We have the unstoppable CSI franchise to thank for the anthology AT THE SCENE OF THE CRIME: FORENSIC MYSTERIES FROM TODAY’S BEST WRITERS. Editor Dana Stabenow notes in her introduction that the idea for the book was generated as a direct result of the series’ popularity, so it’s no surprise most of these 13 tales play like mini-episodes. Heck, in some, you can even pinpoint the part where David Caruso would ever-so-smugly slide on his shades.
So begin the procedurals. Referencing CSI on its second page, old pro Loren D. Estleman starts things off with “Smart Aleck,” in which a police sergeant working his last case before retirement pursues a theory that whether a young woman found hanging in her apartment is a result of murder or suicide depends upon whether she’s left- or right-handed.
No stranger to CSI tie-ins, Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens reteam for “The High Life: A Heartland Homicide Story,” concerning a double murder on the penthouse floor of a high-priced high rise in Des Moines, Iowa. I have no idea if, judging by the subtitle, the authors intend to turn the investigating characters into a series of stories, but it’d be fine by me if they did. Although the mystery is nothing special, it entertains and works.
John Lutz details the death-by-knife of a former major-league baseball catcher turned diamond businessman while jogging in the park in “Mitt’s Murder,” which turns out to be one of the more clever pieces in the collection. So is “The Retired Arsonist,” by the late, great Edward D. Hoch, in which the title character is pulled out of his golden-years activities to help find out who set the blaze that took a firefighter’s life. (And where there’s smoke, there’s fire, as the two stories following it — by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Michael A. Black — also involve burning things.)
The one who transcends the book’s concept is N.J. Ayres. With “Rust,” she takes it and flies away, turning in AT THE SCENE’s single greatest piece. Instead of following the template of a team seeking and uncovering clues to solve a crime, it gets in the head of a cop whose troop is reeling from the apparent murder of one of their own. The corpse happened to be the unit’s sole female officer … who was having an affair with the very married commander. Ayres’ plot has surprises, but it’s the way she tells the story that gets under your skin. —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Killer Year: Stories to Die for … from the Hottest New Crime Writers
- From Crime to Crime: Mind-Boggling Tales of Mystery and Murder
- The Shadow: Crime, Insured / The Golden Vulture
- Murder in Vegas: New Crime Tales of Gambling and Desperation
- Dead Man’s Hand: Crime Fiction at the Poker Table
