Witnesses for the Dead

September 5, 2022
The 14 stories in this strong all-original anthology from Phillips (The Obama Inheritance) and Haywood (the Aaron Gunner series) focus on witnesses to crimes who, as the editors point out in their introduction, “take the initiative to see that the guilty are punished and the victims receive justice.” Standouts include Aaron Philip Clark’s stunning “Death at the Sundial Motel,” in which an undocumented woman from Haiti seeks to do right by her 20-year-old son after he’s killed in a hit-and-run in San Diego County; Richie Narvaez’s riveting “The Gardener of Roses,” in which a budding journalist gets caught up in “fake news,” a terrorist plot, and an FBI search in Puerto Rico; and Darrell Jones’s “Star Witness,” which exposes the abuses of Arizona guards in a migrant border detention center. Also notable are Cara Black’s tense spy tale set in German-occupied Paris, “Code Name Pénélope,” and S.J. Rozan’s “Pearl Joy,” which makes clever use of Chinese superstitions such as vertical chopsticks in a rice bowl, “an offering from the living to the deceased.” These tales put a gimlet eye on the satisfying rewards of retribution. Agents: (for Phillips) David Hale Smith, InkWell Management; (for Haywood) Lukas Ortiz, Philip Spitzer.

October 28, 2022

The stories in this collection are inspired by Darnella Frazier's actions in recording George Floyd's murder. They feature characters who observe a crime, then take the initiative to see that the guilty are punished, and the victim receives justice. Usually the stories feature ordinary people who witness the crime in the course of their daily lives. Editors Haywood and Phillips are two of the authors included in the collection. In Haywood's "On Gossamer Wings," the police have to determine if a jumper's death was murder or suicide. Phillips's story, "Spiders and Fly," confronts police corruption. Alex Segura's series character, sports reporter Pete Fernandez, fails to get a basketball story, but witnesses a hit-and-run in "Post-Game." There are other stories that stand out, by authors Sarah M. Chen, Pamela Samuels Young, Cara Black, and Darrell James. VERDICT A representative collection of authors are included, featuring intriguing stories with settings as varied as a detention center for immigrants to occupied Paris in 1941. The premise is unusual for a crime collection, with characters who witness a crime, and sometimes take justice into their own hands. Royalties go to the Alliance for Safe Traffic Stops.--Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2022
This fine anthology, edited by acclaimed crime writers Phillips and Haywood, has a unique premise: the protagonists all witness crimes and are driven to take action. The stories, the editors explain, were inspired by Darnella Frazier defying police pressure and recording George Floyd's death. Improvising on that theme, the 14 authors explore the reactions of a disparate group of individuals who overcome their reluctance to get involved. In Phillips' superbly suspenseful ""Spiders and Fly,"" Cresston, ""a mid-level bureaucrat in a mid-level anonymous job,"" finds himself on the run after witnessing a beating, and in Alex Segura's ""Post-Game,"" alcoholic newspaperman Pete Fernandez, a ""washed-up loser,"" rises from a booze-filled stupor to rekindle his reporting chops after he, too, sees something he wasn't meant to see. Pamela Samuels Young, in ""Fatal Assumptions""--perhaps the highlight in a collection of uniformly strong stories--goes a different way; Mia, whose brother appears to die from COVID, doesn't know she's witnessed a crime until a pizza dinner forces her to ask some unwelcome questions. Royalties from this volume will be donated to the Alliance for Safe Traffic Stops.

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