Day 22: Mystery Playground features "Is it So Hard?"

Today the tour returns to Deb Lacy's Mystery Playground, where she features Craig Faustus Buck's "Is it So Hard?" —Gerald So

Craig Faustus Buck

IS IT SO HARD?

Is it so hard to pass up the wedding ring
she left by the soap dish in the bathroom?
Is it so hard to pass up the opportunity?
Is it so hard to avoid lifting it? Slipping it in my pocket?
Is it so hard to act like a loving newlywed instead of
working the angle against my wife of two days?
Is it so hard to say Dear,
you left your ring on the sink instead of
making her feel like shit for losing it
so I can pawn it?
Is it so hard to make love to her instead of
smacking her around
to teach her not to lose what I give her?
Why does she have to make it so hard?


Craig reads "Is it So Hard?":



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Craig confesses: "I was watching the TV news, thinking about a battered wife in my next novel. Donald Trump came on and, as he usually does, tried to shift his own blame to the victim of one of his blunders. It occurred to me that this was exactly what my wife-beater would do."

Author/screenwriter CRAIG FAUSTUS BUCK's debut noir novel, Go Down Hard, was published by Brash Books in 2015. His short stories have won a Macavity Award and been nominated for two Anthonys and the Derringer. He is president of Mystery Writers of America SoCal chapter. You can find out more at CraigFaustusBuck.com