There was a time that I would automatically buy Year’s Best anthologies as they were published: Year’s Best SF, Year’s Best Mysteries, Year’s Best Fantasy, Year’s Best Horror. But about 10 years ago, I stopped.
After over 50 years, I found the Year’s Best anthologies now contained stories I was not engaged with. And the writers I knew and respected were replaced by new names and writers whose talents didn’t connect with me.
The bright side of this situation is that I have many Year’s Best anthologies on my shelves that I bought long ago…and never got around to reading. The Best American Mystery Stories: 2001 is one of these books.
The most graphic story in The Best American Mystery Stories: 2001, not surprisingly, is Joyce Carol Oates’ “The Girl with the Blackened Eye.” The abuse is stomach-churning. T. Jefferson Parker’s “Easy Street” concerns bank robberies. I liked Bill Pronzini’s “The Big Bite” with a private investigator involved in a blackmail scheme.
For those who like historical mysteries, Peter Robinson’s “Missing in Action”–set at the beginning of World War II in England–focuses on a missing young boy whose father was aboard the fleet carrier Courageous which was sunk by a German U-boat off the southwest coast of Iceland. Over 500 men had been lost include the missing boy’s father.
Lawrence Block and Otto Penzler did a nice job with this anthology. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword by Otto Penzler — ix
Introduction by Lawrence Block • xiii
Jennifer Anderson “Things That Make Your Heart Beat Faster” • 1
Russell Banks “Lobster Night” • 25
Michael Downs “Prison Food” • 43
Leslie Edgerton In the Zone • 61
William Gay “The Paperhanger” • 75
Jeremiah Healy “A Book of Kells “• 91
Steve Hockensmith “Erie’s Last Day” • 111
Clark Howard “Under Suspicion” • 133
Michael Hyde “Her Hollywood” • 157
Dan Leone “Family” • 169
Thomas Lynch “Blood Sport” • 182
David Means “Carnie” • 193
Kent Nelson “Tides” • 202
Joyce Carol Oates “The Girl with the Blackened Eye” • 228
T. Jefferson Parker “Easy Street” • 239
Bill Pronzini “The Big Bite” • 271
Peter Robinson “Missing in Action” • 285
Roxana Robinson “The Face-Lift” • 305
John Salter “Big Ranch” • 318
Nathan Walpow “Push Comes to Shove” • 327
Contributors’ Notes • 337
Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2000 • 347
Looks like a fine volume, with a likely interplay between Block and Penzler choices. I’m surprised I didn’t pick it up when it was new (I don’t think I did, anyway), but that was the shank of my 60-hour workweeks back when.
Todd, in his fine INTRODUCTION, Lawrence Block says that many writers have abandoned the short story because it just doesn’t pay enough–and this was back in 2001! You can imagine what the Market for short fiction is today…
Penzler (who does the initial selection for these volumes, with the guest editor choosing the final contents from his list) has a very broad definition of mystery, thus a number of the authors are unfamiliar to the casual fan, and the sources range far from the usual suspects. It still makes for a good anthology, but can be just a bit off-putting for those who expect typical crime and detection.
Indeed, all the BEST AMERICANs had something like 50-story longlists from the series editors, detailed in the back pages, and the guest editor choosing 20-25 stories from the long-list.
Todd, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES series cast a wide net for good stories.
Likewise BASS, and all the BEST AMERICAN offshoots. (The now-vanished BEST AMERICAN RECIPES might’ve been an exception)
https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/bestamericanseries
Todd, thanks for the link!
Jerry, good point. The stories in THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES series come from a lot of sources. And unfamiliar authors abound!
THE NEW YORKER’s stories were less pleasing to me over the years.
Patti, same here. I was a subscriber to THE NEW YORKER for years. But, eventually I dropped my subscription because the fiction didn’t appeal to me. I still occasionally will read an article when I’m at the Library. And, I still like their reviews of books and movies.
Nice set of authors. Clark Howard is another favorite. I heard him speak at a Bouchercon once.
I just looked at his books on Amazon, and found that I bought his Collected Short Stories- 1960s almost exactly 13 years ago. I have no memory of this! According to my At-a-Glance 2013, I finished it on May 30. I bet I could reread it now.
Jeff, I have that Clark Howard book around here somewhere, too. I wonder where…
I had to dig into my Kindle list to find it.
Jeff, I’ll have search the deep dark corners of my basement. That Clark Howard book has been buried for years!