The Adventure of the Missing Detective and 19 of the Year’s Finest Crime and Mystery Stories
Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. It was the comic-esque art and coloring that drew my eye to THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE AND 19 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES. Lucky for me, the words within held my attention just as much and then some. Edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, the volume showcases the best of 2004, about half of them pulled from the pages of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and even a few from online fiction sites.
The collection takes its title from the first story, by Gary Lovisi, an amusing Sherlock Holmes story set immediately after his near-death experience at Reichenbach Falls, temporarily transferred into a bizarro world that’s the flipside of his own. This is followed by Jeffery Deaver’s “The Westphalian Ring,” about a thieving antiques shopkeeper who steals – and then attempts to conceal – a valuable piece of jewelry. Any new short story from Deaver is a cause for celebration, but as clever as the turn of events are, I was more surprised by the late-in-the-game cameo from one of literature’s all-time greats.
The impossibly prolific Joyce Carol Oates’ “The Banshee” isn’t quite up to her usual excellence, but remains pretty good nonetheless, succeeding in raising my blood pressure by putting young children in peril. My favorite was Duane Swierczynski’s “The Last Case of Hilly Palmer,” in which a fledging journalist tries to interview one of his town’s last gumshoes, who’s somewhat of a crusty old bastard. As funny as it is, the powerful ending is anything but. Of the 19 stories, only two failed to engage me, making for an excellent track record.
This collection doubles as a yearbook of sorts, with Jon L. Breen and Edward D. Hoch providing two separate but similar overviews of the year in crime fiction, complete with numerous awards lists, while Maxim Jakubowski weighs in with a short essay on the state of the mystery in Great Britain and Sarah Weinman discusses the emergence of blogs as a marketing tool for mystery writers. But it’s the stories – those of gay priests, hired guns, college girls and Japanese nerve-gas terrorists, even a quasi-Western and magic-laden fantasy – that will stick with you, hopefully holding you over until the next year’s edition.
UPDATE: The biggest mystery of all is how the book made it onto shelves with the misspelled word “MISSSING” emblazoned on its spine. Credit for eagle-eyeing that one goes to my wife.
Buy it at Amazon.
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR: • 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 • GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman • DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • 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 • DEAL BREAKER by Harlan Coben • 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 • GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman • GRAVES’ RETREAT by Ed Gorman • GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST by Ed Gorman • MURDER AT THE FOUL LINE edited by Otto Penzler • MURDER IN THE ROUGH edited by Otto Penzler MYSTERY WRITERS OF AMERICA PRESENTS DEATH DO US PART: NEW STORIES ABOUT LOVE, LUST, AND MURDER edited by Harlan Coben • WOLF MOON by Ed Gorman [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • 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 • 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 • 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 • WOLF MOON by Ed Gorman [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • THE ADVENTURE OF THE MISSING DETECTIVE AND 19 OF THE YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES edited by Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg • THE BEST HORROR STORIES OF ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE edited by Frank D. McSherry, Martin H. Greenberg and Charles G. Waugh • THE BURNING by Bentley Little • FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli • GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Bill Pronzini [...]
[...] The novellas, averaging around 45 pages each, were collected from ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE (three), ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE (one), WILD CRIMES (one) and the theme anthology DEATH BY DICKENS (two). All are copyrighted 2004 and my guess is that they were finalists for Gorman’s YEAR’S FINEST CRIME AND MYSTERY STORIES, but were just too long. Our thanks to him for not allowing them to fall through the cracks. [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • 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 • DARK DELICACIES edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb • 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 • FLIGHTS: EXTREME VISIONS OF FANTASY edited by Al Sarrantonio • FOUR DARK NIGHTS by Bentley Little, Douglas Clegg, Christopher Golden and Tom Piccirilli • GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman • GRAVES’ RETREAT by Ed Gorman • GUNSLINGER AND NINE OTHER ACTION-PACKED STORIES OF THE WILD WEST by Ed Gorman • HALLOWS EVE by Al Sarrantonio • HORRORWEEN by Al Sarrantonio • INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS: A TRIBUTE edited by Kevin McCarthy and Ed Gorman • THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum • KEEPERS by Gary A. Braunbeck • LADIES’ NIGHT by Jack Ketchum • LIVE GIRLS by Ray Garton • THE LOVELIEST DEAD by Ray Garton • 999: TWENTY-NINE ORIGINAL TALES OF HORROR AND SUPSENSE edited by Al Sarrantonio • OFF SEASON by Jack Ketchum • 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 [...]
[...] OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THESE AUTHORS: • 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 • THE BURGLAR WHO THOUGHT HE WAS BOGART by Lawrence Block • BUST by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr • CREEPERS by David Morrell • CROOKED by Brian M. Wiprud • DEAN KOONTZ’S FRANKENSTEIN: BOOK TWO – CITY OF NIGHT by Dean Koontz and Ed Gorman • DICK TRACY by Max Allan Collins • DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEAD AND OTHER TALES by Ed Gorman • FROZEN by Jay Bonansinga • GHOST TOWN by Ed Gorman • THE GIRL WITH THE LONG GREEN HEART by Lawrence Block • 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 • THE LAST QUARRY by Max Allan Collins • LUCKY AT CARDS by Lawrence Block • MY LOLITA COMPLEX AND OTHER TALES OF SEX AND VIOLENCE by Max Allan Collins and Matthew V. Clemens • QUARRY’S LIST by Max Allan Collins • ROAD TO PARADISE by Max Allan Collins • SHOTGUN OPERA by Victor Gischler • SLEEP WITH THE FISHES by Brian M. Wiprud • TWISTED by Jay Bonansinga • THE WAR OF THE WORLDS MURDER by Max Allan Collins • 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 [...]
[...] BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR: • 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 [...]
[...] 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 [...]