A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing by Tim Weed ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

I know that Father's Day is still a few months away but if you are already looking for gift ideas and your dad likes to read, then A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing by Tim Weed would make an excellent gift.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

April 2017; Green Writers Press; 978-0997452877
audio, ebook, print (262 pages); short stories

A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing is one of those books that has been sitting in my to read pile for quite some time. It is one of the 12 print books I specifically set out to read this year from that pile. I won a signed copy way back in 2017. Ironically, I entered the giveaway for this book because I had recently finished another book that had been long lost in my never ending to read pile. It was a collection of domestic thrillers that I loved.

I'm not a huge fan of short stories. But after reading domestic thriller short stories, I thought perhaps it was the genre that I had tried so when I saw A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing, I thought that it might be similar given murder is in the title.

Unfortunately, I found it difficult to get through this anthology. I don't think it was the author's fault as the stories are well written. I think it is definitely a case of "it's me, not you".

First, I've had a terrible time focusing on reading because of life and work stress and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic. When I started this book at the end of December it was sort of to fill in between books over the next month, since it is short stories I figured I could read one or two between the other books I was reading. I never imagined I wouldn't finish it until March. To be fair, there were weeks that I didn't pick it up. I went through another period of not feeling like reading in January which put me behind on my ARCs. During this most recent apathy towards reading, I think having short stories has helped. I was able to feel like I was accomplishing something by reading just one or two of these 10 - 20 page stories.

Second, and probably the biggest reason I didn't love this collection, I'm not the target audience. There isn't a men's fiction genre like there is a women's fiction genre, but if there was a men's fiction genre A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing would fit firmly into the genre.

All 13 stories included in this anthology have male protagonists; many of them have all-male casts of characters. The plots deal largely with issues that men face and focus on the male perspective. Like the father in Keepers, who knows if he spends enough quality time with the family early in the day then he will be able to go fishing one more time before they head home. When he is caught in a precarious situation on the river, he realizes what it truly important.

While I was hoping for suspenseful stories, these stories are more literary - a look at the human condition. That doesn't mean they weren't interesting; it just wasn't what I was looking for. But I do think that if you have a father who likes to read then this would be a great book to get him for Father's Day.

Buy A Field Guide to Murder & Fly Fishing at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.

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