Happiness is a Warm Gun, edited by Josh Pachter

Happiness is a Warm Gun, subtitled Crime Fiction Inspired by Songs of the Beatles, is a new anthology edited by Josh Pachter and published by Down and Out Books. I'm one of the contributors, so I can't write an impartial review - this post is simply a celebration of a book that I'm delighted to be part of. It's the second anthology edited by Josh that I've contributed to, following a book of stories inspired by the songs of Paul Simon, Paranoia Blues.

Josh is a notable editor and writer of short stories. I first came across his name back in the 1980s, long before I was published, when I borrowed from Moreton Library his excellent anthology Top Crime. Many years later we met, introduced as far as I can recall by our mutual friend Janet Hutchings, editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Both Josh and I had our first stories published in EQMM, the difference being that Josh was a mere 16 when he made that great breakthrough. We've kept in touch ever since and it's always a pleasure to spend time with him and his wife Laurie.

When Josh mentioned to me the possibility of a Beatles-themed anthology, I was very keen to take part, especially given that - as I never tire of telling people! - I am not only a Beatles fan (and former lawyer to the Cavern Club!) - I once saw them live, improbably opening Northwich Carnival. I was lucky enough to have a lightbulb moment straight away. It concerned a story inspired by 'She's Leaving Home', which is really one of the greatest Beatles songs (my all-time faves are 'The Long and Winding Road' and 'Eleanor Rigby', a line from which supplied the title of my first novel, All the Lonely People). My story is quite a dark one, but I enjoyed writing it and I like to think it's one of my better efforts.

As usual, Josh has gathered an interesting and eclectic group of contributors. They include Paul Charles (himself a great music man), Christine Poulson, Vaseem Khan, Tom Mead, and Kate Ellis from the UK. The American authors include Robert Lopresti and Michael Bracken, both of whom I enjoyed chatting to at the San Diego Bouchercon. And a special treat is a debut mystery by two pillars of the blogging world, Dru Ann Love and Kris Zgorski. Their story is 'Ticket to Ride' and I very much hope that this success will encourage them both to keep writing fiction as well as blogging and everything else they do in the mystery world.