The Best American Mystery Stories 2007

✍ Scribed by Carl Hiaasen (editor), Otto Penzler (editor)

• Book ID: 111881334
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 306 KB
• Category: Fiction
• ISBN-13: 9780618812639

✦ Synopsis

The 11th volume in this consistently high-quality series features such household names as Joyce Carol Oates and Lawrence Block, but for the most part it’s the lesser lights who shine brightest with superb short crime stories that evoke human passions and bring characters to life with a few well-chosen phrases or images. As series editor Otto Penzler again cautions in his foreword, few of the stories revolve on “whodunit,” the “why” having become more important in contemporary crime fiction. One of the best of the 20 selections is Chris Adrian’s “Stab,” a chilling tale of childish cruelty, as witnessed by an autistic child. Block himself weighs in with the masterful “Keller’s Double Dribble,” a story of double crosses, white-collar crime and basketball. Another standout is Brent Spencer’s “The True History,” a gripping account of brutality and revenge set during the Texas War of Independence. Cozy and Agatha Christie fans won’t find much to suit their particular tastes, but lovers of good writing should be delighted.

Includes the following 20 stories:

CHRIS ADRIAN—Stab

ROBERT ANDREWS—Solomon’s Alley

PETER BLAUNER—Going, Going, Gone

LAWRENCE BLOCK—Keller’s Double Dribble

JOHN BOND—T-Bird

JAMES LEE BURKE—A Season of Regret

JOHN DUFRESNE—The Timing of Unfelt Smiles

LOUISE ERDRICH—Gleason

JIM FUSILLI—Chellini’s Solution

WILLIAM GAY—Where Will You Go When Your Skin Cannot Contain You?

ROBERT KNIGHTLY—Take the Man’s Pay

LAURA LIPPMAN—One True Love

DAVID MEANS—The Spot

KENT MEYERS—Rodney Valen’s Second Life

JOYCE CAROL OATES—Meadowlands

JASON OCKERT—Jakob Loomis

RIDLEY PEARSON—Queeny

JOHN SANDFORD—Lucy Had a List

BRENT SPENCER—The True History

SCOTT WOLVEN—Pinwheel