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Acclaimed crime writer James Ellroy has selected 20 stories by top authors in the field of mystery writing in this collection. Like some of Edgar Allan Poe's work these might more accurately be called tales of mystery, suspense and imagination because, as the series editor Otto Penzler says, Ellroy "stretches the borders" beyond mere detective fiction. Some of America's best authors, not necessarily best-known as crime writers, are included because these particular stories have crime or the threat of crime at their centres. That said, several of the contributors have also had work published in earlier volumes in this series. Among the contributors are Michael Connelly, Joe Gores (author of Hammett), James Grady (author of Six Days of the Condor), Stuart Kaminsky, Michael Malone, Joyce Carol Oates, and Robert B Parker. The notes on the contributors provide not just basic biographical details, but also some idea of the origins of their stories. The first, John Biguenet's It is Raining in Bejucal, for example, was based on an idea by Francis Ford Coppola, and written for Zoetrope. Several of the stories have sport as a point of reference or central theme - two on baseball, (Connelly's Two Bagger, Parker's Harlem Nocturne featuring Jackie Robinson), three on boxing (Thomas H Cook's The Fix, James Grady's The Championship of Nowhere, and F X Toole's Midnight Emissions. Others have an element of gambling as a background, while a number focus on relationships. Some are about robbery, others about murder or revenge. Some are humorous, others deadly serious. There are also variations in length - one story is only seven pages long, while another, the longest is 38 pages. More than a few have a quirky ending or sting in the tail. One, Joyce Carol Oates' The High School Sweetheart, has a story recounted by a fictional president of the American Mystery Writers within the story. All are gripping and entertaining and reveal the pleasure of the well-written short story. As Ellroy says, "You get suspense and surprise." Although quite a big book, this makes excellent reading for the beach or waiting in the airport - or even bedside reading! One story a night was enough for me - I almost always had to read to the end (which is how a short story should be read), and I was always looking forward to the next one.
Reviewed by Neil Wynn, January 2005
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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