vikkisgrotto's review

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2.0

I kept track of the stories I enjoyed in this book, and unfortunately it only ended up being 17/100. Even the ones I liked only gave me mild enjoyment; lots of these stories had racist and sexist tones, so the time period they were written in was very apparent. I just don't particularly like to read about such things.

vermidian's review

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2.0

As a whole, the stories aren’t bad. However, as someone who was looking for actual mysteries, I was disappointed. Most of the stories are crime dramas where you pretty much know everything from the start and watch the main character commit the crime. I only really liked one of the stories, “The Slantwise Scales of Justice,” and even that I didn’t consider a mystery. All the others were generally unremarkable but not bad. Only about 10 of the stories actually felt like mysteries instead of crime dramas. For that reason, I’m giving this book 2 stars.

sarahlgreene's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? N/A
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

octavia_cade's review

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3.0

I spent some time earlier this year trying to write flash fiction, and was a dismal failure at it. (My best attempt ended up ballooning to 3700 words.) But I have to admit that I don't really read a lot of flash fiction, so my failure to write it should really have been no surprise. I lack the concision. Reading this collection of 100 tiny mysteries brought that home alright.

This was an enjoyable enough read, though I still prefer longer short stories I think. There's not quite enough meat for me to really get into a lot of these, for all I can appreciate that many of them are accomplished pieces of writing. There was, however - and this is due to the editors rather than the writers - a heavy emphasis on stories where husbands killed their wives (or, less often, wives their husbands). This made the collection as a whole rather repetitive. A greater variety of mysteries would have been nice - more stories along the lines of the collection's stand-out pieces, the sci-fi "The Sooey Pill" by Elaine Slater or the comedic "Pure Rotten" by John Lutz, for example.

eve_leclercracine's review

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3.0

This is a good book because the mini stories makes it easy to put down when you shouldn’t be reading too late into the night!!
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