What do you think?
Rate this book
The Best American Mystery Stories 2007
The best-selling author Carl Hiaasen takes the reins for the eleventh edition of this series, featuring twenty of the past year’s 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 son’s 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.
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 son’s 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.
326 pages, Paperback
Published October 10, 2007
9 people are currently reading
347 people want to read
About the author
Carl Hiaasen
100 books9,916 followersCarl Hiaasen was born and raised in Florida. After graduating from the University of Florida, he joined the Miami Herald as a general assignment reporter and went on to work for the newspaper’s weekly magazine and prize-winning investigations team. As a journalist and author, Carl has spent most of his life advocating for the protection of the Florida Everglades. He and his family live in southern Florida.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
October 10, 2018
I bought this so many years ago and found it on my bookshelf and realised I still hadn't read it. I gave it a go and it was a complete mix of bad, okay and relatively good. A few were exceptional.
1. Stab by Chris Adrian wasn't great - It is a story about the murder of cats and the sacrifice of living beings by a child who wants to raise her parents from the dead. It is good story idea and could have been a mash of horror and thriller but the writing was far from good.
2. Solomon's Alley - Robert Andrews - one of the few exceptional stories. It was about a homeless guy who witnesses a gang take of the streets where he lives. He sees stallholders bullied - only one of them doesn't give in. It is a story of mystery, revenge, cleverness and friendship. Brilliant writing.
3. Going, Going, Gone - Peter Blauner - another that wasn't great - it could have been so good but wasn't. It had the makings of a great story, of being an on the edge thriller about a missing child but somehow the story and character got too wrapped up in each other and the plot lost out.
4. Keller's Double Dribble - Lawrence Block - his name is on the front of the book which makes it seem to me like his story should be good at least. Simply it was plain boring. One of the longer stories in the book and one that could have done with being so much shorter. The dialogue was abysmal and the plot was nowhere. It dragged and dragged and little things happened like Keller being framed and him stopping it but what difference does it make when the characters are one dimensional and under developed.
5. T Bird - John Bond - This started out boring with after Keller's Double Dribble annoyed me. This story picked up though and made up for its slow start. I thought this was simply but Bond puts a lot of twists and turns into a small space. It is about con artists, money and most importantly con artists who get caught up in their own game and how it leads to their downfall.
6. Season of Regret - James Lee Burke - an exceptional one. The story is brilliant, about an old man who lives on a ranch with his wife. How he's harassed by bikers and the people he try to help turn on him. How his world is thrown upside down by one decision and how the good and bad get their rewards in the end. Its about the domino effect and how decisions effect events that could never be seen. This story has so much meaning and so much depth and the characters are so deep. I adored this story completely.
7. The Timing of Unfelt Smiles - John Dufresne - another exceptional story. Two in a row. I thought this book was finally moving. This story is about balance and how a psychologist with an ill father is dragged into an investigation when a man murders his whole family. There are multiple perspectives which I adore as we get to see it from the killer and the investigator. Most importantly I love the ending of this story. Probably the best ending of the whole book!
8. Gleason - Louise Erdich - I was so hopeful and then this story comes along. God I hate this story so much. It's all over the place. The plot is wishywashy at best, I hate all the characters and I don't think I'm meant to and sex seems to be the answer to any problem - A guy admits he's had an affair, got a girl pregnant, has his wife kidnapped, who pretends she was raped, he pays for the girl to keep the child, he admits all this to his wife in the end and what does the wife do - she has sex with him in the hallway. I have no idea what happened with this story...
9. Chellini's solution - Jim Fusilli - after story number 8 this seemed actually okay - its got little plot and little substance but is about a guy trying win his wife back by incriminating a rival she's sleeping with.
10. Where will you go when you skin cannot contain you? - William Gay - the best part of this story is the title. The story is simply confusing and not in a good way. It doesn't explain itself well. Things happen, lots of things happen but the background story is non-existent. I feel like I walked into a room mid conversation and no-one has the politeness to fill me in. I felt like an outsider in this story, like it didn't want to be read. And the body snatching - if that is what its hinting at - well that's just plain weird at the end.
11. Take the man's money - Robert Knightly - we are back to the exceptional - this is a clever sop thriller. About tricks and double crosses. It reminded me of the games Patrick Jane used to play on The Mentalist. The team in this story all have their roles. Knightly is clever enough though to make you think you know and then trick you at the end. Very clever writing and really well thought out story. I must admit I was extremely impressed with this one and it even made me chuckle.
12. One true love - Laura Lippman - this was interesting and a really interesting look at how certain women are underestimated. It shows the power of women; the main character goes to ask so many people for help; the men that have been in her life for a long time. In the end she asks neither; not wanting to owe them favours. She sorts her own problems and its a good story because of this. The thing that impressed me the most was the development of the character in so few pages. Lippman seems to have an insight into souls and knows how to connect even the most estranged character with the reader.
13. The spot - David Means - exactly David means what? - this story had so much potential. It had mystery and edge but both these things were barely visible through the bad writing. The dialogue was off and the plot was so jumpy - it just didn't flow. I man and girl driving around, earning money through her selling her body with jobs he's found. It was an interesting combo and the twist that the man is going to kill her was a good twist if the writing hadn't made it like walking through water with lead boots.
14. Rodney Valen's Second Life - Kent Meyers - I was speechless after this one. The story seemed very normal to begin with. Average murder in american countryside but it wasn't and when the title made sense everything just fitted into place. This was SO SO SO good!
15. Meadowlands - Joyce Carol Oates - no matter how much I read of this author I just can't like her. I hate her writing and her characters. I hate the whine she was when she writes a female character. This is why I knew I was never going to like this story. It's about horseracing, a woman thinking she isn't good enough for the man she's with and not doing anything about it, and the man is still caught up on his ex so much so he starts to have the attitude that if he can't have her no one can. So many personalities out of shape put the story out of shape. The one little high point was the racing scene when the man's horse morning star ran. That was epic. I felt like I was watching it on the television, like I had a stake in the horse. That was a powerful scene I just wish the author would write like that all the time.
16. Jakob Loomis - Jason Ockhert - good story and so creepy at points that it half crossed into a horror story. Interesting start with the parrot in the tree and how a man kills it with a lawnmower. Covered in blood another handcuffed man comes onto his property. At the same time a police officer who arrested the man and is dying from a snakebite chases him through the wood. Jakob is a missing boy. The three men meet just a the right moment and their actions lead to their fate. I loved the ending! This is by far my favourite story in the whole book
17. Queeny - Ridley Pearson - it was great; even after the brilliant Ockhert story this still made me think it was brilliant. love the story of the missing wife and the author whose left in grief and anger and then arrested for the murder and how his life changes through this. How people stop believing in him. How his child look at him differently. As a character the protagonist is brilliant; I felt for him; completely and utterly and the last line breaks my heart.
18. Lucy had a list - John Sandford - and back we go again. I'm not a fan of golf; never have been but I think you could have used any sport in this story and it would still be as bad as it is. The characters are ill defined and I didn't like the plot. Too predictable and too easy to navigate. I knew the ending straight away and the time it took to get there annoyed me and bored me.
19. The True History - Brent Spencer - its about americans attacking mexicans on the border during the civil war? Its not very interesting and the history is true yes but theres nothing exceptional, nothing revealing about it. The story lets the title down on a major scale.
20. Pinwheel - Scott Wolven - this was an interesting take. A guy in prison, working or a gang because he's taken the place of the real convict. His brother comes to get him because the man he's pretending to be has just be arrested and the gang are coming to kill him. He works on a illegal race course. He and his brother run when its raided and they disappear. The ending has some magical qualities to it.
1. Stab by Chris Adrian wasn't great - It is a story about the murder of cats and the sacrifice of living beings by a child who wants to raise her parents from the dead. It is good story idea and could have been a mash of horror and thriller but the writing was far from good.
2. Solomon's Alley - Robert Andrews - one of the few exceptional stories. It was about a homeless guy who witnesses a gang take of the streets where he lives. He sees stallholders bullied - only one of them doesn't give in. It is a story of mystery, revenge, cleverness and friendship. Brilliant writing.
3. Going, Going, Gone - Peter Blauner - another that wasn't great - it could have been so good but wasn't. It had the makings of a great story, of being an on the edge thriller about a missing child but somehow the story and character got too wrapped up in each other and the plot lost out.
4. Keller's Double Dribble - Lawrence Block - his name is on the front of the book which makes it seem to me like his story should be good at least. Simply it was plain boring. One of the longer stories in the book and one that could have done with being so much shorter. The dialogue was abysmal and the plot was nowhere. It dragged and dragged and little things happened like Keller being framed and him stopping it but what difference does it make when the characters are one dimensional and under developed.
5. T Bird - John Bond - This started out boring with after Keller's Double Dribble annoyed me. This story picked up though and made up for its slow start. I thought this was simply but Bond puts a lot of twists and turns into a small space. It is about con artists, money and most importantly con artists who get caught up in their own game and how it leads to their downfall.
6. Season of Regret - James Lee Burke - an exceptional one. The story is brilliant, about an old man who lives on a ranch with his wife. How he's harassed by bikers and the people he try to help turn on him. How his world is thrown upside down by one decision and how the good and bad get their rewards in the end. Its about the domino effect and how decisions effect events that could never be seen. This story has so much meaning and so much depth and the characters are so deep. I adored this story completely.
7. The Timing of Unfelt Smiles - John Dufresne - another exceptional story. Two in a row. I thought this book was finally moving. This story is about balance and how a psychologist with an ill father is dragged into an investigation when a man murders his whole family. There are multiple perspectives which I adore as we get to see it from the killer and the investigator. Most importantly I love the ending of this story. Probably the best ending of the whole book!
8. Gleason - Louise Erdich - I was so hopeful and then this story comes along. God I hate this story so much. It's all over the place. The plot is wishywashy at best, I hate all the characters and I don't think I'm meant to and sex seems to be the answer to any problem - A guy admits he's had an affair, got a girl pregnant, has his wife kidnapped, who pretends she was raped, he pays for the girl to keep the child, he admits all this to his wife in the end and what does the wife do - she has sex with him in the hallway. I have no idea what happened with this story...
9. Chellini's solution - Jim Fusilli - after story number 8 this seemed actually okay - its got little plot and little substance but is about a guy trying win his wife back by incriminating a rival she's sleeping with.
10. Where will you go when you skin cannot contain you? - William Gay - the best part of this story is the title. The story is simply confusing and not in a good way. It doesn't explain itself well. Things happen, lots of things happen but the background story is non-existent. I feel like I walked into a room mid conversation and no-one has the politeness to fill me in. I felt like an outsider in this story, like it didn't want to be read. And the body snatching - if that is what its hinting at - well that's just plain weird at the end.
11. Take the man's money - Robert Knightly - we are back to the exceptional - this is a clever sop thriller. About tricks and double crosses. It reminded me of the games Patrick Jane used to play on The Mentalist. The team in this story all have their roles. Knightly is clever enough though to make you think you know and then trick you at the end. Very clever writing and really well thought out story. I must admit I was extremely impressed with this one and it even made me chuckle.
12. One true love - Laura Lippman - this was interesting and a really interesting look at how certain women are underestimated. It shows the power of women; the main character goes to ask so many people for help; the men that have been in her life for a long time. In the end she asks neither; not wanting to owe them favours. She sorts her own problems and its a good story because of this. The thing that impressed me the most was the development of the character in so few pages. Lippman seems to have an insight into souls and knows how to connect even the most estranged character with the reader.
13. The spot - David Means - exactly David means what? - this story had so much potential. It had mystery and edge but both these things were barely visible through the bad writing. The dialogue was off and the plot was so jumpy - it just didn't flow. I man and girl driving around, earning money through her selling her body with jobs he's found. It was an interesting combo and the twist that the man is going to kill her was a good twist if the writing hadn't made it like walking through water with lead boots.
14. Rodney Valen's Second Life - Kent Meyers - I was speechless after this one. The story seemed very normal to begin with. Average murder in american countryside but it wasn't and when the title made sense everything just fitted into place. This was SO SO SO good!
15. Meadowlands - Joyce Carol Oates - no matter how much I read of this author I just can't like her. I hate her writing and her characters. I hate the whine she was when she writes a female character. This is why I knew I was never going to like this story. It's about horseracing, a woman thinking she isn't good enough for the man she's with and not doing anything about it, and the man is still caught up on his ex so much so he starts to have the attitude that if he can't have her no one can. So many personalities out of shape put the story out of shape. The one little high point was the racing scene when the man's horse morning star ran. That was epic. I felt like I was watching it on the television, like I had a stake in the horse. That was a powerful scene I just wish the author would write like that all the time.
16. Jakob Loomis - Jason Ockhert - good story and so creepy at points that it half crossed into a horror story. Interesting start with the parrot in the tree and how a man kills it with a lawnmower. Covered in blood another handcuffed man comes onto his property. At the same time a police officer who arrested the man and is dying from a snakebite chases him through the wood. Jakob is a missing boy. The three men meet just a the right moment and their actions lead to their fate. I loved the ending! This is by far my favourite story in the whole book
17. Queeny - Ridley Pearson - it was great; even after the brilliant Ockhert story this still made me think it was brilliant. love the story of the missing wife and the author whose left in grief and anger and then arrested for the murder and how his life changes through this. How people stop believing in him. How his child look at him differently. As a character the protagonist is brilliant; I felt for him; completely and utterly and the last line breaks my heart.
18. Lucy had a list - John Sandford - and back we go again. I'm not a fan of golf; never have been but I think you could have used any sport in this story and it would still be as bad as it is. The characters are ill defined and I didn't like the plot. Too predictable and too easy to navigate. I knew the ending straight away and the time it took to get there annoyed me and bored me.
19. The True History - Brent Spencer - its about americans attacking mexicans on the border during the civil war? Its not very interesting and the history is true yes but theres nothing exceptional, nothing revealing about it. The story lets the title down on a major scale.
20. Pinwheel - Scott Wolven - this was an interesting take. A guy in prison, working or a gang because he's taken the place of the real convict. His brother comes to get him because the man he's pretending to be has just be arrested and the gang are coming to kill him. He works on a illegal race course. He and his brother run when its raided and they disappear. The ending has some magical qualities to it.
April 19, 2008
This well written collection of short stories include tales of murder, rape, blackmail, sociopaths, kidnapping, deception and betrayal. Stories unfold through the eyes of the victims, accomplices, children, innocent bystanders and the murderers themselves. Because of the variety of characters, each story comes off as unique and fresh.
It's the perfect book to keep around when you feel like a good mystery but don't want to devote a whole novel to one.
July 4, 2011
I love mystery stories but I've been a little disappointed in this series, which is heavy on graphic violence and macho protagonists. Some great ones in this collection but also some that left me with mental images I'd sooner not have. Are there really no great female authors in this genre besides Joyce Carol Oates?
May 10, 2012
Every now and again I get in a reading funk and need to find new-to me-authors. I turn to short story anthologies and they will usually accomplish the task.
Some good stories, most with a twist, that do exactly what I want of an anthology.
Some good stories, most with a twist, that do exactly what I want of an anthology.
April 5, 2008
This is such a great collection of short stories. There wasn't a stinker in the bunch and I have found new authors I'd like to read more of. I look forward to revisiting these stories in the future.
January 6, 2008
great stories with immediate gratification.
September 12, 2022
The stories in this anthology seem to get darker and more twisted as the years go by, and this volume seemed particularly dark and intense. There is no room for the cozy mystery in this anthology. I don’t think I will be reading further offerings in this series. I like a dark or noir mystery now and then, but I like it in balance with other types. This volume of stories felt like drinking strong whiskey with no chaser.
June 19, 2019
This collection of 20 mystery short stories from the year 2007 is diverse and impressive. The various authors explore different motives and locations but ultimately show the darkest sides of human nature. It is a disturbing illustration of man's inhumanity against man and probably not a book that I would read again. It is one that I had to put down and walk away from more than once.
December 14, 2019
I'd probably give this 3.5 stars if possible. Some of the stories like T-Bird and Stab, and One True Love were entertaining. A few of the stories (i.e., The Spot) were a waste of time. Most fell somewhere in between. It was interesting learning that James Lee Burke is still writing short stories.
June 29, 2021
This was my first foray into "The Best American Mystery Story" editions, and after experiencing the editors' broad definition of "mystery," it may be my last. I'm all on board for whodunits, but this was a lot of crime and violence without the puzzle.
January 1, 2018
This collection was just average, a few above average but the rest just so-so for me.
May 1, 2020
Great short stories with a variety of themes by different authors.
June 25, 2017
Not quite as good as the 2009 edition, but still very good. I'd give it a 4.5 if I could, but not quite up to a 5, so it gets 4 stars.
My favorites were:
T-Bird by John Bond. Once again, the last story I read turned out to be one of the best. This one was well-written, fast-paced. I'm not that into gambling, or Miami South Beach scene, but this was just an example of excellent story-telling.
A Season of Regret by James Lee Burke. A retired professor -- himself with a 'past' -- takes on 3 hell-raising bikers passing through town. [Burke also wrote Big Midnight Special, a top story in 2009 Best American Mystery Stories.]
One True Love by Laura Lippman. Soccer mom hooker in danger of being outed by soccer dad client.
Solomon's Alley by Robert Andrews. Good story centered on the relationship between a homeless man and a street vendor. Loved the ending.
The Timing of Unfelt Smiles by John Dufresne. Heart-pounding, chilling in its matter-of-fact descriptions of murder and the offsetting viewpoints of the killer and shrink.
Keller's Double Dribble by Lawrence Block. Hit man starts questioning his assignment.
Rodney Valen's Second Life by Kent Meyers. Crazy son reincarnates his dead father in letters to his mom who left when he was 8.
Queeny by Ridley Pearson. Good story, set in a locale I'm familiar with.
Lucy Had a List by John Sandford. Intense focus and commitment to your goals is what it takes to make it on the tour. Interesting story woven around a young female golfer who has a plan for where she's going with her life and will let nothing stop her.
My favorites were:
T-Bird by John Bond. Once again, the last story I read turned out to be one of the best. This one was well-written, fast-paced. I'm not that into gambling, or Miami South Beach scene, but this was just an example of excellent story-telling.
A Season of Regret by James Lee Burke. A retired professor -- himself with a 'past' -- takes on 3 hell-raising bikers passing through town. [Burke also wrote Big Midnight Special, a top story in 2009 Best American Mystery Stories.]
One True Love by Laura Lippman. Soccer mom hooker in danger of being outed by soccer dad client.
Solomon's Alley by Robert Andrews. Good story centered on the relationship between a homeless man and a street vendor. Loved the ending.
The Timing of Unfelt Smiles by John Dufresne. Heart-pounding, chilling in its matter-of-fact descriptions of murder and the offsetting viewpoints of the killer and shrink.
Keller's Double Dribble by Lawrence Block. Hit man starts questioning his assignment.
Rodney Valen's Second Life by Kent Meyers. Crazy son reincarnates his dead father in letters to his mom who left when he was 8.
Queeny by Ridley Pearson. Good story, set in a locale I'm familiar with.
Lucy Had a List by John Sandford. Intense focus and commitment to your goals is what it takes to make it on the tour. Interesting story woven around a young female golfer who has a plan for where she's going with her life and will let nothing stop her.
August 14, 2012
Another volume of BAMSS, this one edited by Carl Hiassen. I chose it because after Joyce Carol Oates I needed someone a little livelier, with maybe a bit more humor? And this is definitely a more varied collection, with a few tales of satisfying justice (or near-justice) being done. There are also some pretty dark stories in here, which seems par for the course. One good golf mystery, speaking of. Again, a lot of these aren't mysteries in any way I can make out--they're crime stories or stories of bad things happening in general, rather than stories with any particular ambiguity or puzzle to them.
It also seems, disappointingly, like the annual editors must be presented with a pretty narrow range of stories each year. The same authors are represented over and over (six years running for Scott Wolvern, as of 2007) and many stories are taken from the same few anthologies. So, this edition had a handful of stories about horse racing, because someone put out an anthology of racetrack mysteries that year. Et cetera.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than JCO's selection. But again, almost no women...and I'm somehow not convinced that this franchise is really, truly collecting the best mystery stories published in American forums each year. Partly because most of these stories are not, in fact, mysteries.
/cranky
It also seems, disappointingly, like the annual editors must be presented with a pretty narrow range of stories each year. The same authors are represented over and over (six years running for Scott Wolvern, as of 2007) and many stories are taken from the same few anthologies. So, this edition had a handful of stories about horse racing, because someone put out an anthology of racetrack mysteries that year. Et cetera.
Overall, I enjoyed this more than JCO's selection. But again, almost no women...and I'm somehow not convinced that this franchise is really, truly collecting the best mystery stories published in American forums each year. Partly because most of these stories are not, in fact, mysteries.
/cranky
February 6, 2008
I am a huge fan of short stories anthologies, i get three or four short story collections a year, but after gobbling them all up quickly, i turned to this mystery collection, which i saw on book store shelved but always passed them up, i bought it and gave it a try...
A lot of these stories involve horse racing tracks, and most of them take place in florida. It's good pulp reading if that's your thang. Of course i am scouring these anthologies for screenplay ideas. But none of these writers included compare to the master, Chekhov.
A lot of these stories involve horse racing tracks, and most of them take place in florida. It's good pulp reading if that's your thang. Of course i am scouring these anthologies for screenplay ideas. But none of these writers included compare to the master, Chekhov.
January 17, 2017
I read only half of these stories, though if they'd been more compelling I might have charged ahead. I enjoyed "A Season of Regret," but otherwise this was not my genre or milieu. Poker, prostitutes, petty criminals, blackmailers. The first story I read was about a call girl. The last one, which was the end of the road for me, was about "fucking for money" as part of an insurance scam. There was a seven-page story I didn't understand four pages of. Alas, this seems to be one of the last outposts of gritty, unadulterated masculinity. So long.
January 29, 2009
A surprisingly excellent collection! There are familiar names from both the mystery and fiction genres (Louise Ehrdrich, Joyce Carol Oates, James Lee Burke) and unknowns, but the stories ae uniformly terrific. Highly recommended. I am not a big mystery fan, but this one really got me interested in the genre.
August 25, 2009
I suppose like any of these collections, this one is a mixed bag. Some top notch stories--including those by Louise Erdrich, Robert Knightly, James Lee Burke, and Laura Lippman. But the alphabetical organization makes for some odd pairings, and I think the first half of the book is weaker than the second. I don't think I'll be keeping this one, so if anyone wants my copy, it's up for grabs.
September 17, 2011
Best stories:
James Lee Burke: "A Season of Regret"
William Gay: "Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?" (amazing)
Kent Meyers: "Rodney Valen's Second Life"
Jason Ockert: "Jakob Loomis"
John Sandofrd: "Lucy Had a List"
Scott Wolven: "Pinwheel" (This guy is always in here, and the story is always awesome)
James Lee Burke: "A Season of Regret"
William Gay: "Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?" (amazing)
Kent Meyers: "Rodney Valen's Second Life"
Jason Ockert: "Jakob Loomis"
John Sandofrd: "Lucy Had a List"
Scott Wolven: "Pinwheel" (This guy is always in here, and the story is always awesome)
August 19, 2012
Like most books like these, it's hit and miss. But the hits are great. There's probably six or seven wonderful stories in here worth paying for, and then there's some other ones, and then there's... well, they're okay. Kind of makes you wonder what they were up against though. But overall, definitely worth the read.
January 5, 2015
Enjoyed this very much. I'm not sure I understand the definition of a mystery if these stories are considered such. They were all dark but most of them were not what I think of when I hear the word "mystery." At any rate, they were all well-written and I recommend the book for any adult audience.
September 21, 2009
some hit and miss stories but on the whole, REALLY good. i think i only skipped 3 stories - good in my opinion. it's amazing how involving a short story can be and all the different ways authors choose to approach a story. dig!
November 18, 2012
Some real standouts in this collection. This edition held some I didn't care for as much, but it was still a real nice, solid collection of some of the best writers around. Pick this one up if you want to read a nice, solid book.
January 3, 2013
This is one of my favorite anthology series and 2007 was a fine submission. There's always one or two less-thans in an anthology, but I think all of these stories were good, and they were fun to read. Carl Hiaasen is known for his sense of humor and it comes through in this collection.
October 30, 2007
I'm kind of pissed off that there are novel excerpts in here. It's supposed to be shorts. Novel excerpts shouldn't count.
June 2, 2008
There were a few good stories in here, but Hiaasen seems to equate "good mystery" with "excessive violence."
September 3, 2008
A solid, often excellent anthology co-edited by one of my favorite crime writers, Carl Hiaasen.
September 11, 2010
Really bad short stories. Well, to be fair, not all of them. But most of them. Whew.
December 27, 2011
I didn't care for the story selection. There had to be better ones out there for 2007.
December 7, 2012
Some very dark pieces in here, including a couple that were sadly unreadable to me. An entirely masculine feel to this collection--which makes sense, considering the editor who selected them.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews