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Chesapeake Crimes 4: “They had it Comin…”

Foreword
by
Katherine Neville

Not many of us would admit, even to ourselves, that we had actually wished for something awful to befall anybody we knew. On the other hand, if we’ve ever felt exploited by an acquaintance, or undervalued in a job that we felt trapped in–if we’ve experienced an unappreciative boss, a backstabbing co-worker, a jealous rival, a manipulative friend, a faithless lover, an intrusive neighbor or even a controlling homeowners’ association board… well, you get the picture.

Each of us has doubtless gone a round or two with someone whom we secretly felt deserved more than a small dose of Divine Justice. This probably explains why most of us can’t help but smile, upon hearing that somebody who “done us wrong” has, at long last, gotten his “just desserts.” In extreme cases (that is, if you’re anything like me) you might even have gone so far, in the past, as to uncork a small split of champagne!

I suspect there’ll be plenty of bubbly flowing as you relish reading about twenty of literature’s most deserving villains, who get their comeuppance in Chesapeake Crimes 4: “They Had it Comin…”

The surprising range of these tales is wide and deep, from motive to method, from historical to futuristic-fantastic. The following smattering will, I hope, tingle your taste buds for more:

• Against the shared background of the Civil War, Karen Cantwell and Audrey Liebross tackle everything from slavery and mistaken identity to espionage and visionary prescience.




• When it comes to the time-tested crime of passion, Trish Carrico, Mary Ann Corrigan, Carla Coupe, C. Ellett Logan, Helen Schwartz, and Ann McMillan all deal with infidelity in a variety of creative ways, including but not limited to: a Japanese cliff, a selection of gourmet appetizers, a lacy brassiere, a load of concrete, a computer hack-in, and a stake through the heart.




• After the twenty years I spent in the working world, a particular favorite theme of my own has always been bumping off maleficent bosses and other controlling authority figures. Meriah Crawford, Lynda Hill, Mary Ellen Hughes, B.V. Lawson, Bonner Menking, and Shelley Shearer manage to even the score with a corrupt sheriff, a venomous stable-owner, a couple of arrogant employers who are bilking others, a threatening new neighbor, and a manipulative condo board president.




• Falling for the wrong person (for example, a rapist-murderer, a child molester, or your own psychiatric patient) is a topic handled with very different, yet astonishing, twist endings by Smita H. Jain, Barbara Goffman, and Debbie Mack.




• The book world itself is tackled by Donna Andrews and G.M. Malliett, when an envious aspiring author and a crazed literary fan run amok in literary land.




• And, last but not least, Lisa Tillman leaves us guessing: Who really “had it comin” in the end: the unwitting killer? Or the accidental victim?

Chesapeake Crimes 4: “They Had it Comin…” is a tour de force, displaying an unusual variety of plot complexity and a colorful cast of characters. It is certain to stay on the shelves, pleasing readers, for a very long time.