The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Third Annual Collection [Hardcover]

Ed Gorman (Editor), Martin H. Greenberg (Editor)

Book Description

Series: World's Finest Mystery & Crime Stories | Publication Date: October 18, 2002

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fiction

Each year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World’s Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field.

In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. (Jon L. Breen), England (Maxim Jakubowski), Canada (Edo Van Belkom), Australia (David Honeybone), and Germany (Thomas Woertche).

Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year’s compilation, “the best value-for-money of any such anthology.”

The A-to-Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader:
Robert Barnard • Lawrence Block • Jon L. Breen • Wolfgang Burger • Lillian Stewart Carl • Margaret Coel • Max Allan Collins • Bill Crider • Jeffery Deaver • Brendan DuBois • Susanna Gregory • Joseph Hansen • Carolyn G. Hart • Lauren Henderson • Edward D. Hoch • Clark Howard • Tatjana Kruse • Paul Lascaux • Dick Lochte • Peter Lovesey • Mary Jane Maffini • Ed McBain • Val McDermid • Marcia Muller • Joyce Carol Oates • Anne Perry • Nancy Pickard • Bill Pronzini • Ruth Rendell • S. J. Rozan • Billie Rubin • Kristine Kathryn Rusch • Stephan Rykena • David B. Silva • Nancy Springer • Jac. Toes • John Vermeulen • Donald E. Westlake • Carolyn Wheat.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

There might be some undiscovered gem of a short story published in 2001 that didn't make it into this impressively eclectic third annual collection, but it's hard to see how it slipped under the eagle-eyed radar of editors Gorman and Greenberg (and their deputies Larry Segriff and John Helfers, credited in the dedication as the people "who do 99 percent of the work"). The lively mix ranges from works by the usual prolific novelist suspects-S.J. Rozan, Ed McBain, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffery Deaver, Donald E. Westlake, Ruth Rendell, Bill Pronzini, Marcia Muller, Val McDermid-to the welcome return of names (like Joseph Hansen and Clark Howard) not seen often enough on book jackets of late. Howard's story, "The California Contact," has enough rich material for a novel-including a hero who would rather be a boxer than a cop, a hit man called "the Leper" who "could not be identified by fingerprinting because all of his prints and part of several fingers had been eaten away by leprosy," and a beautifully orchestrated finale at Disneyland. Carolyn Wheat's "The Only Good Judge" offers a complicated, Hitchcockian plot, in which three villains commit each other's crimes, as well as some valuable wisdom about the erroneous image of judges as shaped by the Law & Order TV series. With seven fact-and-opinion-packed reports on the world crime fiction scene, this anthology contains enough high quality reading material to sustain any genre addict's habit.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

For mystery addicts, this anthology of crime stories, critical takes on the crime-writing scene, along with mystery genre lists galore, must serve as both a partial fix and a goad to read more. This is the third annual collection culled by mystery specialists Gorman and Greenberg. It follows much the same format and should enjoy the same plaudits as the first two. The year 2001 was marked by the distinction of having Mark Twain become a serious contender for an Edgar Award for his previously unpublished novel, A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage. The 39 stories presented here, including selections by stars such as Ed McBain, Lawrence Block, Joyce Carol Oates, Robert Barnard, and Ruth Rendell, show that crime fiction is alive and kicking and offer readers a sampling they would have only if they subscribed to various mystery magazines. Overviews of the mystery writing and publishing scene (this year, focusing on new technologies and new anxieties postterrorism) and World Mystery Reports (from experts in the UK, Australia, Canada, and Germany) enlarge the reader's perspective. And lists--of awards, books, movies, and reference works--abound. There is even a special section, "Mystery Fandom," advising mystery readers of mystery magazines and conventions. Indispensable for mystery lovers. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 640 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; 1st edition (October 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765302349
• ISBN-13: 978-0765302342
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,819,287 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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars powerful anthology consisting of thirty-nine tales from 2001, January 5, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Third Annual Collection (Paperback)

As usual the G and G (great goldies) team has put together a powerful anthology consisting of thirty-nine tales from 2001 that run the mystery-crime-thriller spectrum. Obviously all the inclusions have seen print elsewhere, but not under one tome before this compilation. The contributions for the most part are excellent depending on the reader's taste, but none are terrible regardless of palate. In addition three articles report on the general state of the genre during 2001 and four country specific reports (Great Britain, Australia, Canada, and Germany) furnish insight into the trends. THE WORLD'S FINEST MYSTERY AND CRIME STORIES, THIRD ANNUAL COLLECTION, VOL. 3 provides the audience with a delightful slice of some of the year's better short stories.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An absolute must for all readers of crime fiction, December 8, 2002

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Third Annual Collection (Hardcover)

I have recurring dreams where I'm on a rock or a raft or some sort of lifesaver in the middle of raging rapids and objects are floating by me. For some reason I feel duty bound in my dreams to grab each of the objects, like I'm a character in a video game or something. I think I'm grabbing everything, but it gradually hits me that I'm not. I usually wake up at the point where I've grabbed and missed for something I really, really need. My dream, of course, is a metaphor for books or authors I miss during the year.

It's impossible to keep up with everything that's going on in the world of literature. Even if you want to limit yourself to a particular genre, something good is going to get by you. Time is a problem, distribution is another and some time word of mouth doesn't reach its intended target. That's why those "Year's Best" anthologies are required reading, particularly in the mystery genre. There's no way to keep up with everything and, even if the market for short stories is shrinking, there are enough of them --- and they are hard enough to find --- to make it virtually impossible to keep up with all of them.

A particular favorite mystery favorite of mine is THE WORLD'S FINEST MYSTERY AND CRIME STORIES. It's only up to its third annual edition, but is already staking out a claim in the genre as being indispensable. Editorial chores are handled by Ed Gorman and Martin Greenberg, both of whom are legends in the anthology arena. Between the two of them they burrow into every cranny of the genre and come away with treasures.

THE WORLD'S FINEST is not merely a collection of short mystery and crime fiction, though it would be worth the price of admission on that basis alone. There are a number of essays included, dealing with The Year 2001 in Mystery and Crime fiction, a Yearbook, the state of the art in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, Germany and Fandom. There's also a list of the ten best novels that is quite interesting, both for what is included (TOTAL RECALL by Sarah Petretsky) and what is not (what happened to THE JUDGEMENT by D.W. Buffa?). The list of course is, at least to some extent, subjective and part of the fun of it is finding one (or two or three) books you missed. And, when you're done having fun with all of that, there are the stories.

One of the joys of this anthology is finding names you know and love, while finding others you've never heard of. In the former category, there is Ed McBain with "Activity on the Flood Plain" which, on the surface, doesn't appear to belong in this collection at all. What begins as a story of a beleaguered artist dealing with a nattering nabob on a planning and zoning board takes a left turn near the conclusion. And, yeah, it definitely belongs in this volume. Jeffrey Deaver is included as well, with "Beautiful." This marks the first time I have ever been able to guess the conclusion of a Deaver work and it did not diminish my enjoyment of the story, which concerns a woman who finds an effective, if drastic way, of dealing with a stalker. Lawrence Block is represented by a thoughtful piece entitled "Speaking of Greed," a classic tale of a card game held among a very, very diverse group of gentlemen. There are also great, great stories by such well-known figures as Ruth Rendall, Max Allan Collins, Donald Westlake and Joyce Carol Oates, who is quietly demonstrating a versatility that has been under-appreciated as she demonstrates in "Tell Me You Forgive Me."

But what about the unknowns? Well, there are plenty to talk about, but I'll limit discussion to one who was a new face, at least to me. Dick Lochte is not an unknown, but I was totally unfamiliar with his work until encountering him with "In The City of Angels." Reprinted from FLESH AND BLOOD, an under-appreciated anthology of erotic mystery stories edited by Max Collins and Jeff Gelb, "In the City of Angels" combines equal parts of lust, greed and danger to create an atmospheric, contemporary Los Angeles, written the way Chandler would have if he'd have been born in the 1970s. It is the last story in THE WORLD'S FINEST and for good reason: it would have been a tough one for anyone to follow.

THE WORLD'S FINEST MYSTERY AND CRIME STORIES: Third Annual Collection is an absolute must for both the seasoned and casual reader of crime fiction. Leave plenty of time to revisit your favorite authors and to find some new ones. Very highly recommended.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not as good as other anthologies, October 5, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Third Annual Collection (Hardcover)

Although the collection represents a wide spectrum of sub-genres (cozy, hardboiled, etc.) it seems that only very typical specimens of each type were chosen. It does not seem the editors looked very far and wide for stories. There are some damn fine tales in this book, but the collection as a whole is neither ground-breaking nor especially interesting. Fans of business-as-usual mystery will love it. More demanding readers who like to see the genre push the envelope a bit more will be underwhelmed.