Synopses & Reviews
Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the countrys finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind. Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004 contains a spectacular array of stories by mystery veterans and talented newcomers. Follow a chain reaction that saves a womans life, visit a house haunted by a husbands violent killing spree, enter the high-stakes world of Las Vegas gambling, watch the line between reality and dream blur, travel with a bored salesman driven to crime, and much more. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, this years selections are sure to quicken pulses, send chills down the spine, and keep readers continually guessing.
Synopsis
Presents a collection of mystery stories selected from magazines in the United States and Canada
Synopsis
This volume brings together the genre's finest from the past year. With stories from mystery veterans and newly discovered talents, this thrilling collection is sure to appeal to crime fiction fans of all tastes.
Synopsis
"[Most of] these stories are portraits, in styles ranging from sly to harrowing, of how crimes occurred ... If you like all your characters living at the end of a story, this may not be the book for you." -- from the introduction by Scott Turow
Best-selling author Scott Turow takes the helm for the tenth edition of this annual, featuring twenty-one of the past year's most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense.
Elmore Leonard tells the tale of a young woman who's fled home with a convicted bank robber. Walter Mosley describes an over-the-hill private detective and his new client, a woman named Karma. C. J. Box explores the fate of two Czech immigrants stranded by the side of the road in Yellowstone Park. Ed McBain begins his story on role-playing with the line "'Why don't we kill somebody?' she suggested." Wendy Hornsby tells of a wild motorcycle chase through the canyons outside Las Vegas. Laura Lippman describes the "Crack Cocaine Diet." And James Lee Burke writes of a young boy who may have been a close friend of Bugsy Siegel.
As Scott Turow notes in his introduction, these stories are "about crime -- its commission, its aftermath, its anxieties, its effect on character." The Best American Mystery Stories 2006 is a powerful collection for all readers who enjoy fiction that deals with the extremes of human passion and its dark consequences.
Synopsis
'The set, boxed in a rich gold metallic, includes The Best American
Mystery Stories 2006, edited by Scott Turow; The Best American Sports
Writing 2006, edited by Michael Lewis; and The Best American Short Stories
2006, edited by Ann Patchett.'
About the Author
OTTO PENZLER is a renowned mystery editor, publisher, columnist, and owner of New York's The Mysterious Bookshop, the oldest and largest bookstores solely dedicated to mystery fiction. He has edited more than fifty crime-fiction anthologies.
Table of Contents
Foreword ix Introduction by Scott Turow xiv
Karen E. Bender Theft 1
C. J. Box Pirates of Yellowstone 18
James Lee Burke Why Bugsy Siegel Was a Friend of Mine 31
Jeffery Deaver Born Bad 45
Jane Haddam Edelweiss 63
William Harrison Texas Heat 81
Alan Heathcock Peacekeeper 93
Emory Holmes II A.k.a., Moises Rockafella 112
Wendy Hornsby Dust Up 129
Andrew Klavan Her Lord and Master 144
Elmore Leonard Louly and Pretty Boy 154
Laura Lippman The Crack Cocaine Diet (Or: How to Lose a Lot of Weight and Change Your Life in Just One Weekend) 169
Ed McBain Improvisation 180
Mike MacLean McHenrys Gift 197
Walter Mosley Karma 205
Joyce Carol Oates So Help Me God 240
Sue Pike A Temporary Crown 266
Emily Raboteau Smile 278
R. T. Smith Ina Grove 281
Jeff Somers Ringing the Changes 309
Scott Wolven Vigilance 320
Contributors Notes 345 Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2005 356