Customer Reviews

100 Malicious Little Mysteries

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For the most part, these stories do not fit my definition of "mystery." With the exception of one very neat little Sherlock Holmes pastiche, there usually are no detectives and no whodunnits. The stories feature tales of crime, intrigue, and suspense with surprising plot twists. And the literary genres are as varied as the authors. Some of the stories would even be at home in fantasy and science fiction anthologies.

These short-short stories can give you a few morsels of entertainment at odd moments of leisure in a hectic day's work, or you can curl up in your armchair and bite off huge chunks of reading pleasure in the evenings.

In my monthly Mystery Newsletter, I recommended, 100 Malicious Little Mysteries. Here you'll find, "...charmingly insidious, satisfyingly devious little mysteries. Each story has its own particular appeal-that unexpected twist, a delectable puzzle, a devastating revelation. There are stories by some of the most well-known writers in the field including Michael Gilbert, Edward Wellen and Bill Pronzini."
This is quite an enjoyable book. Of course, there are some stories that appeal more than others, but overall, it's a fun read. There is also an added plus; each mystery is short and easy to read before closing your eyes. A doctor of the macabre might say, "Take one little mystery before bedtime and call me in the morning."
Gerard Bianco author of the mystery novel, Dying For Deception
www.dyingfordeception.com

Each of the short mystery stories has a nicely surprising ending. Very entertaining. I found that the best stories were placed before lesser ones; in general they are included in roughly descending order (as to perceived quality).

I recognized a few of the authors in this collection from the MysteryNet com, but most were unknown to me. So I was surprised to find only five out of the one hundred short stories didn't measure up. The rest were excellent. All and all a wonderful collection. Now I have "100 Crooked Little Crimes" to look forward to

If you're looking for a good book to pass time, pick this one up. My favorite story is "A Feline Felony" by Lael J. Littke. Jerome Kotter was a cat. He walked, talked, and acted like a human though. He grew up living a pretty happy, normal life except for one guy, Benny Rhoades, who made Jerome's life miserable. Jerome survives school and gets a nice job with a nice secretary. He fogets about Benny. One day Benny shows up and he has gotten a job in the mail room. Jerome can't believe it. Latter that week, Jerome and his secretary, Marie, were settled down for a pleasant evening when Benny burst in. He had a gun! Jerome didn't think, he leaped into the air, Benny . . . you'll have to read the story to find out what happens.

I loved this book. If you need to pass some time, and don't want to get involved in a lengthy novel, try this out. Perhaps I should not have said "Horror and Humor" but some of these stories made me chuckle. I love them, and would recommend them and other 100.... collections.