‘Killing Dad’ by Keith Wright is an anthology of short stories.These are all varying stories, to the point that I shall give you the full list of stories includes in this book first.

KILLING DAD
A family plagued by an abusive father finally take their revenge.

THE SHIFT
A detective completes a shift at work like no other. He couldn’t see the hit coming, and he couldn’t see the positive impact he’d had on so many lives.

THE MISSING LINK
A detective holds a retirement party. His old friend indicates he knows the truth.

THE PARCEL
A devoted son carries out his mother’s wishes.

DEAD TO THE WORLD
A detective stumbles across a murder. The problem is, he is alone with the killer and there is no way out.

THE VERDICT
A woman is abused in her back garden. But are things really what they seem?

THE CONFESSION
A Catholic priest is new to the parish and befriends a lady parishioner.

THE SLEEPER
A loving husband and father, discovers a horrific scene and blames himself.

APPOLLONIA’S MIST
An aging artist falls in love with his muse. But is she as devoted to him?

FRIENDS AND NEIGHBOURS
An elderly couple find themselves next door to a problem family. Surely they will listen to reason?

FROM THE CRADLE
A young detective discovers his partners impropriety, but he learns a life lesson which conflicts with his instincts.

JIMMY TICKLE’S CHRISTMAS
A boy from an underprivileged family has a run-in with an intruder. It ends in tears…of joy.  

I must be honest here and say short stories are not really a favourite of mine, but I have read Keith’s work before and knew I enjoyed his writing so I thought why not give the book a go. This set, however, I really enjoyed. Each story is a crime and of varying degrees of darkness. Some darker than others. They are a great length, to be honest, I did feel like I was reading one of my normal length books, they weren’t rushed and gave me the full story and on the other hand, if I wanted a quick read they were great as well. I do think that Keith has managed to cure me of my aversion to short stories and I am quite happy about that!

Many thanks to Books On The Bright Side and Keith for the copy of this marvellous set of stories.