Review
From Publishers Weekly
Kudos to series editor Otto Penzler and helpers for compiling a short list of 50 candidates for this sixth annual collection-and to guest editor Ellroy for selecting an impressively strong collection of 20 stories that ought to whet readers' appetites for more works by this lineup. In "High School Sweetheart," Joyce Carol Oates shows how far a brilliant premise can carry a writer. Robert B. Parker offers a fine baseball story, "Harlem Nocturne," about Jackie Robinson's off-field difficulties his rookie season. In "Two-Bagger," Michael Connelly also uses a baseball setting for a skillful tale of divided attentions. And Thomas H. Cook takes the gloves off in a yarn that ferrets out the truth behind a fixed boxing match in "The Fix." Perhaps the rarest gem is Brendan DuBois's "A Family Game," in which a bullying baseball dad gets his comeuppance from another parent. James Grady tells a rousing tale of a championship fight held in Montana-but it's the preliminary bout (and its preliminaries) that make "The Championship of Nowhere" one of the anthology's best entries. Clark Howard's "The Cobalt Blues" features a trio of men with absolutely nothing to lose as they plan a daring and (somewhat) altruistic caper that leaves readers chuckling. Darker tales, but very effective ones, come from established pros like Stuart M. Kaminsky, Annette Meyers and Joe R. Lansdale. This is a sterling collection that should both entertain and serve as an introduction to some formidable new talents. (Oct. 15)
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From AudioFile
Otto Penzler, who reads three of these stories himself, makes the professional actors look great by comparison, and they deserve it. Don Leslie does a beautiful gravelly job with Scott Wolvern's "The Copper Kings," and you haven't lived until you've heard Barbara Rosenblat start to hiccup as she plays a hysterical and guilty Southern housewife trying to lie her way out of a tight corner in "Maniac Loose," by Michael Malone. Robert B. Parker's "Harlem Nocturne" is damaged by the actor's repeated mispronunciation of a key character's name (Digiacomo). (How hard would it have been to check?) But for mystery fans, the strengths of this entertaining volume will far outweigh the disappointments. B.G. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
From Booklist
Series editor Penzler deserves credit for acknowledging in his foreword to this year's installment of the best American mystery stories that several of the selections were written originally for two of his own sports-themed anthologies. He defends their inclusion (volume editor Ellroy made the final choices from a group of 50 stories picked by Penzler) on the grounds of quality, and he's right. Two of the three boxing stories (from Murder on the Ropes), Thomas H. Cook's "The Fix" and James Grady's "The Championship of Nowhere," are among the collection's highlights--stories that use the myth-drenched ring milieu to reflect on the agony of making choices when there are no choices to make. Big names dominate this time (Connelly, Malone, Parker, and Lansdale, among them), and they don't disappoint. In the introduction, Ellroy's typically stylized ruminations on the mystery short story ("Whap--you circumnavigate quicksville") will have fans salivating and leave others scratching their not-quite-hip-enough heads. But he's right, too: these stories pack plenty of whap. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"A sterling collection that should both entertain and serve as an introduction to some formidable new talents."
Review
"A sterling collection that should both entertain and serve as an introduction to some formidable new talents."
Review
When someone edits an anthology, he should be aware of the different tastes in the audience. Unless it is a themed anthology, the stories should reflect a wide spectrum to provide the readers with the best possible entertaiment. A "best-of" anthology like this one should cover this, as well as present us with both new and established writers. Unfortunately, this edition doesn't come close to answering to these criterias.
It's obvious that guest editor James Ellroy has a preference for sports stories. Nearly half of the stories in here are about sports (mostly boxing, which is one of Ellroy's favourites). Not that there's anything wrong with sports stories. It's just that the ones featured here are far from remarkable. Save for Michael Connelly's murder at the baseball game story, and for Thomas Cook's The Fix, none of the sports-themed stories deliver the goods.
Fortunately, there are a few stories here that are quite memorable. Joe R. Lansdale always delivers the goods, and his story The Mule Rustlers does not disappoint. Other great stories are Joyce Carol Oates's The High School Sweetheart, Daniel Waterman's A Lepidopterist's Tale, Stuart M. Kaminisky Sometimes Something Goes Wrong, Sean Doolittle's Summa Mathematica and John Biguenet's It Is Raining in Bejucal.
That's only seven good stories out of the twenty that are found in this anthology. If these stories really represent the best stories of 2002, then it was a pretty bad year for mystery fiction!
And it would have been nice if Ellroy could have added more new writers. All the featured writers here save for one have published more than one book. I love an anthology that makes you discover new writers. This one didn't do that either. I can't say that I recommend this new edition of The Best Mystery Stories. Otto Penzler is a great editor, maybe he should think about taking the reins of the next one himself
