Email From Beyoncé

by Jasmine Schwartz

A fictional twist on the presidential elections by crime writer Jasmine Schwartz. Melissa Morris is a thirty-something New Yorker who joins the Obama campaign. She finds purpose and drive and even a good-looking man who wants to date her. But nothing is as it seems, even the emails from Beyonce and Michelle Obama. Soon enough, she's surrounded by corruption and murder.

Genres: Short Stories

41 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Jasmine Schwartz writes a detective series about Melissa Morris, a thirty-something New Yorker whose search for herself is constantly interrupted by the discovery of dead bodies.

Jasmine became a writer when she got too old to do her real job. She lives in Manhattan with her future ex-husband. She has been 35.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story was offered for free on amazon, so for me, this was an easy way to check out the writing style of this author. The story itself is the tale of a young woman who volunteers for the Obama re-election campaign, with a housefull of unique co-volunteer who are not always what they seem, and who may not necessarily have the election as the first thing on their minds.

I was amused by the title of this book, which references the political fund raising emails from Beyonce (as well as other celebrities) that were mass email to people during the election, because I personally received an "email from Beyonce".

The writing style of this book was decent. The story itself was just okay, as it was too short to be anything too amazing, but if I saw another longer book by this author that caught my eye I would now not hesitate to give it a go.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very timely story set in the Obama campaign. As with Schwartz's other stories and novels, her sleuth Melissa Morris gives us insights into life for a thirty-something woman that're both dramatic and funny. A great read.

[Judie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this short story, Melissa Morris, trying to get her life back on track after some serious personal setbacks, has taken a job making telephone calls to get people to vote for Barack Obama for president. The group she is with works in a very expensive home whose occupants are out-of-town.
The first thing she learns to do is to make a personal connection with the person she calls. The consequences of this vary. She then learns that people don’t always tell the truth in order to gain their own objectives.
To her sister Isabel she complains that things are not always what they seem. Isabel tells her she did the right thing by “getting out of the house and surround[ing] herself with people and [doing] something she believed in.” Comparing Melissa’s situation with Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz she says, “Even if he wasn’t a wizard, he was full of wisdom.”
Melissa seems quite naive and insecure. The writing is crisp. This short story does a nice job putting across its message.