Loved it as I love Elvis Costello and love some of the authors. Other were new to me and the stories were entertaining and well plotted
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

The music of Elvis Costello is widely varied, playing with rock, funk, jazz and melancholy. Many of the songs reach deep into your soul and reveal the darkness within and 18 of those songs have been used as inspiration for short stories with a criminal aspect to them.

Some of the most popular crime authors have taken part in this exercise and have offered up a serving of Elvis Costello inspired goodness, or maybe that should be badness.

Rather than attempt to summarise every story in the book I’ve singled out 4 of the ones that spoke to me the loudest. For me, they managed to demonstrate a certain flair while also reflecting the song from which inspiration was drawn. As well as a very brief idea of what each of these stories are about, I’ve also included a couple of lines of lyrics that I reckon are relevant to the jist of each story.

Tramp Down the Dirt by Catriona McPherson

“That’s when they finally put you in the ground
I’ll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down”

A dark little occasion in which three sisters are at a funeral home. Their mother is dead and not particularly lamented and the three women, who had been beaten and abused by their dead mother, are trying to decide how to dispose of her body.

Waiting For the End of the World by Peter Blauner

“And then they shut down the power all along the line
And we got stuck in the tunnel where no lights shine”

It all happens when Dylan was taking the train home one night. Things take an unexpected turn after he’s attacked by some drunks looking for trouble. This is a clever short story that neatly turns the tables and screams with injustice.

Favourite Hour by Martyn Waites

“Now there's a tragic waste of brutal youth
Strip and polish this unvarnished truth
The tricky door that gapes beneath the ragged noose
The crippled verdict begs again for the lamest excuse”

The song is a dark and disturbing interlude that simply reeks of terrible undertones, so it’s appropriate that Martyn Waites has created a similarly disturbing story. Underneath the commentary of a television landscape artist explaining how to create the latest Alaskan landscape, a far more disturbing description of an artistic endeavour plays out.

Watching the Detectives by Mary Anna Evans

“They beat him up until the teardrops start,
but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart.”

This is a police procedural (naturally) that starts with the police called to a house in which a man is lying dead, stabbed in the chest. Also inside the house are his children and what follows is a sad but fascinating story of how those children lived. As well as being one of my favourite songs, this is also one of my favourite stories in the book. I assumed the lyric that would be used as inspiration would be “She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake.” I was wrong.

There are 18 stories that each do a great job in paying tribute to the talent and longevity of Elvis Costello’s musical creativity. Before and during each story I queued up the appropriate song and played it through. I first tried to guess the type of story that would be coming, and then I started looking for the lyrics that inspired the story. In most cases it managed to provide me with a greater emotional connection to both the song and the story.

This was a fun book to read with some real surprises and great unexpected twist endings among a varying array of different crimes and misdemeanours.

My thanks to Down & Out Books via NetGalley for a digital copy of this book to read, enjoy and review.

Brutal and Strange (Sched. for pub. Dec. 4, 2023; Down & Out Books)

“One of popular music’s most prolific and creative composers, Elvis Costello has written songs in every conceivable genre: pop, reggae, rock, country, funk, soul and jazz, but also for full orchestras and string quartets. What you may not have noticed is that a surprising number of these songs are crime stories—not mere nods toward unsavory events featuring questionable characters, but complete tales of murder and violence told in verse.” (Blurb from the publisher.) what you end up with is a terrific collection of dark and shadowy stories.

Complicated Shadows by Meg Gardiner is the first selection and it takes you on a journey through abandoned mines in the California desert and the lost souls dwelling there.

Motel Matches by George Pelecanos is about finding love in rundown bars and motels.

Tramp the Dirt Down by Catrina McPherson is all about saying goodbye to the dear departed.

Almost Blue by Jim Fusilli does an excellent job of connecting the music theme with a hi-fi department in a department store and a femme fatale golddigger and a tale that is at once too familiar and yet fresh and new.

Everyday I Write the Book by Gar Anthony Harwood is a story of a man flirting with love and trust and betrayal who decides he must have one last fling but can only do so if she betrays him first.

Waiting For the End of the World by Peter Blauner offers us an updated version perhaps of Bernie Goetz and the epidemic of crime of New York’s subways.

Living in Paradise by Raquel V. Reyes is set on the Florida Coast with a story that might interest Travis McGee.

Busy Bodies by Ed Lin and s, of course, set in Chinatown where a driver finds he is going to be driving a hearse to the cemetery and that the guys he’s driving it for aren’t legit and neither us the cargo.

(The Angels Want to wear My) Red Shoes by Rob Osler is a Mr. Mustard in the drawing room with a candlestick type of locked-house mystery, but set in a club featuring a drag Queen show and a set of red shoes.

Favourite Hour By Martyn Waites is a change of pace, a sort of paint by numbers peaceful television show.

I Want You by Alex Segura is set in Miami’s Cuban community and is a different twist on a gangster story, told through the point of view of a would-be novelist.

Watching the Detectives by Mary Anna Evans is in some ways as the title suggests he most classic police procedural of these tales, but it has a dark twist.

Opportunity by Reece Hirsch is a story about a law student who really wants to go to film school and what he learns about how to get what he wants in Hollywood.

My Aim is True by Gary Phillips is all about returning to the neighborhood and still being underestimated.

Accidents Will Happen by Naomi Rand is a story about a rural bar on a snowy evening and the random drinkers who wander in.

Permanent Lent by Peter Spiegelman is all about how rough it can be to deal with the rich and privileged.

The Beat by Raymond Benson is all about the club scene in the late Seventies and the folks that find themselves there even if they are like a fish out of water.

Our Little Angel by Mark Billingham is a story about a lady in a bar in a white dress who doesn’t drink, but beware you are being warned to stay away.

A very mixed bag of stories here. I chose to read and review this book as I’m a big Elvis Costello fan and was hoping to find more of him in the stories than just titles. A few of these are good, some miss the mark completely and some are middling. As with any selection of stories, there will be something here for every reader and their opinions on the good, the poor and the fair will differ from mine.