Customer Reviews

Master's Choice Vol. II: Mystery Stories by Today's Top Writers and the Masters who Inspired Them Vol II

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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.

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?

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.