Master's Choice [Hardcover]

Lawrence Block (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 1999

In the spirit of the celebrated "100 Best Book" lists, Master's Choice offers a unique challenge to today's most acclaimed literary masters, award-winners, and New York Times bestselling headliners.

In Master's Choice, Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block asked a wide range of authors to select not only their personal best, but also the one story by a fellow luminary of fiction that stirred their imagination, the story that stimulated, provoked, and entertained them, and most of all, the one, single story that served as an inspiration in shaping their own unique literary worlds. The result is a rich and diverse collection, a stellar showcase of the best of the best. Contributors include, Stephen King, Tony Hillerman, and Joyce Carol Oates.

* The 100 Best Books craze meets the mystery genre
* Authors include many award-winning and bestselling names
* Includes introductory notes from each of the contributors on the stories they have chosen

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Penzler Pick, January 2000: I love short stories, and having read scores of anthologies over the years I rejoice when someone comes up with an especially nifty theme for one. Lawrence Block has managed to do something really cool. He asked some of today's top mystery writers to pick their favorite of their own stories as well as the story they most admire or that most influenced them. Stephen King selected his "The Wedding Gig" and Joyce Carol Oates's "Murder-Two"; Peter Lovesey picked his "The Crime of Miss Oyster Brown" and Donald E. Westlake's hilarious "Too Many Crooks"; Harlan Ellison's choices were his "Tired Old Man" and Jacques Futrelle's classic "The Problem of Cell 13"; and Tony Hillerman, best known for his novels, named his "First Lead Gasser" and Joe Gores's Edgar-winning "Goodbye, Pops."

There is a wide range in this handsome volume, with authors selecting work from the world of pulp fiction (Benjamin Appel), literary fiction (John O'Hara and Stephen Crane), and horror fiction (W.F. Harvey), as well as the more traditional mystery fiction.

It's not too soon to look forward to the next volume in what we hope will become a long-running series. --Otto Penzler

From Booklist

Only one feather was missing from the literary cap of mystery grand master Block: he'd never edited an anthology. To rectify the situation, Block has assembled this anthology, which pairs stories chosen as personal favorites by some of the genre's top crime-fiction writers with a story of their own. Brit Peter Lovesey's sharp wit shines in a story about two eccentric twins. Lovesey picks Donald Westlake's hilarious tale of a bank robbery gone awry as his companion piece. Genre boundaries are stretched a bit with the inclusion of Stephen King, who pairs one of his scary tales with a similarly spooky story by Joyce Carol Oates. The sole woman contributor to the book (a minor but irritating flaw) is Joan Hess, whose eerie story of a woman with a strange addition to her apartment is both shocking and surreal. Hess chooses as her favorite a chilling Halloween tale by Judith Garner. In all, nine principal writers are included, who select the 18 diverse and diverting stories. A well-conceived and entertaining anthology. Emily Melton

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 244 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group; 1st edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425170314
• ISBN-13: 978-0425170311
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,465,874 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great collection, June 6, 2000

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Master's Choice (Hardcover)

I bought this book for my mother, who has a passion for mystery stories. She absolutely loved it, and now I'm reading it myself. The diversity of styles, and the revelation of what top writers consider great writing, make this not only a fun read, but also an informative one for the aspiring writer. I whole-heartedly recommend it.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good effort, July 21, 2002

By 

Angel L. Soto (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Master's Choice Vol. II: Mystery Stories by Today's Top Writers and the Masters who Inspired Them Vol II (Paperback)

Block has created an interesting concept in this new anthology series. He contacted several mystery writers asking for what they considered to be their best story as well as the best story they have ever read. The response was overwhelming and the editor collected some of them in this book...

In the first volume of this anthology the adage `less is more' can be applied to the best stories in the collection. Some of the best include Ed Gorman's EN FAMILLE and Joan Hess's ANOTHER ROOM. Ms. Hess's choice for best short story is Judith Garner's TRICK OR TREAT. It is about four pages long and one of the scariest stories ever written. It is not because of what happens in the story but what may happen. A sample of good writing is when the author forces the reader to use their imagination in order to create their own ending. There can be different interpretations but each one is precious. The imagination is a powerful weapon. The least favorite story in this book is Harlan Ellison's TIRED OLD MAN. The problem with this story is that Ellison describes the incident that inspired his story creating a carbon copy with fictional characters. Who wants to read a story twice?

3.0 out of 5 stars A Mixed Bag, May 16, 2001

By 

Old Fisherman "Jim" (Orange, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Master's Choice (Hardcover)

The title pretty much tells the whole premise behind this book. Mystery stories by today's writers and the stories that inspired them. Like most short story collections some are very good, some not so great. "The Wedding Gig" by Stephen King is interesting, "Murder Two" by Joyce Carol Oates not so interesting. A few, like Harlan Ellison's "Tired Old Man" and Benjamin Appel's "Murder of the Frankfurter Man" are thought provoking. As I said, a mixed bag. On the whole I think the good ones outweigh the not-so-good so if you like short fiction you could do worse than this book.