I really enjoyed Loren D. Estleman’s “A Hatful of Ralph,” where Ralph Poteet, a private eye with plenty of problems, is reduced to playing Santa in a department store where he’s supposed to find out who is stealing plenty of items. Of course, on top of the thefts, there’s a murder to spice things up.
I also liked Michael Collins and Gayle Lynds’ “A Delicate Mission” where two spies need to find a diary with sensitive information. The mission runs into trouble that changes the entire outcome.
John Lutz gives a whole new meaning to Hopper’s Nighthawks with his haunting story of the same name.
Flesh & Blood: Guilty as Sin (2003), is as Max Allan Collins says on the cover, “This is the stuff of Literary Viagra.” GRADE: B
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION: Sinful Streets by Max Allan Collins and Jeff Gelb —xi
Low Tide / Dick Lochte — 1
Back o’ town blues / David Fulmer — 26
Dalliance at Sunnydale / Barbara Collins — 36
The Iberville mistress / O’Neil de Noux — 52
Service / Gary Lovisi — 72
The last reel / Gary R. Bush — 88
A delicate mission / Michael Collins, Gayle Lynds — 110
Perfection / Jeff Gelb — 127
Walking to Paris / Rex Miller — 136
Feel the pain / Michael Bracken — 141
Sex crimes / Michael Garrett — 160
Money-back guarantee / Marthayn Pelegrimas, Robert J. Randisi — 166
A hatful of Ralph / Loren D. Estleman — 182
Bank job / Thomas S. Roche — 199
The Windsor ballet / Deborah Morgan — 214
Good career moves / Robert S. Levinson — 236
Dicks are blind / James L. Traylor — 157
Lie beside me / Max Allan Collins, Matthew V. Clemens — 270
Mirror, mirror / Catherine Dain — 285
A Dick and Jane story / Jack Kelly — 294
The raiders / Gary Phillips — 303
The daffodil / Annette Meyers, Martin Meyers — 318
Nighthawks / John Lutz — 339
Contributors — 355
I remember enjoying this book when it first came out (almost a quarter of a century ago. (Could have been that long ago? How time passes.) A lot of top-flight authors from back then; one name brought back memories — Rex Miller. I used to devour his novels about the mindless psychotic killer Chaingang, but* have not thought of him for years. Some of the other authors I remember enjoying back in the day were Catherine Dain and “Maan Meyers” (Martin & Annette Meyer). Anthologies from Max Allan Collins and Jeff Gelb (by themselves or in tandem) were always interesting.
Jerry, many of the contemporary mystery and SF anthologies lack the Big Names that these anthologies from decades ago featured.
It is getting to be Oh, was that one Only a Quarter-Century Ago?, when I started reading a lot of new short fiction aimed at adult audiences a half-century ago…Novels less readily, but them as well.
Erotica/erotica+ anthologies seem to me as thinner on the ground these years, but so is my seeking such out.
I know I’ve read the Lutz and Estleman stories. Not sure about the others.
Jeff, FLESH AND BLODD: GUILTY AS SIN is the third volume in the FLESH AND BLOOD series. Flesh & Blood: Erotic Tales of Crime and Passion and Flesh & Blood: Dark Desires were the first two volumes.