BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF 2000 by Donald E. Westlake (Editor) - SIGNED FIRST EDITION BOOK
After just three years, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES has made its
name as the foremost mystery anthology, earning raves from such diverse
sources as Joyce Carol Oates and Entertainment Weekly. Now grand master
Donald E. Westlake and series editor Otto Penzler continue the series' impressive tradition with an
audio edition featuring a sampling of the year's premier stories of
suspense.
Guest editor Westlake has done an outstanding job selecting 20 stories
published in 1999 for this stellar anthology, now in its fourth year,
which should continue to garner big sales. In his introduction he
wonders at the form's durability. The financial rewards are small, and
these days short stories won't make a literary reputation. Why then do
its practitioners persist? As with jazz, that other great American
contribution to world art, they engage in it "primarily for the love of
doing it," asserts Westlake.
In contrast to the novel, where
digressions and red herrings are the norm, unity of effect is all, as
exemplified by the inventor of the detective story, Edgar Allan
Poe--and by the contemporary writers represented in this volume. The
names here range from the late Shel Silverstein, bestselling children's
book author, whose rollicking tale, "The Guilty Party," stands as a
fitting swan song for this versatile talent, to Thomas H. McNeely,
whose quietly chilling psychological study, "Sheep," is his first
published work of fiction. Robert Girardi's novella, "The
Defenestration of Aba Sid," works both as a tale of comic absurdity and
as an anti-Grisham lawyer story.
In a foreword, series editor Otto
Penzler comments on how mysteries have evolved in both style and
content. Over the life of the genre, stories have become more complex,
more textured. When Penzler says "be prepared for the unexpected, and
be ready for some of the best prose being written today," he's not
overstating the case.
