Synopses & Reviews
Best-selling novelist Jeffery Deaver edits this latest collection of the genre's finest from the past year. Featuring "gritty tales told with panache," this is a "must-read for anybody who cares about crime stories" (Booklist).
Review
STARRED The Best American Mystery Stories 2009 Edited by Jeffery Deaver. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner, $14 paper (400p) ISBN 978-0-547-23750-3
Like previous anthologies in this “best ofâ€â? series, the impressive 13th volume favors crime stories over whodunits. As series editor Otto Penzler notes in his foreword, “it has become increasingly difficult to find... a new murder method, or an original way to hide a vital clueâ€â? (though some may wonder why Deaver passed over Hal White’s impossible crime puzzler, “Murder at the Fall Festival,â€â? listed in the appendix of “Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2008â€â?). Readers interested in psychology will be more than satisfied by such tales as Joyce Carol Oates’s “Dear Husband,â€â? a heartrending first-person account of a mother who slaughtered her children, and Tom Bissell’s “My Interview with the Avenger,â€â? about a vigilante superhero. As always, part of the pleasure derives from exposure to writers who have yet to gain the acclaim they deserve, such as Randy Rohn (“The Man Who Fell in Love with the Stump of a Treeâ€â?) and Jonathan Tel (“Bola de la Fortunaâ€â?). (Oct.)
Review
Series editor Penzlers preference for trolling literary journals instead of relying on the usual mystery magazines and anthologies pays big dividends.
Not a single one of the 20 reprints here is a dud. Standouts among the stories produced by mystery veterans are James Lee Burkes parable of a prison-camp inmate who refuses to box ("Big Midnight Special"); Chuck Hogans account of the hamburger that will be a condemned convicts last meal ("Two Thousand Volrs"); and Kristine Kathrine Ruschs historical fantasy of a killer whose methodical execution of FBI agents reaches all the way to the top ("G-Men"). But theres excellent, if more formulaic work by Clark Howard, Rob Kantner, Robert McClure and Michael Connelly. "Free Radicals," Alice Munros unexpected riff on a classic Agatha Christie story, tops the literary side, which provides a good deal more variety: Tom Bissells portrait of a modern superhero ("My Interview with the Avenger"); Ron Carlsons tale of a Guatemalan baseball phenom whose fate is fatally linked to his scouts ("Beanball"); M.M.M. Hayess depiction of a crusty old gentlemans unusual strategies for coping with change and death ("Meantime, Quentin Ghlee"); Randy Rohns droll, creepy account of "The Man Who Fell in Love with the Stump of a Tree"; Jonathan Tels story about a trucker whose life is upended by an accusation of rape and murder ("Bola de la Fortuna"); and series favorite Joyce Carol Oates "Dear Husband," the feverish confession of a dying family-killer. N.J. Ayres, Alafair Burke, David Corbett, Nic Pizzolatto, Gary Craig Powell and Vu Tran round out the diverse list.
A choice mix of solid work from mystery specialists and one-shots from authors whod never want to be identified with the genre.
Synopsis
A collection of the best mystery writing published in American periodicals in 2008.
About the Author
Jeffery Deaver is the bestselling author of The Bodies Left Behind, The Sleeping Doll, The Cold Moon, The Blue Nowhere, The Bone Collector, The Empty Chair, The Devil's Teardrop, and fifteen other suspense novels. His book A Maiden's Grave was made into an HBO movie starring James Garner and Marlee Matlin, and his novel The Bone Collector was made into a feature release from Universal Pictures, starring Denzel Washington. He lives in North Carolina. Otto Penzler is the founder of the Mysterious Bookshops and the Mysterious Press and is an Edgar Award winner. He lives in New York City.