Customer Reviews

Murder at the Racetrack: Original Tales of Mystery and Mayhem Down the Final Stretch from Today's Great Writers

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The title is a bit misleading in that not all of the stories are set at the racetrack and not all of the stories deal with murder. For instance, "The Hustle" by Pat Jordan is about a senior citizen conman who pulls one too many hustles. However, it's still one of the best stories in the anthology. I was really impressed since I was familiar with Jordan's FALSE SPRING about a baseball pitcher's travails in the minor leagues and hadn't thought of him as a fiction writer.

I'm addicted to the nags, but my real reason for reading this anthology was my good luck in finding new writers via the short story collection route (See TRANSGRESSIONS ed. Ed McBain). Otto Penzler, the editor, also snagged Joyce Carol Oates as a contributor. I've always felt she was a better short story writer than a novelist, and "Meadowlands" seems to prove my contention. Lawrence Block also contributed one of his Keller yarns. Keller has a contract on one of the jockeys if a certain horse doesn't win.

Despite the inclusion of these two heavyweights, the most impressive of these authors may be Ken Bruen whose "Return of the Thin White Dude...Screaming" enticed me to purchase one of his novels. He's an Irish writer writing about New York, and the thin white dude is David Bowie. Penzler describes his work as "among the darkest in the history of crime fiction." I love noir so I'm game.

I also invested in Michele Martinez's MOST WANTED after reading "The Long Shot." A comparison to Raymond Chandler seems fitting in this case. Michele is also a former federal prosecutor in New York City prosecuting drug gangs, so she ought to know her stuff.

There are a few clunkers, such as the too long and predictable "Zuppe Inglese" by Jan Burke and the short and choppy "Pinwheel" by Scott Wolven, but as a whole, this anthology is well worth your money.