (This story was first published in HandHeldCrime, Issue 12, Feb. 16, 2001.) Download for Free |
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Download: FREE "At the Foot" is excerpted from THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, a collection of 8 short stories designed for mobile reading, in particular, cell phones and SmartPhones. The aftermath of the Bosnian War reaches all the way to a century-old resort hotel at the foot of the Rockies, where (of course) something goes horribly wrong. Download for Free |
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