short stories

Party Girls in December Issue of Ellery Queen

I originally wrote this story in connection to Rockstar’s LA Noire video game, then decided to write another, which is the one Rockstar ran a couple of years ago in conjunction with the video games premier. Recently, I looked at the story again and decided I liked it, updated it a bit and here it is, published in the most recent issue (December 2013) of Ellery Queen Magazine. Here’s an excerpt (hope you can pick up an issue today!): PARTY GIRLS by Jonathan Santlofer I been collecting the souvenirs for almost a year now, a lipstick that belonged to Jeanne French, a butterfly brooch worn by Dorothy Montgomery when she was last seen that I pinned to my sweater the minute I could and almost never take off, and just this morning a compact, Max Factor Dark Ecru, that was in Rosenda Mondragon’s purse the night she was killed, along with the steno pad I … Read more

My Performance at THE MOTH – Blue in the Face: Stories About Smoke

Back by popular demand (I think) is the story I performed for The Moth almost 10 years ago. Time flies and flutters like moths. If you don’t know The Moth it’s an amazing not-for-profit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling that has been in existence since 1997. They recruited me to tell my story, a true one,  part of a theme, “Blue in the Face: Stories About Smoke.” Though the Moth works with you and rehearses you, I was still incredibly nervous though I hope it doesn’t show in this video.  

The Release of New Jersey Noir

I was honored when Joyce Carol Oates invited me to contribute a story for this collection of noir tales. The first thing she asked was, “Do you have a connection to New Jersey?” and I do. For one, I am married to a Jersey girl. And two, after graduate school I rented a studio in Hoboken (Frank Sinatra’s home town) and lived there for many years. That studio plays a part in the story that I wrote for this anthology, “Lola,” which is one of my favorite stories.

You Are What You Read – Ellery Queen

The mystery writing magazine Ellery Queen asked me to contribute a blog post about writing the short story. Here is an excerpt: “More and more the short story has become an important part of my writing life. The other day I was thinking about the old Alfred Hitchcock TV show, one in particular where the housewife kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb then serves it to the police who come to investigate, and another about a restaurant where human flesh was the specialty of the house, and The Twilight Zone and Mr. & Mrs. North and Dragnet and Hawaiian Eye and Surfside Six and The Mod Squad, all of them running together in my brain, commingling with the detective and mystery stories I read as a boy, the Hardy Boys my favorite series, along with horror comics like Tales From the Crypt, and Classic Comics like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which … Read more