From the Booking Desk:
The popularity of “Inspired By” anthologies in the crime fiction community continues to grow. I am honored that “Ticket to Ride” (the story I wrote in collaboration with Dru Ann Love) won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Awards for Best Short Story of the Year. That story was featured in Happiness is a Warm Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of The Beatles, edited by Josh Pachter. When I discovered that Josh was doing a similar anthology with the songs of Stephen Sondheim as inspiration, I practically begged to be included. Fortunately, Josh said yes. Which brings us to today.
Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim will be released on March 22, 2025. Josh asked if BOLO Books would be willing to host the cover reveal for the collection, and of course I couldn’t say no. Full disclosure, I do have a story in this collection, but beyond that, I truly do believe this merging of the crime fiction aesthetic and the theater world will appeal to fans of both disciplines–in unique ways. There is literally something for everyone in this anthology.
So let’s take a look at the cover:
More about the Anthology:
Every Day a Little Death: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Stephen Sondheim
editor: Josh Pachter
publisher: Level Best Books
publication date: March 22, 2025
Releasing on the ninety-fifth anniversary of Stephen Sondheim’s birth, Every Day a Little Death will be the eighth volume in editor Josh Pachter’s award-winning “inspired by” anthology series, following collections inspired by the songs of Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, the Beatles, and the Grateful Dead … and the films of the Marx Brothers.
The book will feature twenty short crime stories, each inspired by a song from one of Sondheim’s twenty musicals (including the made-for-TV Evening Primrose and the final show, Here We Are). The contributors are a mix of established crime writers and members of the theater community who are tackling crime fiction for the first time, and the resulting stories seamlessly blend crime fiction with Sondheimian themes (and include a wealth of Easter eggs for those intimately familiar with Sondheim’s work to discover).
Table of Contents
Saturday Night: Michael Portantiere, “Class”
West Side Story: John Copenhaver, “Tonight”
Gypsy: Jeffrey Marks, “Together, Wherever We Go”
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Marcia Talley, “Everybody Ought to Have a Maid”
Anyone Can Whistle: Lisa Nanni-Messegee, “There Won’t Be Trumpets”
Do I Hear a Waltz?: Joseph S. Walker, “Bargaining”
Evening Primrose: Jeffrey Sweet, “If You Can Find Me, I’m Here”
Company: Brian Cox, “Being Alive”
Follies: Kristopher Zgorski, “Losing My Mind”
A Little Night Music: Josh Pachter, “Every Day a Little Death”
The Frogs: John M. Floyd, “I Love to Travel”
Pacific Overtures: David Spencer, “The Advantages of Floating in the Middle of the Sea”
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: Joseph Goodrich, “No Place Like London”
Merrily We Roll Along: J.A. Hennrikus, “Not a Day Goes By”
Sunday in the Park With George: Fleur Bradley, “Sunday in the Park With George”
Into the Woods: Rebecca K. Jones, “Hello, Little Girl”
Assassins: Cheryl L. Davis, “Another National Anthem”
Passion: Gabriel Valjan, “I Read”
Road Show: Cheryl A. Head, “Brotherly Love”
Here We Are: Alison Louise Hubbard, “Only Just the End of the World”
Josh Pachter is the author of more than a hundred and thirty published short stories, the editor of some two dozen anthologies, and the translator of sixty short stories, five novels, and numerous volumes of nonfiction from Dutch to English. His work has been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha, Thriller, Macavity, and Derringer awards, and he was the 2020 recipient of the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement. A native New Yorker, he earned his BA and MA in Communication Studies from the University of Michigan and spent fifty years teaching at the university level before retiring in 2022. He lives in Richmond (VA) with his wife Laurie and continues teaching as a volunteer at two programs for seniors. In 1974, he cast the tie-breaking vote which resulted in Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins winning the Mystery Writers of America’s Best Motion Picture Edgar Award for their script for The Last of Sheila.
Pre-Order links (as available): Kindle, Print
For more information, contact Josh Pachter.