Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1

Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #
By various female crime fiction authors
Published by Killer Women Ltd (6 September 2016)
ISBN: 978-1527200715

Publisher's description

Blade-sharp and pared to the bone, these original stories by bestselling, award-winning female crime writers will lure you to the dark side. Fifteen perfectly twisted tales with a measure of evil, a dash of horror, and a dose of humour. Expect the unexpected…

Fifteen original stories by Jane Casey, Tammy Cohen, Sarah Hilary, Alison Joseph, Erin Kelly, Alex Marwood, Kate Medina, Colette McBeth, Melanie McGrath, D. E. Meredith, Louise Millar, Kate Rhodes, Helen Smith, Louise Voss and Laura Wilson, with a foreword by Val McDermid.

My verdict
I began reading this Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1 a while back. The fact that it's taken so long for me to get through it is certainly no reflection on the quality of the writing or my enjoyment of the stories. Sadly life (and other books) just kept getting in the way.

I admit that I'm not usually one for short story collections. I tend to read full length novels, not even novellas. But having entered a reading slump recently, I realised it was time to get stuck into this anthology again. And this was the best thing I could have done. It was so easy to dip into whenever there was a spare moment and I could read a whole story at a time, feeling a sense of completion at the end.

The Killer Women are an incredibly talented bunch of women. The stories in their collection are all very different, providing something for everyone. These twisted tales are full of shocks, surprises and dark humour. Some are chilling, some are creepy, some are stomach churning and some are totally offbeat and 'laugh out loud' reads.

The Killer Women: Crime Club Anthology #1 is a fantastic introduction to 15 amazing authors and offers the reader great value for money. I'm assuming (and hoping) that there are more collections to come.

Do I have a favourite story? Maybe. But my lips are sealed. Buy the book and work out which one is your favourite. I have no doubt that everyone will find their own.

I received an Advance Reader Copy (but actually bought the e-book too).