Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM
The Best American Mystery Stories 2002
Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Otto Penzler
, James Ellroy
Class/Genre: Mystery [Short Stories]
Orion Publishing (UK) / Otto Penzler series editor
We’re a little behind the US in this great series of collected short stories, because volume #4 edited by Mike Connelly has just been published in the US by Houghton Mifflin and arrives on our shores in October from Orion UK. I think this series is magnificent in presenting the best of best of the short story format in the crime/mystery world. With twenty stories that really showcase the breadth of the genre we get from Mike Connelly’s ‘Two-Bagger’, a tale of baseball and much else, ‘The High School Sweetheart’ by Joyce Carol Oates (a tale about the evil thoughts that proceed a crime) right up to the online published ‘The Copper Kings’ by Scott Wolven from (www.handheldcrime.com and www.plotswithguns.com). Otto Penzler takes no embarrassment that a great deal of the stories contained in this collection originate from his own anthologies and I guess there is a sporting theme to many of the tales. This is no coincidence as many originate from Murder on the Ropes, and Murderer’s Row (both from Penzler). Complete with a short introduction by Penzler and an even shorter one by Ellory, this is one book you need on your bookshelf.
If short stories are your thing, this collection highlights some of the best from America, (and that includes a heavy slice from the various Mysterious Press collections edited by Otto Penzler) and is well worth a browse. Who said the short story was dead?
Bravo to Orion for printing this series for British readers.
Ali Karim - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM
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