In Crossing Borders, the first anthology from the San Diego chapter of Sisters in Crime, fifteen stories capture moments before, during and after characters cross borders and find themselves stumbling around strange lands that abound with saints, sinners, and monsters. As Rachel Howzell Hall says in our foreword: “Be prepared to hold your breath” as we enter that special space of crossing, transitioning, change, and death.

Here’s a sample of some stories from the protagonist’s POV:

“One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” by Kathy Krevat
She was already dead. To most, that fact wouldn’t be remarkable. Angela Willis was an elderly-before-her-time woman in the advanced stages of lung cancer. But I knew that her death had happened too early. Because I was supposed to kill her.

“A Killing In Bogotá” by Carl Vonderau
I live on the streets and inside the sewers of Bogotá. I’m twelve years old. Mama’s new man kicked me out of the apartment, but Gustavo will help me. All he wants is that I shoot a man.

“Pool Fishing” by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett
A swimming pool sits in the center of the Placent_a Arms apartments—the “I” fizzled out long ago. I’ve fished out of its water a baseball bat, vintage two-slice toaster, and now, a beer bottle stopped up with plastic. I fish a slip of paper out of the bottle and the words, “Help me,” come into focus. It’s either someone who knows about my pool fishing obsession fooling with me, or someone is in trouble.

“Breath” by Cheryl Garrett
Shots ring out overhead as I lay flat on the ground. In a minute I have to move to the next building, dodging bullets and dead bodies. I’ve never shot at anything living before, much less shot to kill. Can I do this?

“A Discreet Personal Assistant” by Jo Perry
My work is exacting and relentless. I don’t have time for aimless queries.
Mine is a gift that under specific circumstances I share with a lucky and select few. A gift for––how shall I put it? Elegant, tailored-to-the-client and always unique metamorphoses.

“Like Déjà Vu All Over Again” by Melinda Loomis
It was just a dream, but yet I can’t seem to go back to sleep and leave it at that. I’m laying here in the dark, reliving my imaginary carjacking over and over, and in my mind I’m thwarting my adversary each time. I drift back to sleep happy in the knowledge that I’m not going to be a victim. At least that’s what I thought.

“What’s in Your Tank? ” by Gerald Martin
That’s quite a pile of dirt I’ve dug up, and I don’t have a clue how much farther I have to go. The other deputies are out there dusting for fingerprints, searching the grounds around the Melcher girl’s house. And Smitty, he’s interviewing people that could be suspects. He’s obviously the sheriff’s favorite. Don’t get bent out of shape; you’ve only been with the department one week. Digging a hole might be one the most impor. . . Oh god, I can see Dad now: “Why would you want to be a police officer? With a name like Radditz you could be a lawyer or a famous reporter!”

“Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse” by Cornelia Feye
In 1985 all I wanted was to see the fabled Ishtar Gate of the Babylonia goddess in all its reconstructed glory in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. But to get there, I had to cross from a free democracy to a socialist dictatorship under Russian rule. What started as a cultural outing, turned into a nightmare in the bowels of the train station Bahnhof Friedrichstrasse––in a cell three floors below the surface, caught between two rivaling parts of the same country with very different sets of laws.

“Sandman” by B.J. Graf
They say you should never meet your heroes. When you’re a cop, it isn’t always your call. My unit in the LAPD handles only the most complex, brutal and high-profile murders. So, when we got the call about the body on the beach that morning in 2041, we knew it was bad. But when the body is Hollywood’s biggest action star, bad is just the starting gate.

“Manipulations” by Barrie Summy
Once upon a time, the main thing wrong with my life was a lack of direction. I worked a dead-end job and lived with a deadbeat boyfriend. My bank account bounced between anemic and sickly. Then suddenly I had a new friend. Machelle was a fun, chatty, let’s-get-pedicures kind of friend. Turns out she was a few other things, too. Things that made her a pretty poor choice as someone to hang out with. A deadly choice, actually.

“Thumbing the Dive” by Lauren Avenius
I never call them jobs. Rob, who got me into this business, said a job is something a prostitute does with her hands or maybe her mouth if she’s any good. But it was supposed to be simple. Fly to Cancun. Find the girl. Her father was worried after she disappeared during a scuba trip. But why did it seem as I talked to people that maybe the girl wasn’t what I expected?

“Ghost Walk” by Greta Boris
I’ve never believed in ghosts, but at a Halloween event in San Juan Capistrano, the Ghost Walk became decidedly disturbing. We crossed the border between present and past, lucidity and dreams, assumptions and truth. I’m still not sure what happened but dark things came into the light that night. I learned the answers to questions so old I’d stopped puzzling over them.

“The Edge” by S.J. Haworth
Blend in. If the spotlight hits you’re in danger. Not that I’m averse to danger. You should meet my boyfriend, Julian. Brutal is a good look on a man. My shrink says he’s trouble. She doesn’t know him. Or me, really. Okay, he can be a little scary. Odd a guy like that wants me around so much. Maybe he’s after my inheritance. No worries, I’m careful. I didn’t get this far by making stupid mistakes. It’s all a game anyway, right?

“Big D, little d” by Pam Clark
It’s not your typical crime scene–an aged stone wall defaced by a red circle drawn around a stylized ear, both slashed by a diagonal red line resembling a dagger. For a hearing cop on a deaf campus, the case is loaded with political implications that might blow up in my face. I’m also a single dad riding herd on a snarky fifteen-year-old daughter who’s critiquing my investigation while nagging me about getting her eyebrow pierced. But her insights might be the ones that crack the case.

“The Crossing” by Kim Keeline
I just want to leave Mexico behind me but instead I’m stuck in a traffic jam at the border. Of course, that is when my next problem shows up. A stranger opens the broken door of my car and gets in, shoving a gun in my face. It’s now just the two of us in my cramped, hot car––fighting for survival––at the crossing.

Crossing Borders, edited Lisa Brackmann and Matt Coyle, from Down & Out Books, released February 16, 2020.

Good stories start with characters crossing borders and finding themselves in worlds filled with hurt, harm, and danger. In Crossing Borders, the first anthology from Partners in Crime, the San Diego Chapter of Sisters in Crime, fifteen stories capture moments before, during and after characters cross borders and find themselves stumbling around strange lands that abound with saints, sinners, and monsters.

Crossing Borders explores that liminal space—the place where people cross from not just from one place to another, like national boundaries, but the dividing line between life/death, stability/insanity, or innocence/guilt. This anthology contains stories that look at the duality of our lives, as we cross borders between people, values, and beliefs.

Join us as we explore crossings, where a character, involved somehow in a crime, must pass over a border, literally or figuratively. As Rachel Howzell Hall says in our foreword: “Be prepared to hold your breath” as we enter that special space of crossing, transitioning, change, and death. Welcome to the border.

Contributors: Lauren Avenius, Greta Boris, Pam Clark, Barbara DeMarco-Barrett, Cornelia Feye, Cheryl Garrett, B. J. Graf, S.J. Haworth, Kim Keeline, Kathy Krevat, Melinda Loomis, Gerald Martin, Jo Perry, Barrie Summy, and Carl Vonderau.

Purchase Link
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Bio:
Kim Keeline was co-chair of the organizing committee for Left Coast Crime 2020 – which regretfully got cancelled due to the Coronavirus. This anthology was going to launch there. She’s thankful to Dru for letting her highlight this new book online—and for the support of the mystery community.