Once upon a crime [Hardcover]

Various (Author), Ed Gorman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Timeless fairy tales retold with a twist! Stories by bestselling mystery authors Sharyn McCrumb, Joan Hess, John Lutz, and others.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The contributors gathered here, who include William DeAndrea and Joan Hess, place Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Snow White, and others in modern context. This clever premise should make the anthology a popular choice among readers.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Most fairy tales are already so full of innocent victims, monstrous malefactors, and sudden violence that it doesn't take much of a push to send them over the edge into the realm of crime fiction, as in this overstuffed collection of 24 brand-new stories. Some of the authors go it straight, changing only the milieu of Rapunzel (Brendan DuBois's imprisoned computer programmer), Hansel and Gretel (Janet Dawson's L.A. street kids), the Snow Queen (Sharyn McCrumb's cocaine-addicted Kay), the Brave Little Tailor (Les Roberts's costume designer), or the Twelve Dancing Princesses (Anne Wingate's Mafia daughters). Bill Crider enters a plea on behalf of Red Riding Hood's wolf, and Gillian Roberts and William L. DeAndrea ask what happens after happily ever after. The more adventurous entries range farther afield. Joan Hess's Snow White carries the Seven Dwarfs in her head as multiple personalities; Elizabeth Engstorm's Hansel and Gretel fall prey to a fiendishly cold-blooded kidnaping scheme; Jane Haddam reimagines Rapunzel as sordidly compelling pathology; and co-editor Gorman turns ``Gossip Wolf and the Fox'' into a vintage small-town nightmare. Jon L. Breen, Simon Clark, Mat Coward, Gary A. Braunbeck, Edward D. Hoch, John Lutz, John Helfers, Simon Brett, Peter Crowther, Audrey Peterson, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and Doug Allyn round out a circle whose provocative concept makes it more satisfying as a whole than in any particular story. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425163016
• ISBN-13: 978-0425163016
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,291,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ed Gorman is an award winning American author best known for his crime and mystery fiction. He wrote The Poker Club which is now a film of the same name directed by Tim McCann.

He has written under many pseudonyms including "E. J. Gorman" and "Daniel Ransom." He won a Spur Award for Best Short Fiction for his short story "The Face" in 1992. His fiction collection Cages was nominated for the 1995 Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection. His collection The Dark Fantastic was nominated for the same award in 2001.

He has contributed to many magazines and other publications including Xero, Black Lizard, Cemetery Dance, the anthology Tales of Zorro, and many more.

Visit his blog at newimprovedgorman.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy This and Live Happily Ever After, August 13, 2003

By 

James N Simpson (Gold Coast, QLD Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

This is a sensational collection of short stories which are either parodies of classic fairy tales or short stories that the editors have found where they can see comparisons between the modern day and Black Forrest characters. Like any collection by various writers the quality varies for each story, in fact to be honest some especially the last few are pretty average but there are a substantial number of brilliant literature masterpieces.

Find out the truth about Cinderella with the story After Happily Ever. This is a superb spin on the classic tale. Of the Fog is my favourite, a sensational thriller about a guy who is targeted for vengeance by a hitchhiker who he decides not to stop for. The Better to Eat You With about a guy living in the Minnesotan wilderness who comes upon a plane crash attended by wolves is another great story. It Happened at Grandmother's House gives us an insight into what it's like to be werewolf. Clever Hans is another great tale of an Alaskan cruise gone wrong. Now Fetch Me an Axe takes the reader into the terrified writing of a girl who has just worked out she is about to murdered and has no way of escaping. Prince Charming is a who done it mystery where the hero works out who kidnapped a girl he just met and fancies. Snow White and the Eleven Dwarfs is a superb planning of catching your father's killer who happens to be your evil stepmother while hiding out from her with a group of men. There's other great stories to read as well. This is really a pretty good collection of crime stories. Once Upon a Time I read this and was happy ever after finishing it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable and unique, April 20, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

Children have always been fascinated by fairy tales, but many adults find the stories magical and awe inspiring also. Well renowned editors Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg have come up with a collection that will tantalize the child in all of us. The famous authors put a mysterious or suspense spin on popular fairy tales like SNOW WHITE; THE EMPORER'S NEW CLOTHES, and THE BRAVE LITTLE TAILOR. Keep in mind that the endings do not always match the original story line.

There are twenty-four stories contained in the anthology that range from cozy to hard-boil. Additionally, many of the tales are placed in a contemporary setting. All the stories are fabulous, but this reviewer especially enjoined "It Happened at Grandmother's House", a tale in which the wolf is a hormonal teen (redundancy)werewolf. Anyone who enjoys fairy tales will love this entertaining short story anthology.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Some good stories, May 16, 2005

By 

Michele Slack "book bean" (Lehi, UT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Once upon a crime (Hardcover)

Several of the stories in here were very good. There were a few that were real "stinkers"; like a rapunzel one where a computer genius escapes his captors by climbing out the window down his "hair" computer cables. And there was one that was very foul involving descriptions of very violent rapes. Overall I thought it was an ok read, but not great. I think so much more could have been done with this idea.