A few comments on the stories in BEST OF MYSTERY:
"With A Smile For The Ending", by Lawrence Block. One of my
favorite Block mysteries, narrated by the young assistant to
an older writer. There's a murder in town, and they try to
steer events so that the guilty party is caught. Things don't
go as planned. Basically Block pulls the curtain on some of
the assumptions of the cozy school.
"Undertaker, Please Drive Slow", by Ron Goulart. A very
Chandler-esque story. A young woman disappeared and was
presumed dead in a boating or diving accident (I forget) a
year ago. Now her wealthy father has some evidence she's
alive. He wants to believe, and hires a detective to check it
out. A really terrific story, the first thing I'd ever read
by Goulart. He has another story in this volume, "News From
Nowhere", which is good but not as good.
"Games For Adults", by John Lutz. An excellent hardboiled
suspense story. Lutz wrote about half a billion short stories
before he started in on novels, and this is one of the
best.
"Sadie When She Died", by Ed McBain. A classic, probably the
best known 87th Precinct short story.
"The Best Friend Murder", by Donald Westlake. One of his
stories featuring a police detective named Levine. A man
seems to have murdered his roommate and best friend, but
something is not quite right. "Never Shake A Family Tree" is
also pretty good.
I recall liking all three of Bill Pronzini's stories in this
book, but I'll be damned if I can remember what any of them
were about. I also seem to remember that "Art For Money's
Sake" by Dan J. Marlowe was pretty good.
Graham
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