The Madness of Ida Mae (Paperback or Softback)

In her first collection of fictional short stories, Christine Bagley demonstrates her exceptional talent for diverse storytelling. So intimate are the inner lives of her characters; it's like peeking through your neighbor's window or eavesdropping at a closed door.

A woman, unable to conceive a child, struggles to accept her husband's infidelity and a child by another woman. A man's lengthy isolation on a deserted beach drives him to the brink of insanity and an unspeakable act. A desperate, elderly woman who loses her husband resorts to changing her appearance to a famous movie star in order to win him back. A wealthy recluse hires a young artist to paint him as King Ludwig II, who he believes is his doppelganger. A woman hung in a shameful event from the past returns to right history through the author who is writing about her.

In these tales of love, murder, and misfits lies the complexity of life and the decisions we make because of it.

Christine Bagley publishes short stories in both crime anthologies and literary journals. She holds a Master's Degree in Creative Writing from Lesley University in Cambridge, and was a fiction contributor to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. She also taught writing and presentation skills to Harvard Medical School foreign national scientists and physicians. The former co-editor and co-publisher of Crime Spell Books, Bagley's stories have appeared in Briar Cliff Review, Bryant Literary Review, Untoward Magazine, Fiction on the Web in the UK, and in multiple editions of Best New England Crime Stories. A finalist for the Al Blanchard Award for Short Crime Fiction, her stories encompass character-driven literary fiction, with shades of dark humor and the supernatural, that draw the reader into her protagonists' inner world and turmoil. In her spare time, Bagley enjoys writing book reviews, walking, reading, and swimming in any beach she can find. Throughout the year, she attends national and international tennis tournaments. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime New England, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.