Nevada Barr Presents Malice Domestic: An Anthology of Traditional Mystery Stories [Large Print]

Do you like short stories? I love them. Sometimes you just can't invest the emotional time in a full-length novel, whereas a short story is exactly right. Besides, I think it's fun to see what a favorite book author can do with the shorter, more restrictive form, and then, sometimes--an additional bonus--one can find new authors well worth pursuing from reading a good anthology. The Malice Domestic series of original traditional, mostly cozy stories is usually top-notch, and this tenth edition is quite possibly the best they've done yet, in my opinion. Three stories alone--of the fourteen included--justify the cost of buying the book. Simon Brett's "A Note of Notes" about 'a £10 note with attitude' is scrumptious, while M. D. Lake, in a wry, world-weary voice, explores the alphabet in "A. B. C. D. E. A. T. H.", providing chuckles galore in this tale of two couples, unhappily married. Anne Perry, the much-lauded author of two Victorian-set mystery series, has turned away from that time and place to produce a wonderfully humorous, charming story about a group of neighborhood detectives. Word has it that these creatures are based on her own menagerie of dogs and cats and other critters. This is, I believe, the third such episode featuring Daisy, a canine whose lineage is never quite defined, but who possesses immense common sense. In "Daisy and the Christmas Goose" she doesn't let the fact that she's not quite certain of just what is a goose slow down the hunt for one that is missing. Frankly, I wish some enterprising publisher would produce an entire book of short stories about Daisy and her cohorts, both canine and feline, and other-ines as well. The voicing of these critters is impeccable, sort of an 'All Creatures Great and Small' but in reverse. They're nothing short of wonderful! All the stories in this collection are eminently readable. Too bad they can't do more than one such anthology a year. Or else a bigger book, with more stories.

The fourteen stories that make up the latest Malice Domestic collection stick to the common theme of everyday people doing "criminal" things they ordinarily would not do. As seems to be the case with this ten-year old series, every contribution fits the main topic while all are also well written and entertaining cozies. Barring none, this is one of the better groups of authors, who demonstrate the need of providing motives rather quickly and believably for their lead characters to act out of the norm. Each author succeeds with a wonderful tale worth reading by anthology fans and cozy advocates.Harriet Klausner