

Title: Dead Man’s Hand
Author: Christie Yant
In: Dead Man’s Hand (John Joseph Adams)
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal fantasy, Urban fantasy
Dates read: 26th November 2020
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Titan Books
Year: 2014
5th sentence, 74th page: Mr. Sutherland immediately turned his weapon over to Ed Durham, proprietor, and waited peacefully while a miners’ jury was assembled.

Going through the different hands that were once called “Dead Man’s Hand” and regaling the dead men that held them…

I loved how each little tale of death in this story started off with a hand of cards. And they were the cards that each of the characters were holding. Not that I’ve ever gambled much or played many card games, but it was interesting to see what a Dead Man’s Hand actually was.
It’s also nice how a collection called Dead Man’s Hand ends with a story of that same name. Featuring the cards that originally coined that term. It was well done and rounded out this Weird western collection brilliantly.
All in all, this was a fun and engaging short story. It was well written and left me with a huge smile stretched across my face. As all final short stories in an anthology should be.
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