This is the first book in a series. Very good
Traditional mysteries and the short story form have been a perfect pair since Poe and Conan Doyle; this outstanding collection of original tales carries on the combination of genres. Brevity is no detriment to characterization here. D. R. Meredith's Maude Turner is a sharp-eyed, kite-flying senior citizen who turns detective in the murder-by-kite-string of one of her colleagues. Diane Mott Davidson's O. Henry-esque tale features a protagonist at the other extreme: after a fight with his best friend, sixth-grader Arch wanders off and finds his school principal's body discarded in the creek. ("Cool! Can we go see it?" his friend replies when Arch reports the news.) Plots and locales vary from a zoo's gorilla compound, where Charlotte and Aaron Elkins's murderer tries to pass off his deadly work as a terrible accident, to P. M. Carlson's 19th-century period mystery featuring Lillie Langtry, who is threatened with the kidnapping of her niece. The contributors avoid cliche while remaining true to the genre, accomplishing Peters's ( Crocodile on the Sandbank ) goal of celebrating the traditional mystery.
Traditional mysteries and the short story form have been a perfect pair since Poe and Conan Doyle; this outstanding collection of original tales carries on the combination of genres. Brevity is no detriment to characterization here. D. R. Meredith's Maude Turner is a sharp-eyed, kite-flying senior citizen who turns detective in the murder-by-kite-string of one of her colleagues. Diane Mott Davidson's O. Henry-esque tale features a protagonist at the other extreme: after a fight with his best friend, sixth-grader Arch wanders off and finds his school principal's body discarded in the creek. ("Cool! Can we go see it?" his friend replies when Arch reports the news.) Plots and locales vary from a zoo's gorilla compound, where Charlotte and Aaron Elkins's murderer tries to pass off his deadly work as a terrible accident, to P. M. Carlson's 19th-century period mystery featuring Lillie Langtry, who is threatened with the kidnapping of her niece. The contributors avoid cliche while remaining true to the genre, accomplishing Peters's ( Crocodile on the Sandbank ) goal of celebrating the traditional mystery.
