Please read past the first chapter! It is intentionally written poorly - you'll find out why later.
This book has a sophisticated and intelligent voice that flows seamlessly throughout - I couldn't tell that it wasn't all penned by the same person. I was pleasantly surprised to find that some of the short stories overlap. I began to feel that they would all tie together somehow, but unfortunately they do not - at least not in a way that I could comprehend.
I'm intrigued by the melancholy spirit and worldliness of the authors, and I would love to see them use their obvious talent to write a complex international mystery novel that allows us to follow their quirky characters through perils and discoveries that we didn't see coming!