The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries [Paperback]

Mike Ashley (Author, Editor)

Book Description

Series: Mammoth Book of | Publication Date: December 18, 2006

From the likes of Robert Randisi, Peter Crowther, and Max Rittenberg, these 30 stories of bizarre and impossible crimes will fascinate and intrigue the reader who grapples with their intricate puzzles. A man alone in an all-glass phone booth, visible on CCTV and with no one near him, is killed by an ice pick. A man sitting alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired only once—over 200 years ago. A man enters a cable-car alone, and is visible for the entire journey, only to be found dead when he reaches the bottom. A man receives mail in response to letters apparently written by him — after his death. The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries is a stunning collection of brand new and previously unpublished stories, as well as many stories from rare mystery journals appearing for the first time in book form.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'There's almost too much entertainment value in these tales assembled by veteran editor and mystery scholar Mike Ashley. Ration them, and you'll only savour them more.' Amazon Editorial review" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Mike Ashley is editor of The Mammoth Book of Locked Room Mysteries, and several volumes of The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, as well as numerous other crime anthologies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Running Press (December 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718935
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718931
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #291,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining Collection of How-They-Dun-It Murder Mysteries!, October 17, 2007

By 

Michael OConnor "Wordsmith" (Wausau, WI USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (Paperback)

Publishers Carroll & Graf and its crack editor Mike Ashley serve up another wonderful collection of murder mysteries. In this case the stories collected are of a kind, seemingly impossible murders that defy explanation. As always, Ashley's instincts are impeccable with nary a clunker found in the 30 stories therein.

The stories in this anthology span the years from 1910(!)to 2006 with authors ranging from Peter Crowther to Edward D. Hoch, Robert Randisi, Richard Lupoff, Peter Tremayne and Bill Pronzini. Among the 'perfect crimes' are the following: a man seemingly alone in an all-glass phone booth who dies from an ice pick in the back; a lion tamer found strangled in a locked train car; a man wounded, while sitting alone in a room, by a bullet fired 200 years ago; an Indian rope trick performer who vanishes at the end of the trick only to be found dead in a nearby lake; three Denver women found murdered, their bodies seemingly untouched yet with their internal organs removed; a dead man who continues to receive mail in response to letters apparently written by him after he died; and so on.

My favorite tale in this volume is Bill Pronzini's "Proof of Guilt." Pronzini's clever, clever story concerns the murder of an attorney. A client who was with the attorney when he was murdered claims he's innocent and the police are stymied. The story has such a marvelous - and funny - denouement that it automatically earned the book a five-star rating!

In any case, if you're an armchair detective, you'll want to pick up this book. It's a wonderfully entertaining collection of stories!

***
I'd suggest you keep this book by your bed or favorite chair and sample the contents rather than reading it straight through - better to savor each unique, imaginative tale a story at a time.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Locked rooms, impossible crimes, and perfect murders, September 22, 2008

By 

Chris Well (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (Paperback)

Editor Mike Ashley has assembled more than 500 pages' worth of short mystery fiction focusing on locked room murders, impossible crimes, and even perfect murders -- ranging from one story originally published as early as 1910 to several that were previously unpublished when the book came out in 2007. Included are 30 audacious murder scenarios: A man alone in a phone booth is somehow stabbed in the back with an icepick; a man alone in a room is shot by a bullet fired over 200 years ago; a man enters a cable-car alone and is dead when it reaches the bottom; a man receives mail in response to letters apparently written by him--after his death; a lion tamer is found strangled in a locked train car; an Indian rope trick performer vanishes at the end of the trick only to be found dead in a nearby lake; three women are found murdered, their bodies seemingly untouched yet with their internal organs removed.

Sometimes the reader knows the killer, watching to see whether he can beat the investigators; sometimes the story is a whodunit, where everyone is a suspect; and sometimes the crime is such a head-scratcher that one can only turn the pages hoping to figure out what in the world happened. Along the way, the editor calls on such familiar authors as Edward D. Hoch, Bill Pronzini, and J.A. Konrath, while also digging up a healthy assortment of lost classics. (Ashley avoids any examples from John Dickson Carr and G.K. Chesterton, two masters of the form, because those authors' stories are often so readily available.)

Some of the stories are great, some are okay, and one or two make you slap your forehead in amazement. Overall, a fine collection for any fan of puzzle mysteries.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great read!, July 20, 2008

By 

Jennifer R. Ewing (The Woodlands, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Perfect Crimes and Impossible Mysteries (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book. One of the hazards of short story collections, particularly if you read as voraciously as I do, is that you end up getting a "new" collection full of lots of stories you've read before. I got a great deal of pleasure from this book because, while I recognized many of the authors, all of the stories were new to me. The authors came up with some very clever twists on the "locked room" theme--I highly recommend this book!