Monday, April 21, 2025

Those Things That Come in Threes by Debra H. Goldstein

 

Those Things That Come in Threes by Debra H. Goldstein

As I’ve grown older, when I hear someone is ill or died, I brace myself because of the old superstition that things come in threes. Sadly, often they do. This month though, I’m cheering the rule of three because it is a multiple of good things.

On April 14, the short story anthology, Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties, was released by Down & Out Books. I was thrilled that it contained my story, “Who Shot J.R.?” and that I’m in such wonderful company in terms of the included authors: Elizabeth Elwood, John M. Floyd, James A. Hearn, Richard Helms, Kathleen Marple Kalb, Tom Milani, Sandra Murphy, Laura Oles, Alan Orloff, William Dylan Powell, Mark Thielman, Joseph S. Walker, and Andrew Welsh-Huggins.


A day later, the print version of Anything But Murder: Larceny and

Lies was published. It is a compilation of the short stories being read on this season’s Mysteries to Die For podcasts hosted by TG and Jack Wolff. The book includes my holocaust related story “Opera Dinner Club.”  The same story, read aloud by Tina and accompanied by Jack’s music and his trying to guess whodunnit, became available on all different podcast sites on April 18.

I also was informed that I will be moderating the “Influencers in the Cozy Community” panel at Malice Domestic on April 25. Technically, this is a fourth good thing, but I’m rolling back my count to make this a first. I can’t wait to find out what the next two good April things will be. 

Do you ever hold to the rule of three for good or bad things?


16 comments:

  1. It does seem to hold true, although I've noticed it more for bad things than good. Maybe I need to pay closer attention for good things 2 and 3.

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    1. Debra H. GoldsteinApril 21, 2025 at 9:57 AM

      The good things are what we need to grab onto!

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  2. Humans find comfort in patterns, so we're particularly attentive when the third bad thing happens to us because we anticipate our rough patch is over. I'm happy to try to fool myself that way.

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    1. Debra H. GoldsteinApril 21, 2025 at 9:57 AM

      Your point about patterns and relief is well taken. Hope you only have good things, though.

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  3. Hope the run of good luck continues (although we all know much of it is hard work, not luck, as in "preparation meets opportunity."
    See you at Malice!

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    1. Debra H. GoldsteinApril 21, 2025 at 9:58 AM

      Let's go with luck and the help of friends.... see you at Malice.

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  4. Congratulations on all that good, Debra!

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  5. Congratulations, Debra – yes, I’m a big believer in the rule of three!

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    1. Thank you. It really holds true.

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  6. Good and bad, yes, I believe in the rule of three. And I have a story, "Ace of Hearts" in the Larceny and Lies anthology, too.

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    1. Congrats on your story

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  7. Wonderful news, and I hope you have triple the number of good happenings in May! You are so prolific in the short story genre. You remind me of Joyce Carol Oates!

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    1. Can't compare to her, but thank you.

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  8. Yay! You deserve some good stuff happening.

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