The Wedding Gig by Stephen King and Murder-Two by Joyce Carol Oates

These stories are found in the collection titled Master's Choice edited by Lawrence Block. Each author whom Lawrence Block chose was allowed to choose their favorite work they like to read. Stephen King chose Joyce Carol Oates. I will be reviewing both short stories.

The Wedding Gig

Tommy Englander is the manager of a club. He hired the band to play in his club. That evening, Mike Scollay approached the leader of the band, who was the narrator. He wanted to hire them to play for his sister's wedding the following Friday. He decided to accept the job.

When the day came, they set up their instruments on the stage and performed for the wedding. After that, they played for the reception. However, the reception was interrupted when someone named Katzneos entered the room and spoke to Mike Scollay. He told Mike Scollay that he had a message about his sister Maureen from the Greek. He didn't want to come and deliver the message, but the Greek was holding his wife, so he was forced to come and deliver the message. When Maureen heard the message, she was deeply hurt. Mike Scollay was angry and left the room in a rage.

Now, you'll have to read the story to find out what happened.

I enjoyed reading this story by Stephen King. Anyone who is interested in reading stories by Stephen King will enjoy this short story. However, as it is mentioned in the introduction to this story, this is not his usual type of story that he writes. He did enjoy writing it.

Now, let's look at the story "Murder-Two" by Joyce Carol Oates.

Murder-Two

Derek Peck, Jr. found his mother murdered and the house ransacked. She had fallen or had been pushed down the stairs because her neck was broken and because of the position of her body. She had also been bludgeoned to death. When the police were notified, they arrested Derek Peck, Jr. for the murder of his mother. He denied killing her. Marina Dyer was Derek's attorney. She tried to help him. However, something happened in the story that shocked everyone. You'll have to read the story to find out what happened.

I enjoyed reading both of these stories. If you enjoy reading good mysteries, you will like this collection of short stories.

There are two anthologies that Lawrence Block has put together for your enjoyment. I will be reading and writing reviews on the different stories in these collections.

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