The Deadly Bride and 21 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Volume II (Year's Finest Crime & Mystery Stories) [Paperback]

Ed Gorman (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Year's Finest Crime & Mystery Stories | Publication Date: December 13, 2006

The annual that has included the likes of Joyce Carol Oates and Max Allan Collins is back with another array of traditional mysteries and tales of crime and suspense from its usual roster of luminaries. Besides presenting twenty of the year's finest crime and mystery stories, from Sharan Newman and James W. Hall to Anne Perry and Jeffery Deaver, The Deadly Bride is also the only annual to feature a roundup of the year in mystery. This invaluable overview includes everything the true fan needs to know about the year in crime and mystery, from a comprehensive list of award-winners and essays on the state of the art to obituaries and an annotated bibiliography of the year's releases.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Covering both 2005 and 2006, the latest "finest" anthology from Gorman and Greenberg (after 2005's The Adventure of the Missing Detective) gathers 22 largely mainstream crime and mystery stories. In addition, Jon Breen presents a useful roundup of significant publications and awards; Edward D. Hoch's necrology reminds us of the loss of many fine authors in the past two years; and Sarah Weinman continues to track developments in online publishing. Highlights include Wendy Hornsby's "Dust Up," about a bike-riding birdwatcher who takes on a car full of robbers; Simon Brett's "Cain Was Innocent," a humorous take on man's first murder; and Jeremiah Healy's "A Matter of Honor," in which John Francis Cuddy gets a lesson from a Finnish beauty. Other notable contributions to this entertaining compendium come from James W. Hall, J.A. Jance, Anne Perry and Jeffery Deaver. (Jan.)
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From Booklist

This collection lives up to its billing as the year's finest crime and mystery stories (22 of them, to be exact). With stories ranging from the macabre to the merrily murderous, there's something here to please all fans of mystery short fiction. There are no weak links here, but Jefferey Deaver's "Born Bad," which features a right-angle twist near the end, stands out as particularly memorable, and Sharan Newman's "Deadly Bride," which lends the book its title, is a snappy historical mystery that reminds us what that subgenre is all about. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 560 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; annotated edition edition (December 13, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786719176
• ISBN-13: 978-0786719174
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #897,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ed Gorman is an award winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is now a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann.

He has written under many pseudonyms including "E. J. Gorman" and "Daniel Ransom." He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001.

He has contributed to many magazines and other publications including Xero, Black Lizard, Cemetery Dance, the anthology Tales of Zorro, and many more.

Visit his blog at newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars On target . . ., November 4, 2007

By 

kellytwo "kellytwo" (cleveland hts, ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Deadly Bride and 21 of the Year's Finest Crime and Mystery Stories: Volume II (Year's Finest Crime & Mystery Stories) (Paperback)

What a dandy idea! Not only 22 mostly fabulous short stories, but also an update on the state of the art in mystery publishing, both in books and on-line, plus other lists sure to be fascinating reading to devotées of mysterious fiction.

Two of the best known in the industry-Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenburg compiled this good-sized volume - some 553 pages, all told. When I say `mostly fabulous' it's because my personal preference doesn't go to horror and super-noir as a couple of these do, so I didn't read them. The ones I did read, however, were fabulous, so I'm presuming the others are of the same high quality.

I must admit Simon Brett gets my top prize for his "Cain was Innocent" which nearly had me rolling on the floor, laughing. Anne Perry always delivers, and her incredible "Lost Causes" is no exception. I also greatly enjoyed Robert Levinson's "Chapter 82: Myrna Lloyd is Missing," and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Jury Duty." Each of these stories is vastly different from any of the others, yet they all have one thing in common: they're well-written with excellent characterization and an intriguing plot.

One of the things I really like about collections such as this one is the opportunity to find new authors, of whom I'd not previously heard, but who have now moved to the top of my want list. If I find even one in a collection, I'm pleased. This one, however, presented me with several. I'll have excellent reading prospects until the next such collection. Or, I can go backwards to the first in this set - "The Missing Detective". How did I miss that one?