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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
MOST "WINNERS" ARE VERY GOOD--BUT NOT ALL,
By
This review is from: The Edgar Winners: 33rd Annual Anthology of the Mystery Writers of America (Hardcover)
This anthology contains two dozen short stories by writers who were awarded an "Edgar" for excellence by the Mystery Writers of America between 1948 and 1978--in most cases (a) for their individual stories, but in a few instances either (b) for a book of short stories or (c) for their total body of work up to that time. In the cases where (b) and (c) pertain, Bill Pronzini, the editor, selected one of their stories to include.
In order, the 24 stories are (1) "The Adventure of the Mad Tea Party" by Ellery Queen; (2) "After-Dinner Story" by William Irish (pen name of Cornell Woolrich); (3) "Catfish Story" by Lawrence G. Blochman; (4) "Love Lies Bleeding" by Philip MacDonald; (5) "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl; (6) "The House Party" by Stanley Ellin; (7) "The Blessington Method" by Stanley Ellin; (8) "Over There--Darkness" by William O'Farrell; (9) "The Landlady" by Roald Dahl; (10) "The Sailing Club" by David Ely; (11) "This Will Kill You" by Patrick Quentin (pen name of Richard Wilson Webb and Hugh Callaghan Wheeler); (12) "H as in Homicide" by Lawrence Treat; (13) "The Chosen One" by Rhys Davies; (14) "The Oblong Room" by Edward D. Hoch; (15) "The Man Who Fooled the World" by Warner Law; (16) "Goodbye, Pops" by Joe Gores; (17) "In the Forests of Riga the Beasts Are Very Wild Indeed" by Margery Finn Brown; (18) "Moonlight Gardener" by Robert L. Fish; (19) "The Purple Shroud" by Joyce Harrington; (20) "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" by Harlan Ellison; (21) "The Jail" by Jesse Hill Ford; (22) "Like a Terrible Scream" by Etta Revesz; (23) "Chance After Chance" by Thomas Walsh; and (24) "The Cloud Benath the Eaves" by Barbara Owens. There are, I believe, eight different kinds of stories here. The most numerous (12) are "Premise Stories" that are a bit like the game of "Guess what I'm holding in my closed hand"--their premises are usually something unusual if not impossible (for instance, WHAT IF--a killer can get police to destroy the murder weapon? or WHAT IF--a man doesn't know he is dead?), and their "secret" is disclosed at the end. Related to these are Premise Stories that end (a) with the punishment of a character or (b) with a character's pitiful misfortune (one of each). Four more stories are basically Fair Play Puzzle Stories, where readers get to match wits with the detectives and authors; three stories are "Realistic" Stories that present characters' pitiful misfortunes; two are "Realistic" Stories that (a) show a character undergoing a change in personality for the better or (b) reveal WHAT a character's true personality is (one of each); and one story appears to be a "Tour de force" that showcases the awesome writing abilities of the author at the expense of the story itself. In my judgment, the six best stories are by Margery Finn Brown (whose story contains no crime or detection), Thomas Walsh (who wrote about a alcoholic ex-priest), Warner Law (who whimsically included himself and his family within the story), Robert Fish (who gives readers a chance to solve a mystery that stumps the police), Rhys Davies (whose story presents a Welsh factory worker with a housing problem), and Joyce Harrington (whose story goes a step farther than most readers could guess). The three weakest stories are by Barbara Owens and Roald Dahl (whose endings to "The Cloud Beneath the Eaves" and "The Landlady" are far too easy to guess) and David Ely (whose ending to "The Sailing Club" comes as a fizzling letdown). Overall, I would give THE EDGAR WINNERS (1980) a solid "B+" grade.
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