Free Fiction Monday: Still Life 1931
20th centuryafrican americancrimedarkdisturbingfemale protagonistfree fictionfree fiction Mondaysgreat depressionhard-boiledhistoricalmurdermysterynoirprivate investigatorshort storiesUnited Statesvigilantewomen sleuth

Years ago, Lurleen helped the NAACP investigate lynchings. She stopped when she met her husband, but never forgot the work…or the caution it required. After his death, Lurleen finds herself struggling to find purpose.
She travels to New York without a plan. But what she finds there might help her face her past—and finally chart her future.
A powerful story about justice, courage, and facing one’s true self.
Originally written for the anthology In Sunlight or in Shadow, edited by Lawrence Block, and inspired by the painting “Hotel Room (1931)” by Edward Hopper, “Still Life 1931” by Edgar Award-nominated author Kris Nelscott, is free on this website for one week only. The story is also available in ebook here.
Still Life 1931
Kris Nelscott
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Lovely story. And I have to say that was one of the best descriptions of how Southerners actually DO have many different accents, and about the transitory nature of Atlanta, that I’ve ever read.
Amazing how Hopper’s images get the juices flowing, isn’t it? I took a writing class fifteen or so years ago, and we did a 10-minute sprint off a random Hopper image. I got 300 words out of Automat.
Lawrence Block wrote a delightful story off the same prompt. It’s in the same anthology as this one. Hopper’s images are so evocative; they tell their own stories.
This is a beautiful, moving little story.
Thank you.