Dabbling in Crime

During the period when Shelly Reuben was investigating arson as a private detective and certified fire investigator, she came across individuals and events that tantalized her mind and touched her heart. Add to this a vivid imagination and an indelible belief that, even if virtue does not always triumph, it will eventually manage to hobble, stumble or stride triumphantly across the finish line-and you have these eleven stories. Originally published in The Forensic Examiner and The Evening Sun. Within the pages of Dabbling in Crime, meet: •Dante No-Last-Name-No-Middle-Initial, a throwaway kid hiding under a music school staircase, with a damaged heart and the talent of a virtuoso violinist. •Wealthy, beloved Jimmy Lillyjohn, burned to death on the top floor of his mansion after a lighted cigarette falls from his fingers onto his lonely mattress. •Mountainous, mean-spirited Hilda Pomfrey, who bullies everyone in her sphere, including her tree-loving, milquetoast husband Herb. •Honorable Police Chief Joseph Steinbeck, who reluctantly participates in a library event, and is almost murdered when he is checked out as a 'Human Book.' •Prosecutor Edward Nygh, who hides evidence of arson to convict the wrong man, and his reluctant assistant who travels through time to revisit her past.