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This was close; I almost stopped reading before I got very far into this book. It's not that I didn't know what I was getting into, it's pretty obvious with a title like DEADLY HOUSEWIVES. The attraction for me was that these were all new stories and that I'll pick up any anthology that contains a story by Marcia Muller, SJ Rozan or Sara Paretsky. I wanted to give the collection a fair shake, so rather than open to those stories immediately, I thought I'd start on page one. And that's where things started to go bad for me. I had problems with the first two stories -- big time. And they are by well-known writers and writers whose work I often like (Julie Smith's The One That Got Away and Nevada Barr's GDMFSOB). It's the topic, I guess: like Wilma Scott Heide, the president of the National Organization for Women for several years who's quoted in the introduction, I'm not a housewife. I hate the word housewife no matter than it's apparently trendy or retro, given the American television show Desperate Housewives. You guessed it, I can't handle the show either. I guess it's supposed to be cute and daring to talk about housewives and how they can be tough. Well, of course they can. I've got no problem with the amateur sleuth stories here, I've got no problem with the idea that women can be deadly. I'm a lifelong feminist and yes, that means I respect stay-at-home moms. The problem was that I didn't like the people in too many of the stories. In several cases, I had a hard time sympathizing with the housewife. I had problems with some of the plots, the ones where the husbands are so disgusting, disagreeable or slimy. It's hard to respect someone who marries a selfish whiny amoral slug -- sorry but it is. And stays married to him. And it's a bit tough to believe that divorce isn't an option in some situations. So after having a bad time with a couple stories I decided to do what I really wanted and that was to read the stories that topped my list. I'm happy to say that they form the basis of my recommendation that you do pick up this anthology. SJ Rozan has never let me down, and she doesn't here with The Next Good Day. The story is nothing like her Chin/Smith books, but like so many of her short stories (which have won awards) it's stylish, the pacing is great and it lingers. Nancy Pickard -- an old favorite -- also did well for me; Joy Ride was sort of guessable but it worked really well, the story of a woman too clever for her own good. Eileen Dreyer uses her standard scenario featuring an Irish nurse in Vanquishing the Infidel, but works it well. It's not exactly a mystery story, but it is about a determined wife and mother. What doesn't work? I can't handle shrill and annoying. I really dislike stupid southern guys even in scenarios where they're intended to be sort of endearing (American TV watchers, think My Name is Earl. Nope. It sends me out of the room.) I have a long-time huge dislike of interfering mothers-in-law and doormat women. And I found parts of the "dear Christine" introduction to be offensive. Reading about women who complain that "when he watches television I have to get on the floor and be his footstool" made my skin crawl. I know it's intended as over the top humor. It isn't. I understand that creating villains that just are "asking for it", making cheating husbands into such creeps that the world is better off without them works for a lot of people. But there was too much icky in too many stories; one had some horrid typos, and I couldn't tell it if was intended to show how dumb someone was or a sign of poor proof-reading; and no I tend not to bring that up but that's how complicated this book is for me. Buy it for the authors you like; I would, even though some of those authors didn't come through for me here. I feel stupid admitting I just didn't get Denise Mina's An Invisible Minus Sign. I've read two of her books; one I thought was excellent, the other I strongly disliked and thought too complicated. The back cover blurb claims these are "fourteen of today's best-loved, bestselling female mystery and suspense writers". Whoo boy, it feels strange to challenge such a claim but, er, really? Three of them were completely unknown to me. Completely as in "I've never heard of this writer" and I'm pretty current on who's who in mystery and suspense fiction. And sorry, Avon, but I found the inclusion of "Avon's Little Black Book" -- whatever that thing at the back is supposed to be -- to be annoying, cutesy and useless. If I want to read recipes, I'll get a cookbook.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, May 2006
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