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SHOW BUSINESS IS MURDER
by Stuart M. Kaminsky, editor
Berkley Prime Crime, August 2004
371 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0425196526


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

SHOW BUSINESS IS MURDER combines the works of many contemporary mystery writers. This anthology contains stories by Parnell Hall, Carolyn Wheat, Libby Fischer Hellmann, John Lutz, Gary Phillips and 15 other authors. All of the stories deal with the idea of acting in either film, television or on stage.

The majority of these stories are not detective mysteries. In fact, this book relies more on the definition of mystery, as being anything that is unknown rather than a genre where a character or characters search for the solution to a crime or puzzle. In many of the stories, the characters remain passive rather than active. There are exceptions to this assessment, such as Elaine Viet's story where her heroine decides to eliminate the competition. However, the majority of the stories do hold to this rule.

Writing a successful short story can take more skill and hard work than writing a novel. As it has been said many times before, a short story must create characters, set up background and provide a resolution in fewer than 30 pages. Many very successful novel writers do not have the ability to write good short stories and many talented short story writers cannot write good novels. The skills and talents for these formats are not always related. A writer's inability to create a short story that draws in the reader is not always the author's fault but is merely an example of the limitations imposed by the format.

Unfortunately, several of the authors in this book have this problem. While they might be skilled and successful with their novels, their short stories do leave something to be desired. In some cases, it would take a die-hard fan to enjoy some of these offerings.

Reviewed by Sarah Dudley, July 2004

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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