The look of Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg’s annual anthology may have changed a bit — except for the Roy Lichtenstein-esque cover illustration — but the quality is all there in A PRISONER OF MEMORY AND 24 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES, collecting the finest in that genre’s short-form fiction from 2007.
Michael Connelly gets things off to a great start with “Mulholland Dive,” about an accident reconstruction technologist who, well, I can’t tell you, but its two twists are doozies. Even more masterful is Jeffery Deaver’s “Making Amends,” in which a guy attempts to right past wrongs. How this author manages to pull the proverbial rug out from under me with each story is something I’ll never understand, but I enjoy falling for it every damn time.
The narrator of Lawrence Block’s “A Vision in White” stalks a young tennis pro. It’s a bit staid for someone capable of being so much more clever, yet still awfully readable. Robert S. Levinson provides the collection’s title tale in “A Prisoner of Memory,” which will appeal to lovers of old Hollywood and its studio-driven days, as will Loren D. Estleman’s “The Profane Angel,” for the same reason.
In a special section on online mystery fiction, Sarah Weinman spotlights four entries, and her instincts are sharp. The first is Patricia Abbott’s “A Saving Grace,” in which a man gets involved with an abused married woman; it’s a good story, but I have to take issue with Weinman insisting on starting every paragraph with a string of six periods — there’s simply no reason to do, stylistically or otherwise. Another story here — “Anniversary” by Hilary Davidson — is a little predictable, yet still chilling.
But it can’t match the disturbo factor of “Bereavement,” a sly number from Tom Piccirilli concerning a father seeking to end his hospitalized son’s pain permanently. Of all the stories, it’s likely to stick with you the most, followed closely by the closing “Valentine, July Heat Wave” by Joyce Carol Oates. While it’s the only story here I’d read before, it didn’t fail to unnerve me once more.
Other notable authors making Gorman and Greenberg’s cut are Sandra Scoppettone, Laura Lippman, Jim Fusilli, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini. Unsurprisingly, most of the contents come from ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, one of the few viable outlets for short stories remaining.
One of the pluses in this yearly effort is the inclusion of overview essays. Here, Jon L. Breen looks at “The Mystery in 2007″ among all media, and Edward D. Hoch assembles a list of obituaries. Sadly, Hoch himself is now among the departed, and earns — deserves — a special two-page tribute. I don’t know how I missed the news that he passed away in January, but the landscape of mysteries will be forever lacking. —Rod Lott
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF ED GORMAN:
• THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE AND 19 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES edited by by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
• BLACK RIVER FALLS by Ed Gorman
• DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman
• DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEAD AND OTHER TALES by Ed Gorman
• FOOLS RUSH IN by Ed Gorman
• GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman
• GRAVES’ RETREAT by Ed Gorman
• GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST by Ed Gorman
• INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE edited by Kevin McCarthy and Ed Gorman
• OUT THERE IN THE DARKNESS: THE COLLECTED ED GORMAN – VOLUME ONE by Ed Gorman
• SLEEPING DOGS by Ed Gorman
• THE WIDOW OF SLANE AND SIX MORE OF THE BEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
• WOLF MOON by Ed Gorman
• WOLF WOMAN BAY AND NINE MORE OF THE FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY NOVELLAS OF THE YEAR edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF MARTIN H. GREENBERG:
• THE BEST HORROR STORIES OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edited by Frank D. McSherry, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh
• NIGHTMARES ON ELM STREET: FREDDY KRUGER’S SEVEN SWEETEST DREAMS edited by Martin H. Greenberg
Related posts:
- Wolf Woman Bay and Nine More of the Finest Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year
- The Adventure of the Missing Detective and 19 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories
- The Widow of Slane and Six More of the Best Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year
- Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense
- Sleeping Dogs
