The Best American Mystery Stories

A few too many of the stories had little appeal, so no five stars here. The collection stretches the definition of a "mystery", as most are basically crime stories and none is a traditional detective story where there is an early setup to the crime, followed by the action leading to a resolution through someone's analysis. In some, the whole story is a setup to a crime near the end, and in others there is no resolution, other than we know who did what through basic narrative. We have no detectives or private eyes here, and few cops. Be prepared for some relative crudeness in language and crime and not much lightweight content where the story is really about the mystery. Not here. Here are my favorites: Keller's Double Dribble: masterful story of a hit man, with a creative twist. T-Bird: poker-playing babe hatches a scam. One True Love: prostitute / soccer mom deals with an untimely threat. Stab: unusual mass murder up the food chain as told by the survivor of a pair of separated twins. Solomon's Alley: sometimes the inner voice demands action. Pinwheel and Meadowlands: two completely different stories that include horse racing. One is from the perspective of a cool dude who is part of some illegal activity and the other is from a nervous woman clueless about what will happen. Queeny: quick, crisp story about danger while jogging. Lucy Had a List: nothing will stop Lucy from achieving her goal to be a professional golfer. That's nine of the 20. Some of the remainder fall into a pretty decent second tier, and a couple I didn't like seemed rather pointless or uninteresting, never clicking into gear. Some that didn't make my list were probably very well written, and I could understand their selection. "The True History" about the conflict between Texas and Mexico in the 1800s comes to mind. I simply didn't care for it. Sorry.

The Best American Mystery Stories series is always one of the year's highlights and the 2007 collection is dark, edgy, innovative and exciting. Many old favorites are onhand but so are many new and exciting writers. Is some of the subject matter disturbing? Absolutely! From animal killing to soccer-mom prostitutes, this is a collection that doesn't play it safe. Yet the consistancy of quality is always there. While I prefered some stories more than others, I found every story in this collection interesting and worth my time. Short stories make perfect reading in today's busy world and this collection is a great way to start getting into them!

if you love cozies, then don't buy this book. get a cup of hot milk and an miss marple and leave now. fleeee! because this is a dark book. but it's a FABULOUS collection if you love dark noir, crime writing by the best of the best, including: STAB by Chris Adrian! This is my personal favorite -- the smartest most evocative piece I have ever seen from a child's pov. His story, john dufresne's and scott wolven's are disturbing and fresh crime stories from the dark side of humanity and shouldn't be missed! sophistocated readers will also take satisfaction in the entire collection, especially stories by the usual suspects: joyce carol oates, ridley pearson, laura lippman at her darkest. Fresh, original, dark writing here. Transportive stuff -- so transportive that the suspense might just keep you up at night, either that or the excellent caliber of writing!