I bought this book last year and I realized that I never wrote about it.

It’s an anthology of short crime stories, each one of which is related in some way to a Stephen Sondheim song. But not simply related to a song, most of the stories are filled with sly and not so sly Sondheimian references that are guaranteed to raise a smile on all but the most jaded Sondheim enthusiast and probably even on many casual Sondheim fans.

It’s part of a series of “Inspired by Anthologies” edited by Josh Pachter.

I read the whole thing last fall and I enjoyed most of the stories, and I remember thinking that I wanted to mention a couple of them when I wrote about the book, but I can’t recall which ones they were now. Guess I’ll have to read the book again.

Every Day a Little Death, edited by Josh Pachter. If you like crime fiction, and if you like the songs of Stephen Sondheim, or even if you like one but not the other, you may very well enjoy this book.

From the introduction:

Also in 1974, A Little Night Music–which had opened on Broadway the previous year–embarked upon a year-long national tour, with Jean Simmons, George Lee Andrews, and Margaret Hamilton in the lead roles.

As I mentioned earlier, I was teaching at Cass Technical High School at that time, and Frances Hamburger, my department chair, was able not only to get tickets to a weekend performance but to arrange a backstage visit with the cast.

For reasons I’ve long since forgotten, I wasn’t able to join my colleagues that day, but I vividly remember telling Frances, “If you don’t bring me back Margaret Hamilton’s autograph, I’ll die.” (My classes were housed in the Performing Arts Department, so forgive me for being dramatic!)

First thing Monday morning, Frances came to my office and handed me a program from the show. And there on the cover, the Wicked Witch of the West had scrawled:

Dear Josh,
Don’t die!
Margaret Hamilton

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