The First Lady Murders

The First Lady Murders is an anthology of 20 murder mysteries involving a first lady. Each author was allowed to choose the first lady they wanted to build their mystery around so there are three stories which feature Edith Wilson. That does not take away from the book at all as it is interesting to see the diverse ways authors treat the same subject. This book offers a pleasant introduction to 20 mystery authors. Two I especially enjoyed were Adams and Evil by Susan Booth Conroy and A Tale of Two Sisters by Richard Timothy Conroy. These two authors happen to be married. I will definitely look for other books by them. Some of the stories were a bit contrived or relied too much upon ghost elements for my taste which is why I gave it a 4 overall rating. Sometimes I felt a bit like I was reading responses to a creative writing class assignment: Write a short story which has a murder and a first lady. The results are uneven, but it is a clever idea and intriguing to read the variety of ways it was executed by the participating authors. This is a good candidate for a book to take to take on your summer vacation!