More Shorts Within A Mystery: Sequel to "Writing My Shorts"

More ShortsWithin A MysteryByBen SteinlageA little over a year ago, my wife said I should put together an anthology of short stories. I could see why she suggested what she did, for my collection is in the hundreds. Though I wanted to please her, I did have a problem with the idea. Like so many, I’ve read a number of such books. In doing so, I’ve found a short story here, or there I liked but others bored me. Whenever I found one of these, I wished there was something else to think about. So in fulfilling her request I came up with ＂Writing My Shorts.＂With my thoughts being what they were, I loosely patterned the main character after myself. He or ＂Jim,＂ is a writer, as well as a member of a ＂Writers Group.＂ As so often is the case, he finds himself in a position of doing something he doesn’t really want to do. In that book as well as this one, he ends up solving a murder mystery. In the process, he is asked via Email, to critique a story or poem for different members of the group he belongs to. I thought it was a cute idea, but never expected to get the response from readers that I did. So here is another murder mystery, woven through thirty plus short stories and poems. I hope you enjoy ＂Writing my Shorts within a Mystery,＂ as much as I did putting it together.

Author Ben Steinlage: Though born in California, he now lives in New Mexico with his wife. He is a father of six children, seven grand-children. Professionally he was a consultant in the printing industry. Now that he is retired, he spends a good part of his time writing, and helping other writers. In helping others, he’s extended his talents to designs book covers and laying books out so that they can be published. As to his writing, it all began more than fifty some years ago as a hobby. This past time has led him to become a published writer. As a writer he likes challenges, which means he writes in a variety of genres. To date, he has written (though not all published) better than thirty stores of historical fiction, murder mysteries, to fantasy. It wasn’t until 2007 that his wife decided it was time to share his works with the world that he became a published author. To his surprise, he found that others enjoyed his stories as much as his family. In offering this story to the many readers out in the world, he hopes this story will be as enjoyable as his past stories.