The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction

"The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction," edited by Ed Gorman, is a decent collection of hard-boiled crime short stories. Published in 1987 and containing 20 stories, it is heavily weighted toward the ten year period prior to its publication. There are also a handful of stories from the 1950s and 60s, but none older than that. Two of the best entries, "The Used" by Loren Estleman and "A Cold Foggy Day" by Bill Pronzini, kick things off. (Note that neither of these stories contain either Amos Walker or the "Nameless" Detective). After that strong start, things get more uneven. For example, the Jim Thompson story that's included, "The World, Then the Fireworks," is not one of his beeter efforts and doesn't make much sense. Another story is about a rattlesnake attack and seems to have little to do with crime fiction.Nevertheless, this is still a worthwhile collection. Each story is preceeded by a short blurb about the author and the story itself (a MUST with these kinds of collections). At just over 330 pages, it is a fine read for those who like their fiction hard-boiled.