Harriet Klausner's Review Archive
Just a few years ago, if anyone asked me if I enjoyed short stories, I would have responded with show me the character's depth or where's the plot. However, an E-mail cyber pal asked me if I read everything about a detective I had said was one of my favorites. My knee jerk response was yes, but that was not true because the character had appeared in a few anthologies. I decided to try an Ed Gorman edited anthology that included the sleuth and am now hooked for life. I can leisurely enjoy reading superb stories a few tales a night instead of my usual obsession to complete a novel (or two) in one sitting. I also meet new authors and characters in typically twenty to thirty pages, which sends me hustling to find other works by them.
Mr. Gorman is much more than just an editor-writer. He is one of the grandmasters of putting together the right combination of stories into a collection that hook fans to want more works from his contributors. His latest effort THE WORLD'S FINEST MYSTERY AND CRIME STORIES is as usual an excellent book that reads like an honor roll of the genre with such international notables as Block, McBain, Rankin, Hoch, and Oates, etc.
There are forty entries varying in quality, but none are poor as Mr. Gorman always keeps the level of performance at the highest bars. The stories have an international flavor, varying in time and place. Jon L. Breen also provides an interesting perspective into what occurred to the genre in 1999. This collection is a winner by merit of the strong contributions.