Winter of Discontent: Short Stories

20 tales of the dark side from crime fiction author Jim Winter. From tales from in and around his fictional city of Monticello to his California Trilogy of shorts to odd, quirky tales of the off-beat. From the webzines of the 2000s to recent anthologies to the short-lived Winter's Quarterly, Winter of Discontent spans a 25-year career of crime fiction.

- A would-be standup escalates a feud with a much funnier comic that turns violent

- A jealous woman finds out her "rival's" husband doesn't want to play alon

- A father deals with his daughter's suicide and the bullies who drove her to it

- A part-time disc jockey becomes embroiled in a family squabble

- Two detectives chase a porch pirate in one of Spokane's less happy neighborhoods

- A corrupt suburban cop has to talk fast after shooting two motorists at an ATM

- An undercover cop gets tazed by his own people

- A doctor has a patient who wants a little personal attention

- A homicide detective has an unhappy encounter with the mayor's son

- A homeless man claims he's the king of the city

- A pair of gang lords deal with an inconvenient out-of-town associate

- An ex-con in California finds his attempts to go straight thwarted

- A man drops in for a cup of coffee while he stares into the abyss

- An abused woman comes up with an unusual solution to her problem

- A Grinch has a hard time stealing Christmas in a trailer park

- An actor runs afoul of a prostitute's employer in Dublin

- And we finally find out who the crazy old man in "A Cask of Amontillado" was talking to

Most are crime, but some drift into suspense, caper, and even historical fiction. Each story is different. Each one a different slice of life...and death.