Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction SPRING 2021 A Suspenseful Spring has Sprung! GREG F. GIFUNE DIETRICH KALTEIS DON BENTLEY Inspired by Actual Events JONATHAN KELLERMAN with Parris Afton Bonds J.A. JANCE JOSEPH BADAL Get a Sneak Peek of Head Back to Harper’s Island “BLACKOUT" with JOHN RAAB MARCO CAROCARI From the Editor How is everyone doing out there? I must say, it’s been quite the year thus far. We have mostly been locked down for so long, we’ve been streaming everything we can possibly watch. We have also, hopefully, read more books this year than in the past. CREDITS It’s now 2021, and time to turn the page John Raab on the worst year most of us has ever lived President & Chairman through. We want to remember the people Shannon Raab who have died during this pandemic and Creative Director give our prayers to all the families that Abigail Peralta have suffered such a horrible loss. Yes, it’s not a “far out” thing to say 2020 was unlike Vice President, Editorial Dept. anything we have ever seen before…but, with luck, it’s something we will never see again. We see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our medical professionals are working hard Amy Lignor Editor to ensure the vaccines get to everyone, and we can finally enjoy the writing conferences we’ve missed so much. Thank you to one and all. Contributors In case you’ve run out of things to watch, here are the top five hidden gems you might Susan Santangelo Kaye George have missed when they were originally released: Weldon Burge 5. Evil Under the Sun starring Peter Ustinov as Hercule Poirot. This movie appeared Ashley Wintters D.P. Lyle M.D. in 1982. Many people are familiar with Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the J.M. LeDuc Nile, but this movie is just as good, if not better! David Ingram 4. Trenchcoat starring Margot Kidder and Robert Hays. This movie came out in Anthony J. Franze Barry Lancet 1983 and introduced me to Malta. This is a funny mystery, with David Suchet playing the Leslie Borghini Inspector. I’ve told author Boyd Morrison, a huge fan of Malta, this is the movie to watch Mary Lignor Jeff Ayers in order to see the island and have some fun along the way. Joseph Badal 3. Identity starring John Cusack, Ray Liotta, Amanda Peet, and an all-star cast of Dennis Palumbo Lauren Brabrook many others. Released in 2003, this movie was a roller coaster ride that continuously Robert Allen Papinchak made you think: “What the hell is going on?” At about the fifteen-minute mark, the John Valeri Patrick Whitehurst movie takes off into hyper-speed and away you Kirsche Romo go! Bailey Day 2. Murder by Death starring Maggie Jaime Lynn Hendricks Patricia Wilson Smith, Peter Falk, and so many others. In 1976, this movie—which is an adaptation of the Neil Customer Service and Subscriptions: Simon play—had me right from the start. If For 24/7 service, please use our website, you love the older detectives, love to laugh, and www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at love a good mystery, look no further. But the 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 question is: When the movie is over, do you Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share our know who did it? magazine subscriber list with third-party 1. Harper’s Island is a fascinating TV series companies. starring Christopher Gorham, Katie Cassidy, Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- Elaine Cassidy, and the list goes on. You’ll find tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- a longer story about this show within the pages tions must be payable in U.S. funds. of this issue; but in short, if you have not seen it, watch it and then tell me I’m wrong! John Raab CEO/Publisher Suspense Magazine ■ “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely for the purpose of assisting readers in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice or the opinion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following contributors who may appear in this magazine are also individual clients of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: J.M. LeDuc, Leslie Borghini, Susan Santangelo, Jeff Ayers, Bailey Day, Joseph Badal, and Amy Lignor.” SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT SUSPENSE MAGAZINE Spring 2021 / Vol. 091 Satin By Julia Shraytman . 3 Better the Devil You Know By Dan A . Cardoza . 9 Hunted By Megan Towey . .15 Special Excerpt: “Blackout” By Marco Carocari . .19 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews . .24 Featured Artist: Sarita Angel: An Artist Focusing on “HOPE” .......... 33 H.O.U.S.E. By Bailey Day . .38 Fire Ants By Jeffrey A . Lockwood . .43 The Thinking Person’s Horror & Suspense Fiction: Greg F. Gifune . .48 Death by GPS By Martha Reed . .56 Head Back to Harper’s Island By John Raab . .77 Rules of Fiction By Ken Brosky . .79 Inspired by Actual Events with Parris Afton Bonds By Joseph Badal . .82 Cozy Village By Tom Halford . .85 Satin By Julia Shraytman Part II There is a knock on my door. “Excuse me,” I say to my patient, my voice just above a whisper. She nods as she stops mid-word, her shoulders drooping. I hand her a box of tissues before I uncross my legs and make my way across the vast room. I am annoyed. My secretary knows the drill, I am not to be disturbed while in session. Just a slight disturbance can throw a patient off kilter. I crack the door open expecting my secretary’s flushed, moon face, but there are two men in trench coats. I look at them, and they look at me as if I showed up at their place of work uninvited. I don’t play their game. I stay quiet. I glide my gaze over to my secretary, who is huddled in the corner, her cheeks ruby red. She stares at me, her eyes blinking morse code. I return my attention to the men. In the movies FBI agents thrust their badges out and pull them back so quickly it looks as if they are performing a magic trick. These two hold the badges in front of my face long enough for me to become bored. One of the agents leans in as he takes the lead. “Doctor Cohen?” he asks. He is fit and young. Too young. No more than twenty-seven, give or take a few years. The second agent is even younger. His blue eyes shine brightly with inexperience like morning dew. “There are so many Doctor Cohens in the world,” I say with a straight face. “I know what you mean,” the first agent says. “Are you Doctor Ethan Cohen?” I nod. “Can we steal ten minutes of your time?” “Gentlemen, I am with a patient,” I whisper conspiratorially, throwing my gaze behind my shoulder quickly. They pretend they do not hear me. The first one pulls a small photograph from a manila envelope. “Do you recognize this person?” he asks. Unlike my wife, I don’t mind having my picture taken. Sylvia thinks that fact makes me a narcissist. Who isn’t a narcissist in this day and age? Sylvia likes to throw her thin hand in front of her face in an attempt to conceal herself from a camera, allowing just a small part of her to escape and to be captured. A green eye in one photo. A freckled forehead in another. A cascade of red hair here. A seashell of an ear accentuated by an earring there. Lips coated in a dark red lipstick; a shade called Sugar Plum. I am the only one who knows the true meaning behind those little performances she puts on. She enjoys marinating in the adulation her modesty arouses in others. I, on the other hand, don’t mind having my picture taken because all I want is for a photo to look like me. I keep waiting for a photograph of me to be of me and not be of a stranger I do not know. I study photos of myself for minutes at a time because I am fascinated by the fact that I am nothing like the smiling, bright-eyed, well-groomed, tall man in his early forties. I feel a disconnect between me and him; between us. SuspenseMagazine.com 3 Sometimes I look up and catch Sylvia watching me. sandwich. After finally deciding she apologizes, and the curly haired cashier who takes her order smiles, his eyes I feel the agent’s eyes on me. I have no choice but to stare twinkling. She rummages through her bag, and as she does at the photo he is holding three inches from my face and I so, she turns slightly toward me giving me a glimpse of its furrow my brow to show him that I am thinking hard. contents. It is full of wrinkled receipts, tissues, and bubble Yes, she was my patient. Laura. gum. She extracts her wallet and hands over a credit card, In the photo, Laura is real and genuine. She looks as she which is declined. did that first time when I caught sight of her at the diner I Her embarrassment seeps through her damp coat like often frequent. I blink, and there she is. No longer a six-by- an exhaled winter breath. eight photo of a missing girl, but a young woman in the flesh, “We are together,” I say, as I take a step so I am standing her wild-looking hair dripping rain.