Description

BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY 2004.

Edited by Otto Penzler and Nelson DeMille.

Featuring Stephen Kings “Harveys Dream”

Publisher Annotation: Now in its eighth year, this perennially popular anthology holds something for every reader. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, this series can be counted on to showcase the best of mainstream mystery and crime fiction (Booklist). Stephen King blurs the line between reality and dream. Joyce Carol Oates follows a young girl who preys on her sexual predators. Jeff Abbott enters the high-stakes world of Las Vegas and the trap of a beautiful redhead. Scott Wolven brings boxing and murder to a small town in Vermont. Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, Out of the 20 stories from veteran bestsellers such as Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates, as well as promising newcomers, only one—William J. Carroll Jr.s Height Advantage is a whodunit. The standout is Christopher Coakes All Through the House, a chilling, multilayered account of a family massacre whose shifting perspectives, flashbacks and flash-forwards create a moving, painful and haunting effect that lingers long after the last page. Sherlockians will be amused and intrigued by Richard Lupoffs clever pastiche of Edgar Allan Poes C. Auguste Dupin, The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier, which features a young Holmes calling on his literary ancestor to track down a certain legendary jeweled black bird. Jeffrey Robert Bowmans Stonewalls, with its alternative explanation of the cause of Gen. Stonewall Jacksons death from friendly fire, will appeal to Civil War buffs with its gritty and compelling perspective on the barbarities of war. Fans of suspenseful and psychologically rich tales of con men and low-level crooks will enjoy this volume; devotees of Agatha Christie and other authors in the classic mystery tradition should seek satisfaction elsewhere. -- Publishers Weekly, 2004.

 2004 Houghton Mifflin trade paperback. New  New.