The Dashiell Hammett Thin Man Award and Minnesota Book Award Nominee Mystery! Murder Picnic features six related short stories in which our two rural Sherlocks solve murder mysteries that baffle even the local law enforcement officers. In "Murder Picnic", they discover that what appeared to be an accident was really a cold-blooded murder. In "Ring", they use their knowledge of country matters, how farm equipment operates, and the behavior of livestock to help Emily's brother, Deputy Tom, solve a local murder. In "Frozen", Emily and Deputy Tom drink a lot of milk shakes and milk a lot of cows before they finally solve a murder mystery. In "Needle", the two amateur sleuths actually deduce that what looks like murder is actually something else. When our hero and his new bride--Emily of course--take off in "Honeymoon with Death", they discover a bullet-riddled car with two corpses inside parked in a ditch and later get in a confrontation with the actual killers. And in the final offering, "Dinner with the Sheriff", our newlyweds, who have now been married for a year solve a case while Emily runs for sheriff and our hero gets to beat up an old high school bully. Reading these stories will make you want to drink smoke-flavored coffee and eat flatbread while you gaze at the natural wonders of northern Minnesota." (review by Chandler McGrew, author of Cold Heart and In Shadow) "S.A. Gorden has a fine and sure touch with the pulp genre. His collection of six fast-paced mysteries, set in the farmlands of Minnesota, brings back the wonderful world of magazine fiction in the 1940s, as well as describing the calm routines of everyday rural life. "Murder Picnic Mysteries" is a well-written walk through a nostalgic time when people were good neighbors, home-cooked meals were simple but mouth-watering, and people did their work with a sense of accomplishment in jobs well-done. With mysteries ranging from farm accidents to graft and corruption in local government, this is a collection that will not only remind you of the glorious pulps of yesteryear, but also of a slower, more caring world; one that counted its time by the lowing of livestock instead of the shrill ring of a cell phone." (reviewed by J. D. Crayne, author of C is for Catnip, and the Lt. Mark Stoddard Mysteries)