Murder By Committee

We've all played "Telephone," that game that begins with one person whispering a word or phrase into the ear of the person sitting nearby. Then that person whispers it to someone else, and so on until the last person in the circle blurts out what the phrase sounds like by the time it reaches his or her ear.

Well, welcome to "Telephone," Mystery Morgue-style.

We've asked some of your favorite mystery authors to concoct a story. The first installment, was written by Julia Spencer-Fleming, whose third novel Out of the Deep I Cry was published in April. Julia's previous books, In the Bleak Midwinter and A Fountain Filled With Blood, have won countless awards and attracted even more fans to her writing!

Julia began a wild tale, a 1940s pastiche that stars a spunky, wisecracking cargo pilot about to get mixed up in the most twisted episode of her career. Subsequent chapters have included authors Elliott Light, Harley Jane Kozak, Carl Brookins and Rhys Bowen, writing in wildly divergent styles (as you'll see). And next month, another terrific author (no, we're not telling who!) will pick up the story, in a completely different style.

And here's the best part: we've asked each author to think of the writer whose work most inspired them to pick up the pen and try a hand at it, and now, to write a chapter in the style of that author! So Julia's chapter is written as James M. Cain, Rhys's is as Agatha Christie and next month... well, you'll just have to come back to find out, won't you?

This game of "Telephone" has already taken some wild twists and turns, and will see a good number more before it's all wrapped up and we start anew. Check in every month to see the answer you'd get if you asked your favorite author, "just who do you think you are, anyway?"

Murder By Committee
A Continuing Story
by Some Great Mystery Writers

Chapter 1 by Julia Spencer-Fleming
Chapter 2 by Elliot Light
Chapter 3 by Rhys Bowen
Chapter 4 by Libby Sternberg
Chapter 5 by Harley Jane Kozak
Chapter 6 by Carl Brookins
Chapter 7 by Jeffrey Cohen
Chapter 8 by Mark Terry
Chapter 9 by Robin Burcell
Chapter 10 by Chester D. Campbell
Chapter 11 by Karen Swee
Chapter 12 by Gordon Aalborg
Chapter 13 by Denise Dietz
Chapter 14 by David Skibbins
Chapter 15 by Debbi Mack
Chapter 16 by William Shakespeare
Chapter 17 by Bob Avey
Chapter 18 by Deborah Turrell Atkinson
Chapter 19 by Kathy Brandt
Chapter 20 by Albert A. Bell, Jr.
Chapter 21 by Randy Rawls
Chapter 22 by Denise Hamilton
Chapter 23 by Ralph Pezzullo
Chapter 24 by Eleanor Sullivan
Chapter 25 by L.A. Starks
Chapter 26 by J.T. Ellison
Chapter 27 by Naomi Hirahara
Chapter 28 by Robert Fate
Chapter 29 by Barbara Colley
Chapter 30 by Kathleen Tracy
Chapter 31 by E.J. Rand