Dirt by Susan Shultz

Lila Derosa feels smothered by the limitations on her reporting set by the newspaper she writes for. She is tasked with reporting on the crimes committed by Ainsley/AJ in the first novella of the series The Blacksmith. She is fascinated by the heinous details and curious to learn the motivation behind the bloodshed, but she's frustrated by the limitations her newspaper places on her article because it has to be "acceptable for community publication".

Lila's curiosity drove her to explore Ainsley's old house and the site of her crimes where she discovered her journal buried shallowly in the Blacksmith's grave. Fueled by her new discovery, Lila is determined to uncover the real Ainsley and tell her story.

Shultz does a fantastic job portraying the details of Ainsley's story through Lila's investigative reporter perspective. As I said for the first two novellas in this collection, The Blacksmith and Jessie, this is a great October read. 

    

Rating: 3.75 / 5

Jessie by Susan Shultz

Jessie is the sequel to the novella The Blacksmith. This novella follows true to the format of a perfect short story read for October.

Jessie's story is a sad one that was hinted at by Shultz in The Blacksmith. Jessie was rejected and forgotten by her family only to be taken in by her husband and his heartless mother. This novella takes the idea of an evil mother in law to a whole new level. Each turn of the page leaves you asking could her life get any worse? Unfortunately the answer is yes. 

Despite the fact that this novel is depressing I thoroughly enjoyed Shultz's writing. With every twist and turn of the plot I found myself building empathetic links to Jessie. By the end I even began to cheer Jessie on to get her revenge. This is a great October read, and if you spook easily I recommend you do not read it in the dark.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

The Blacksmith by Susan Shultz

I decided to read this book because I stumbled upon it on my Goodreads feed. A horror novella? Why not? It is October after all. This is a great spooky read told completely through the first person perspective and thoughts of Ainsley.

This short novella could easily be read in an hour and a half. It is extremely intriguing. The premise of a divorced woman who lives by a graveyard and spends the majority of her time tending her "garden". Although this novella is short is length it is dense with material. In fact I think that the story line could be better justified if this was a full length novel. As long as the author adds some more traits to the main character in order to make it easier to the reader to empathize with her.

Rating: 3 / 5