What a great little collection of short stories from a very interesting range of crime authors.

I was attracted to this book because Rob Parker told me he had written a story in this collection that serves as a bit of a prequel to his thrilling Ben Bracken series, so I read this one first - it is a must of you are fans of Ben Bracken dear readers!

The only other author I have previously read from those included here is Roger A Price, so it was nice to catch up with his characters from the Badge and Pen series too.

Although i am unfamiliar with the books of the other authors included, this anthology offers a very interesting insight into their work and I am sure I will be picking up some of their novels in future.

Excellent value and an intriguing collection..

Anthology of Suspense....
Anthology of suspense from various authors and a mixed bag. Entertaining reading although some tales were in fact teasers for longer works and hence had no satisfactory ending and were not what could be considered as complete entries.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book and provide honest feedback. I was looking forward to this book since I love the topic, but I'm not terribly big on short stories. A few were good, but some felt too short and could have been fleshed out better. I don't like when it feels like a story just 'ends suddenly', and I felt that way through some of these. Each author also had different writing styles which makes for a quick gear shift while reading. Based on this, I'll be rating it 3 stars. Thank you!

I usually love a collection of short stories, especially if they have a crime focus to them, so I was excited about starting Given in Evidence. However, I felt the first story set the scene for a lot of the book – it really intrigued me but then ended very suddenly, and felt almost unfinished. The end of the story then explains that this is just the first chapter from a full length novel, which I felt was a bit annoying considering these are supposed to be (in my opinion, anyway) a collection of short stories which should stand alone as short stories. But, never mind – I continued on…

I did enjoy a few of the stories – particularly Land’s End, Room 228, and The Encounter. There were also a lot of other stories which didn’t really hold my attention, or which – almost more annoyingly – did only to discover it was another start to a full length novel (Murder Hole, I’m looking at you!)

Perhaps I’m being overly demanding, but if I have a collection of short stories, I expect them to be stories in their own rights, not a way to try and get the reader to buy the full length version. So, for that reason, Given in Evidence wasn’t a hit for me, though it’s still worth buying (or perhaps just lending from the library) for the highlights which are peppered in there, and it could introduce you to some great crime authors which are new to you whilst you’re at it.

A must for all crime fiction fans, A collection of well crafted short stories that will keep you hooked. My favourite 'The Encounter' by A.A. Chaudhuri, a fast-paced tale with good twists and turns. An entertaining anthology.

This was actually a fun book to read. I liked the different writing styles for the different stories. They were also very different which I liked.

A great set of short stories meant to give you a jolt of thriller with a dose of WOW thrown in. Each story....there are 10....is a definite change of pace from the thrillers I usually read. With no time for build up, we jump right to the "meat" of the story and can build the movie in our mind as the characters quickly show their true intentions. I was not familiar with these authors but I'm always looking for new books and characters to add to my to be followed and read category. These will fit nicely on my shelf of favorites as well as being shared with my book family.

This really wasn't good. The first story i was enjoying and then it just ended but i needed more, i wanted a proper ending. Pretty much all of the stories didn't have a proper ending and some i couldn't even tell what the plot was. Honestly all of the stories needed to be longer and have a distinctive beginning, middle and an end but instead they were all rushed and i felt like i was reading a mess.

Ideal read for a time like this for readers who want a mystery but not too much psycho babble going on.

Short stories with punchy theories. A haunted hotel, a typical country village and diverse characters and scenes. Very good reading. very good characterization

This was an interesting read some of the stories were better than others, some of them were a chore to get through but most were pleasant enough to read.
I usually enjoy this genre but felt some stories could have done with being reworked slightly and some I would like to be fleshed out much more to fully understand everything that happened.
Overall it was enjoyable to read.

I want to thank NetGalley, Lume Books and all authors for the review copy. This review is not influenced by this in any way, these are my true feelings on the book.

Given in evidence is a crime anthology book. It has detective, military and legal crime stories.
This was a varied and fun collection. I was only disappointed that some of the stories were mere teasers for their full-length novels instead of short stories that were standing on there own. Therefore some of the stories cut of when you felt like the suspense should begin.

Roger A. Price - Hard Time: 2 stars, This was one of the teaser stories. I did really like the writing and it is a good prologue for a novel but as a short story it didn't solve anything

Charlie Cochrane - A certain man was sick, 5 stars, really interesting story with a couple of plot twists. I really loved the writing style.

D.J. Harrison - The Message , 3 Stars, the writing is beautiful and descriptive. The plot wasn't my favourite

A.A. Chaudhuri - The Encounter , 5 stars, This was my favourite story in the collection. It has so much intrigue, a lot of twists and kept you guessing.

J.M. Hewitt - Land's end 3.5 stars, Did really like the writing style. The plot wasn't my favourite but still enjoyable. I think the plot would do better in longer format.

Leo McNeir- Room 228 2 stars, This story didn't really have any suspense and was quite predictable. This was also a teaser for a full-length novel, so I felt the story should actually pick up when the story ended.

Rob Parker - Murder Hole 4 stars, Really liked the military setting. Quite detailed, felt like I was there. Not a lot of action suspense, but more physiological suspense.

E.R. Fallon - Halfway 3 stars, quite a gory story. And the switch between murder and detective POV was really interesting.

Euan B. Pollock - Child of the Night Children's games , 3 stars, really interesting case. I was a bit confused who was who.

Thankyou to NetGalley, Lume Books and the authors of this anthology for the opportunity to read an advanced readers copy of Given In Evidence in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the 10 short stories contained in this book.
The myriad of characters and narratives contained within these stories worked really well. Certainly kept me entertained. 3.5 stars.
Well worth a read

EXCERPT: I didn't hear you come in. The radio was playing, the kettle switched on as I hummed along to Bruno Mars, but when I turned around, just as the water reached boiling point, there you were in my kitchen, and you frightened the life out of me. You always do.

After what you did, I thought you'd leave me alone for good. Stupid me. I should know by now what you're like. Stubborn, determined, manipulative. Someone who always gets his way; at least, that's what you like to believe, being an egomaniac. (The Encounter by A.A. Chaudhuri)

ABOUT THIS BOOK: 10 ingenious and exhilarating short stories in one collection:

A murderous feud in a seemingly quiet country village…

A haunted hotel with one particularly difficult guest…

A hostage situation gone horribly wrong…

Featuring stories from acclaimed and bestselling authors, Given in Evidence is an anthology that showcases the best in contemporary crime and thriller writing.

MY THOUGHTS: I am a fan of the well crafted short story. And there are four in this collection that stood out from the others: The Encounter, Land's End, The Murder Hole, and Room 228. These were excellent reads. The others ranged from pointless to mediocre.

Each story is accompanied by a little explanation, or note about the author. A lot of these stories are prologues to books/series. I will certainly be following up on A.A. Chaudhuri's other works.

Definitely not the best collection of short stories that I have ever read, but neither is it the worst.

😕😊🤔

#GivenInEvidence #NetGalley

THE AUTHORS: Rob Parker
J.M. Hewitt
A.A. Chaudhuri (Goodreads Author)
Roger A. Price (Goodreads Author)
E.R. Fallon (Goodreads Author)
Leo McNeir
D.J. Harrison (Goodreads Author)
Charlie Cochrane (Goodreads Author)
Euan B. Pollock (Goodreads Author)
Thomas Laird

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Lume Books via NetGalley for providing a digital ARC of Given in Evidence by various authors for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

My thanks to Netgalley and Lume for a copy of Given in Evidence for an honest review.

On the whole I’m not a lover of short stories ,but I love a thriller and was expecting there would be the odd short tale that wouldn’t appeal in this collection .
This book just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t impressed from the first tale , which ended so abruptly, I hoped things would improve , which they did , but not enough for me to enjoy this book.
I can’t recommend but perhaps it’s just not my cup of tea !

A really good collection of crime/mystery stories. Some were more predictable than others but either way they were enjoyable to read.

My favourite has to be 'The Encounter' by A.A. Chaudhuri. The story itself draws you straight in and even when you think you know what's going on there's something else that comes around the corner.

'Land's End' by J.M Hewitt and, 'Room 228' by Leo McNeir were also two other stories that I personally enjoyed.

My only annoyance that I had was honestly some of the font. Instead if using italics when drawing out certain words or sentences it changed to a completely different font that didn't work well with any of the stories. It threw me off and took me out of my experience when reading them too.

10 ingenious and exhilarating short stories in one collection:

A murderous feud in a seemingly quiet country village…

A haunted hotel with one particularly difficult guest…

A hostage situation gone horribly wrong…

Featuring stories from acclaimed and bestselling authors, Given in Evidence is an anthology that showcases the best in contemporary crime and thriller writing.

My thoughts of this brilliantly written 10 powerful short stories thrillers were brilliant amazing characters shocking end my favourite author written thriller was A A Chaudhuri's powerful thriller The Encounter was mindblowing about lust lost revenge betrayal a shocking ending I did not see it coming A A Chaudhuri The Encounter is a pure suspense masterpiece totally gripping all an all each and every story is pure magic ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐💥💥💥💥💥

A good selection of crime/mystery short stories. It has given me lots of new authors to follow.
My favourite story is by A.A. Chaudhuri called The Encounter.

Disclaimer: I have been sent a copy of this book for review purposes. This has not influenced or affected my opinions in this review.

As with all short story collections, some stories will arguably be better than others and even then, that will differ from person to person. I thoroughly enjoyed Given in Evidence and I loved the snippet of crime within each story. With a lot of them, I was sad when it was over, and I wanted more. This collection is extremely easy to get lost and engrossed in. Of the ten stories in this collection, ‘The Encounter’ by A. A. Chaudhuri was my favourite. I was hooked from the beginning and there were so many unexpected twists and turns. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys crime and thriller novels.

*4 Stars*

I was disappointed in all but a couple of the short stories in this anthology. The first story, "Hard Time," drew my attention immediately, and I was absorbed in the tale thoroughly until it just abruptly ended. Yes, short stories are abrupt sometimes, but this one just ended with nothing resolved at all, and I was left wondering what the heck? Then, reading the blurb at the end, it was explained that this was a prologue to the book NEMESIS. What?? A prologue? So the reader is expected to buy a book of short stories to entice you to read the rest of the story in a longer version? That seems a little...wrong.

The best story of the bunch was "The Encounter," by A.A. Chaudhuri, in my opinion the only thing that saved this anthology. Thrilling and suspenseful! "Room 228" was also enjoyable, if predictable. "Murder Hole," by Rob Parker, was good, but again - was only an excerpt of a continued story in another book. "Halfway," by E.R. Fallon, held my interest until it, too, abruptly ended, with me wondering where the heck the story was meant to go.

I have no problem with short stories being part of, or precursors to longer novels; it happens all the time. I just find it annoying when that isn't explained ahead of time so that the reader knows there might be more to the story than what is initially laid out. I felt that this book was deceptive in that regard, and it left me frustrated with stories that I otherwise could have enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and Lume Books for an ARC in exchange for this review. Opinions are my own.

Some good stories; easy to read and a quick page-turner. I love novels but it’s nice to read a few short stories in between. I enjoyed it