This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, business establishments, or locales, is entirely coincidental.

This edition is published in 2020 by Wildside Press, LLC.

wildsidepress.com | bcmystery.com

IN THE SAME SERIES

Chesapeake Crimes

Chesapeake Crimes 2

Chesapeake Crimes 3

Chesapeake Crimes: They Had It Comin’

Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder

Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays

Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning

Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies

ABOUT THE BOOK

Coordinating Editors

Donna Andrews

Barb Goffman

Marcia Talley

Editorial Panel

Greg Herren

G. M. Malliet

James Lincoln Warren

INTRODUCTION, by Dana Cameron

“Will you walk into my parlour, said the Spider to the Fly.” The nineteenth-century poem warns us that not every invitation is one you should accept. Invitations can be wonderful things, bringing people together or marking an occasion. They may create the happy anticipation of seeing good friends or making new ones, a sense of belonging, good food and drink, all with the excuse of dressing up or finding a new outfit.

But all that changes when crime writers have their way. Invitation to Murder, the ninth collection of Chesapeake Crimes stories, offers up a slew of intriguing stories featuring invitations of the most sinister sort.

Even the most innocent of situations can conceal deadly intent, so think twice before you RSVP. It turns out, nowhere is safe: From the cradle to the grave, these stories suggest that neighbors and community should be treated with caution. In “Good Morning, Green Leaf Class,” we find a tangled thread of classroom email that you ignore at your peril. In “Secrets to the Grave,” bad manners and blackmail are on the menu at an unexpected tea party, and “Guns and Yoga” is a nasty little tale about local politics and what really goes on behind city council meetings. In “The Do-Gooder,” a journey among homeless shelters and soup kitchens leaves us pondering ideas of whether justice is ever served or redemption is possible. “The Problem with Open-Ended Invitations” shows that even the best and most helpful of friends can exploit you. Two stories, “Make New Friends, But Keep the Old” and “Sunnyside,” are set in retirement homes and demonstrate how life there is fraught with greed and how our golden years can turn to lead.

Travel should be broadening, as long as the “what to pack list” doesn’t include “shroud” or “Kevlar.” “The Killing Winds” has a new detective and her mentor encountering a killer on a Patagonian trek, and “The Great Bedbug Incident and the Invitation of Doom” is a tale of travel horrors with an unexpected ending in London.

Even an invitation to fun and games doesn’t have to be anything of the sort. “Muggins” tells a tale of how a chance game of cribbage can change a life, and “The Mysterious Affair at the Escape Room” seems like an innocent diversion for mystery lovers until it turns out that more is at stake than solving the puzzle.

The workplace should be the most polite and professional of situations, but we see that isn’t the case when the government contract in “RFP/RIP” gives new meaning to the word “deadline.”

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