While guns may be the most popular murder weapon in crime fiction, Unloaded Volume 2: More Crime Writers Writing Without Guns, edited by Eric Beetner, with introduction by Sara Paretsky, shows how creative some crime writers can be. It is also an anthology with a purpose. In Paretsky’s chilling introduction, she points out a grim fact: “Every year, almost thirteen hundred American woman are murdered by their domestic or dating partners. Most of the murders are committed by guns. In homes where guns are present, women are five times more likely to be murdered than in homes without guns.” What follows is an amazing collection of stories where no guns are needed to wreak havoc in people’s lives, and yes, many of those victims are still women. In Lili Wright’s neogothic “Maiden’s Light,” a woman befriends an anesthesiologist who summers in a lighthouse. Someone winds up dead, but via a much more subtle method than gunshot. In Laura McHugh’s “Endgame,” a serial killer who has been given a terminal diagnosis by his doctor takes a sentimental journey back to the scenes of his 14 crimes (he strangled women, and kept trophies). In this case, another woman—Mother Nature—lays down some fierce justice. The sweetest story in the collection—yes, mysteries can be sweet—is Bill Crider’s “Poo-Poo,” wherein the actions of a feline help solve a crime wave. How can anyone not love a story that begins with this sentence: “It was two days after Christmas, and someone had stolen Miss Ellie Huggins’s cat.” But this lovely story is bittersweet, since Bill Crider died earlier this year, leaving his own three cats called the VBKs (Very Bad Kittens) to a trusted friend. Sorry if I overuse the word, but “Poo-Poo” makes for a VSG—a Very Sweet Goodbye.