“Skullbelly,” by Ronald Malfi, is an excellent novella of crime fiction with hints of a possible supernatural element to Private Detective Jon Jeffers’ case involving three missing teenagers. A fourth teenage boy returned from the same trip into the woods covered in blood and has been in a coma since.

   During the investigation, Jeffers is introduced to the local urban legend of the creature Skullbelly, devourer of children. Some unexplained events do lean towards the possibility this creature is real and responsible for this tragedy, but Malfi ultimately leaves the decision up to the reader.

   I have not provided a “scare factor” rating here since the novella reads more like detective fiction than horror, thus it does not use that genre’s techniques to frighten. Malfi does write excellent horror tales—see my review of Borealis—that just isn’t his intention here.

   Delirium continues their trend of publishing fine novellas with this well-written tale that reads easily in one sitting. The characters and setting are believable and--while the left open to interpretation--there is a nice pay-off at the end.