BEYOND THE SEA: AMBER WAVES OF AUTUMN edited by DAVID M. OLSEN

There is something about coastal life and crime fiction. Both Travis McGee and Tony Rome worked cases off of their houseboats and Kem Nunn and T. Jefferson Parker made the surfer a hero in crime fiction with more to follow, David M. Olsen has celebrated the subgenre by editing the anthologies with The Silver Waves Of Summer and Dark Waves of Winter. Last year, he produced a third, The Amber Waves of Autumn.

Francesca Lia Block dives in first with "The Seven Seals". She uses a touch of magical realism ro look at a bond of brothers on a dramatic Santa Monica day. She captures the more interesting sides of the town.

Many of the stories use the coastal setting for family dynamics to play out. Leanne Phillips' "The Art of Oblivion" follows a mother-daughter relationship through Southern California's dive bars and working class apartments. Sara Marchant charts the escalation of sibling rivalry in "Riot At the End Of The World". Joyce Carol Oates executes her slow burn style in the dysfunctional family reunion "Happy Christmas". Craig Clevenger looks at both family and faith in "Blood In The Water." It begins with Everybody thought Father Martin had drowned until a piece of him washed up on the beach."

Two authors employ their recurring characters, In "A Tawny Brown Liveaboard", Bev Vincent has some fun with private ete Benjamin Kane when a Airbnb puts him on a San Diego House boat with a murder victim on the docks Vincent has fun with some John D. MacDonald allusions. Lawrence Block employs his hit man Keller with some hilarious twists and turns.

Other stories also use humor. "Memento Mori Syreni" by Megan Jauregui Eccles follows a coroner and his brash protege' to a call on the beach with a body that may be more than human Nix Xander Wolf's "Pulp Hemingway gives us a wild revenge tale tied to ideas of myth and masculinity.

Jeff Kronenfeld contributes a beautiful story, "Drift". It concerns a man on the run and lying low, using surfing to touch who he really is. He describes the ocean and sport with Big Wednesday poetry.

The collection is packed with several other stories. They cover both coasts and Hawaii, dealing with surfers, sailors, or plain beach bums, but nothing is palin in the storytelling. I look forward to spring.