News
October 2024
Free podcast now available! The wonderful people at the Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast have created an episode narrating Shannon’s story “The Codicil,” which first appeared in Fantastic Detectives and is perfect for the Halloween season. PI Jesse Morgan considers his ability to see ghosts a distinctive advantage when getting justice for murder victims. But solving the death of Ed Scoggins is going to require him to use a different skill set altogether—and the ghost of Ed Scoggins may not like the result. You can listen to the story here.
September 2024
Have you ever been interviewed for a blog? Shannon took advantage of an opportunity offered by Lynn Slaughter, who asked some pretty good questions. Want to see the answers? You can find the blog entry here.
August 2024
Shannon is pleased to announce that her murder mystery detective story, “Beware the Bunnyman” will appear in Black Cat Weekly, Issue #161, available September 29, 2024. It was inspired by old news stories in which the Fairfax County, Virginia, police sought to locate a possible suspect in several reported crimes. The identification of a perpetrator was challenging, though, because multiple witnesses alleged that the offender was wearing a rabbit costume. (Seriously.)
July 2024
What would you do if your watch might be possessed? This was the question that led Shannon to write her first (and so far, only) podcast script, “Marking Time,” which was produced by the talented people at the NoSleep Podcast. It is in Season 21, Episode 12, and you can listen to it now!
June 2024
The Best American Mystery and Suspense is an annual release from HarperCollins Publishers. Each year, an editor selects notable works in the field, and then a guest editor selects the best of the best. Two stories from the Reckless in Texas anthology, edited by the brilliant Barb Goffman, made the cut! New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby selected Shannon Taft’s “Monster” and Karen Harrington’s “The Mysterious Disappearance of Jason Whetstone” to appear in the book. The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 is available for preorder now.
May 2024
What is a Derringer? Yes, it’s a gun, but it is also a prestigious award issued by the Short Mystery Fiction Society to recognize great stories. Shannon is honored that her story, “A Tail of Justice,” has been named a Derringer-Award Finalist for 2024. (Update: Okay, someone else won, but the other authors were so talented that it was an honor just to be nominated in their company.)
April 2024
Did you know that during World War I, Canadian pilots trained near Fort Worth, Texas? They came south for the winter in 1917-1918 seeking warmer weather. As they soon discovered, North Texas in January can be pretty darned cold. Their visit, and the weather that January, served as the inspiration for Shannon’s murder mystery, “Bitter Cold,” in Notorious in North Texas, now available for purchase.
March 2024
How many sports can you name? Sure, there’s the old standbys like baseball and tennis, but what about zorbing? That’s when people pay money to get inside enormous plastic balls and roll down a hill as fast as they can. Think of it like a race using hamster balls, but with people in place of . . . well, hamsters. How can that go wrong? To find out, read “Race to the Bottom” in Three Strikes—You’re Dead.