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Small Kingdoms and Other Stories
by
Charlaine Harris
It is part of the Anne DeWitt series and is a suspense in a Kindle edition that was published by JABberwocky Literary Agency Inc. on May 28, 2019 and has 178 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon, Audibles.
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Night's Edge, Death's Excellent Vacation, Must Love Hellhounds, Dead Reckoning, Bite, A Secret Rage, Home Improvement: Undead Edition, Deadlocked, An Apple for the Creature, Dead Ever After, The Sookie Stackhouse Companion, Games Creatures Play, After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse, Indigo, Night Shift, Sleep Like a Baby, The Pretenders, A Longer Fall, An Easy Death, The Russian Cage, Real Murders, A Bone to Pick, Three Bedrooms, One Corpse, Dead Until Dark, The Julius House, Dead Over Heels, A Fool and His Honey, Shakespeare’s Landlord, Last Scene Alive, Shakespeare’s Champion, Poppy Done to Death, Shakespeare’s Christmas, Shakespeare’s Trollop, Shakespeare's Counselor
Four short stories of suspense that revolve around a most unique high school principal, who has a vision for Travis High School and won’t let much get in the way. I’m calling it the Anne DeWitt series.
Do read the bits before each story, as Harris explains how she approached each story.
My Take
In some ways I wish we had more principals like Anne DeWitt. I do think she needs to do a better job of hiding her actions, though.
The Stories
Anne DeWitt, formerly Twyla Burnside, is a very scheduled high school principal at Travis High School in North Carolina these days. Her former “career” involved teaching others how to master close fighting. “Brad” is her fictional husband killed in a skiing accident. “Waffle” had been their dog, well, actually the cook’s. “Teresa” is her younger sister who lives in San Diego.
Christy Strunk is Anne’s secretary. Holt Halsey is the baseball coach who teaches World History. Delia Snyder was the previous principal, who had committed “suicide”. Buddy Mathis is Anne’s assistant in charge of discipline.
“Small Kingdoms”
This is our introduction to Anne DeWitt with her very organized mind and schedule. And it cracks me up how she breaks this attack down into the whys and the best way to deal with the issue. Why she should do it now versus later. Why would the attack come now. Why she needed to do some cleanup. And she’s so annoyed with herself for slacking off on the attic.
Other than annoyance, it’s her clinical assessment that will pull you in.
What kept me there was how she and Holt handled that little creep, Clay, and his cheap, selfish parents.
Characters
Bert Sawyer is her new next-door neighbor. The Westhovens live in the house between Bert and Anne. Brandon and Elaine Meacham — he owns Meacham Motors — are parents of a student, the bullying star pitcher, Clay. Hazel Reid is a mentally and emotionally handicapped, yet physically mature student. Sarah Toth, a student, is being abused. Ted Cole was a teacher.
David Angola had been Anne’s, Twyla’s, mentor back in the day. Chuck Wallis was the brother of Jeremy Wallis, who had died in the fifth class.
“Sarah Smiles”
Sarah is the smartest student Travis High School has ever had, and she is desperate to attend Davidson University. But, it’s a nasty story about a selfish jerk of a father. I wanted to castrate him!
It was that ending that threw me for a loop. What a manipulative couple of rizzle-razzles! My dark side appreciated the plan, and my good side was so appalled. Anne’s judgment as to who deserves help and who doesn’t, is, okay, practical, but geez!
Characters
Sarah Toth is a brilliant student. James is her popular brother who plays football. Brian Vaughan runs track and likes Sarah. Mercedes Webster is the editor of the school newspaper and dating James. JimBee thinks James should be dating Dawn Metcalf, who’s the head of the cheerleading squad. Teddy Thorndike sings lead in the a capella group; his family got evicted last year. Leon Gilchrist is the president of the senior class. Darryn Seymour‘s dad is abusing him.
Mr Mathis is the assistant principal. Redding is the divorced football coach. Penny Carson is the Spanish teacher. JimBee and Lizzy Toth are Sarah’s and James’ parents. Detective Crosby is a smart-mouthed woman.
“Small Chances”
Anne DeWitt intends to keep her job and will not allow innuendo or rumor to destroy her position.
Characters
Madison Bead is an unambitious student. Lanny Wells has emotional problems. Chuck and Marty are a couple of the baseball players. Paul, a retired patrolman, is the school security guard. Lois Krueger is the school nurse. Carrie Ambrose is a divorced biology teacher. The overly eager Melayna Wilson Tate is the girls’ basketball coach. Ross Montgomery is the bullying middle school principal. Jennifer Lee is another coach.
Tom Wilson says he’s Anne’s first husband. JimBee Toth fell down some stairs, drunk. James Toth went into the military. Sarah Toth is doing well at Davidson U. Detectives Nedra Crosby and Leland Stroud investigate Tom Wilson. Randy Rodman is a stripper. Mack McCormick is the manager at Chili’s. Jay Tate is Melayna’s stepfather. David Angola had been an instructor in the West Coast version of Anne’s training school.
“Small Signs”
David Angola is on “vacation” while a case of embezzlement is investigated.
Characters
David Angola is an instructor at Camp West, the West Coast version of Anne’s training school. Greg Baer had been his second-in-command. Chloe Montgomery is in charge while Angola is gone. Cassie Boynton is in charge at Camp East, Anne’s former command. Senator Miriam Epperson‘s daughter, Dorcas, died in a survival test. Oversight is in charge. The leaky Gary Pomeroy is in records. Jay Pargeter is with Farm East. Is that Camp East?
Terry Baer is Greg’s real life brother. Tom was a genius accountant. Melissa Horvath is the volleyball coach.
The Cover and Title
The cover’s very textured background features a full-size bust of Anne facing us. Her dark hair is pulled back, her lipstick is red, and she has a finger to her lips, it’s a shhh moment. The white title with its black shadow starts in the middle of her forehead and stops at her chin. The author’s name is in a pale yellow with a black shadow and starts at her knuckles. At the very bottom is an info blurb in white with its own black shadow.
The title is all about Anne DeWitt’s Small Kingdoms and Other Stories as to how they relate to Anne’s past.
