Ladies' Killing Circle (Linda Wiken) Books in Order

The books on this page are not a traditional series with one sleuth and one continuing plot. They are Linda Wiken's contributions to the Ladies' Killing Circle, a Canadian mystery collective that turned a writers' group into a long run of themed crime anthologies.

The circle grew out of the Ottawa area and brought together writers including Mary Jane Maffini, Joan Boswell, Vicki Cameron, Sue Pike, Audrey Jessup, Barbara Fradkin, and Linda Wiken. Wiken did more than contribute a story now and then. Her work appeared across the group's anthologies, and she co-edited three of them, so her name is woven into the project both on the page and behind the scenes.

The real hook is the theme.

Each book takes one idea and lets a crowd of crime writers come at it from different angles. Menopause Is Murder turns middle age into motive. Fit to Die plays with sports, fitness, and competition. Bone Dance draws on music and performance. When Boomers Go Bad looks at aging, rebellion, and grudges that never quite settled. Going Out With a Bang opens the door to noisy endings and dark jokes. Little Treasures brings together stories from the group's first anthology, which makes it a handy sampler as well as a look back at the circle's beginnings.

That variety is the point. Some stories are funny. Some are sharper or sadder. Some feel like classic puzzle mysteries, while others lean darker or more ironic. The anthologies also include themed poems, which gives the books an offbeat rhythm that suits a group of writers clearly enjoying one another's company and challenging one another on the page. The project mattered inside Canadian crime writing, too. The anthologies regularly landed on award shortlists, and in 2012 the group received the Grant Allen Award for its contribution to Canadian mystery and crime writing.

You can dip in almost anywhere.

Still, there is a pleasure in reading a few of these books together and noticing the shared sensibility underneath the different voices. Wiken's place in the circle also helps explain parts of her later fiction, the affection for community, the interest in motive, and the way ordinary gatherings can tip into crime. If you like short mysteries, changing tones, and the fun of seeing one theme handled many different ways, these books are easy to browse and hard to stop with just one story.