Synopses & Reviews
Best-selling novelist Harlan Coben, a master of suspense and creator of the critically-acclaimed Myron Bolitar series, edits this latest collection of the must-reads in mysteries from the past year.
Synopsis
The best-selling author Carl Hiaasen takes the reins for the eleventh edition of this series, featuring twenty of the past years most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense.
Laura Lippman introduces us to a suburban soccer mom who moonlights as a call girl and who has a fateful encounter with a former client at her sons soccer game. Ridley Pearson traces a famous author of horror tales who becomes trapped in a real one after his wife vanishes while jogging. Joyce Carol Oates travels to a New Jersey racetrack where the animals that break down are of the two-legged type. Lawrence Block tells the story of Keller, a hitman for hire who happens to live in Greenwich Village, loves spicy food, and collects stamps as a hobby. And Scott Wolven plunges us into the world of an ex-con who takes a job at a private and very illegal Nevada racetrack where each day millions are won and lost. Mostly lost.
As Carl Hiaasen notes in his introduction, The stories in this collection would do honor to any anthology of short literature. More than transcending the genre of crime, they blow away its nebulous boundaries.” The Best American Mystery Stories 2007 is a powerful collection certain to delight mystery aficionados and all lovers of great fiction.
About the Author
Harlan Coben's last three consecutive novels Caught, Long Lost, and Hold Tight all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. He is a winner of the Edgar Award, the Shamus Award, and the Anthony Award.OTTO PENZLER is the founder of the Mysterious Bookshop and Mysterious Press.
Table of Contents
Foreword ix Introduction by Carl Hiaasen xiii
Chris Adrian Stab 1
Robert Andrews Solomons Alley 22
Peter Blauner Going, Going, Gone 33
Lawrence Block Kellers Double Dribble 41
John Bond T-Bird 69
James Lee Burke A Season of Regret 88
John Dufresne The Timing of Unfelt Smiles 106
Louise Erdrich Gleason 121
Jim Fusilli Chellinis Solution 135
William Gay Where Will You Go When Your SkinCannot Contain You? 148
Robert Knightly Take the Mans Pay 162
Laura Lippman One True Love 173
David Means The Spot 189
Kent Meyers Rodney Valens Second Life 200
Joyce Carol Oates Meadowlands 218
Jason Ockert Jakob Loomis 241
Ridley Pearson Queeny 257
John Sandford Lucy Had a List 264
Brent Spencer The True History 287
Scott Wolven Pinwheel 304
Contributors Notes 313 Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2006 324
Kids Q&A
Read the Kids' Q&A with Carl Hiaasen