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kesterbird's review
3.0
Overall; this is not a collection of mystery stories, at all, but it is a pretty interesting collection of character studies with some really great stories mixed in, many of which I would not have read in a different context. If you read it, do yourself the favor of skipping the enormously pretentious intro.
at some point, I stopped writing reviews as I read stories, but I still think each story should get it's own seperate review, so this will be chronological, starting with the last story and working it's way to the first, with the ones which were reviewed as read just copied over from the updates.
I Spy, Graham Greene.
This might be a portion of a book which could be called crime writing, but the story itself is not. Like much of this book it is, instead, an interesting character study that is sortof crime adjacent if you stretch your imagination. This kid's dad may or may not have committed a crime, we'll never know, but we do know something about the kid.
The Parker Shotgun, Sue Grafton;
Randomly, I happened to look up Sue Grafton the day before I read this, and I'm glad I did. This is a perfectly serviceable story. It is a mystery, the mystery is solved, it all ties up neatly, and it reads exactly the way you would expect from a character and author who together write exactly one novel a year and have done so for at least 26 years. Comfortable, easy, a little tame, but really fine.
A Good Man in Hard to Find; Flannery O'Connor:
Welp. This one thinks it's about a crime, but whooo boy did that old woman deserve it. I don't know whether to blame the time or the author or if maybe the author was doing it on purpose but... I cannot say I had been planning on picking up any Flannery O-Connor but I'm even moreso not gonna now.
A boy and his dog, Manuel Vasquez Montalban;
that was a horrible experience.
Imagine This, George C. Chesbro:
This one took me by surprise insomuch as it is genuinlly an interesting story. Not just that it is an interesting story but it is an interesting story that clearly knew EXACTLY what kindof hodgepodge weird anthology it was gonna be part of. This is the kind of good story that doesn't make me want to find more of this author's solo work but REALLY makes me want to find other badly curated anthologies that he snuck into. I LOVE THIS STORY.
The Casebook of Dr. Billingsgate, Eric Wright:
This one manages both to be actually crime fiction AND a character portrait of an asshole. I feel like the real theme of this book, intentional of not, it character studies of assholes
Soft Monkey, Harlan Ellison:
This story is effective, but feels manipulative. It's not a story I would recommend for understanding either good writing or the plight of homeless women of color. I wouldn't criticize it for being such a poor portrait, but Ellison clearly thinks he's being very empathetic and he's just wrong.
The moment before the Gun went off, Nadine Gordimer;
Perhaps I should've seen that ending coming, but I did not, which, I suppose, makes this a mystery. It's not the mystery I was expecting, but rather a much darker one. This was one of the better stories in the book, and wrenching.
Missionary Stew, Ross Thomas:
this is an excerpt, apparently? I wouldn't of known but I looked it up on goodreads. Shame on you, book, for not making that clear. Also I am straight up confused because this was viscerally awful, and all the reviews of the whole book make it sound like a comedy and I'm sick to my stomach.
The Werewolf, Angela Carter:
a fairly typical re-take on red riding hood, but told in a perfect sparse language, well matched to the content. It creeps up on you, even as you know where it is going.
Fathers and Daughters, Laura Grimaldi:
Yeeesh. Almost too real, too believable, too much to take in, but well written, well conveyed, and again, I'm a little sick having read it. I compliment the craftsmanship.
Matyrdom, Yukio Mishima;
just substitute this story for any curriculum that currently contains Lord of the Flies. This has everything that that novel has, maybe more, and will take a lot less time.
Devices and Desires; P.D. james;
I'm sure the broken timeline is meant to sound arty and smart, but it's just not well enough done and instead of increasing our sense of dread just made me keep thinking versions of "awh hell, they didn't kill her either?! when is she gonna get around to dieing, dammit?!"
Pig Latin, Clarice Lispector,
this, now, is some terrifying shit. Well written, well paced, well managed terror.
"The man who hated books; Stuart Kaminsky.
I'm sure I've read this one before. So sure that I actually checked to make sure it wasn't somehow in the book twice. It's not. I blame the New Yorker.
This is, in fact, a pretty great little crime based vignette. It's almost perfect, just like his crime."
July 10, 2018 – page 242
60.5% "mirror girl; william bayer:
This is a delicious little bit of wishful thinking."
July 9, 2018 – page 230
57.5% "Captain Blood; Barthelme.
Barthelme's version of a pirate tale; charming, debonair, silly, full of froth and joy. Does not belong in this book at all, but still I'm glad it's here so that I read it"
July 9, 2018 – page 226
56.5% "Nicholas in Exile; Herbert Gold
Well, not exactly crime fiction so much as a character study of (at least) two horrible people, one of whom we are meant to consider to be the protagonist. I feel icky just having read it."
July 9, 2018 – page 216
54.0% "I picked up this book largely because it listed Borges as an included author, and I couldn't think of Borges writing a mystery. I was wrong. Borges totally wrote a mystery. I'm not sure if this is a tribute to, or a parody of, Poirot and his ilk, but either way it is brilliant."
March 31, 2018 – page 205
51.25% "Gravy Train- James Ellroy: This story is absurdly convoluted, kinda sweet, and SUPER gruesome. But mostly convoluted."
March 28, 2018 – page 191
47.75% "Cities and the Dead- Italo Calvino
I love Calvino. The promise of a Calvino story was part pf the strength on which I picked up this book. Imagine my disappointment when the story in question was just a chapter from Invisible Cities, and further, one that doesn;t even relate to the presupposed theme of the collection."
March 27, 2018 – page 188
47.0% "Jerome Charyn-Little Leo:
Well, that was confusing and depressing and didn't make much sense."
March 26, 2018 – page 179
44.75% "Tony Hillerman- Chee's Witch: an interesting character study in respect and racism and city people who think they understand everything because cities are more complicated but forgetting that cities are just different."
March 9, 2018 – page 165
41.25% "Cain- Andrew Vachss
This story really truly does take the concept of the mystery and do something interesting with it. It's such a weirdly sweet story; working with the quintessential vigilante overdramatic reaction and applying it to someone's hurt dog, instead of the typical femme fatale. I sorta love it. I don't know. I mean, it's still super violent, but... I dunno. <3"
March 9, 2018 – page 157
39.25% "The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is one of the authors that I picked up this collection for. I was curious what the editor would pick for Marquez. The editor chose poorly. Marquez wrote PLENTY of things that could be listed as mystery, but even by the loosest definition, this isn't one. It is, however, a gorgeous, lush, fantastically spooky tale, so I'm not sorry to have read it."
February 9, 2018 – page 157
39.25% "Ishmael- Joe Gores
This just feels like violence porn. Not only did I not enjoy it, but I do not feel it has, in any way, added to my store of experience or knowledge"
February 9, 2018 – page 150
37.5% "The Merciful Angel of Death- Lawrence Block
Well. That's intense. Als sorta awkward, but that might be intentional? And, surprisingly, this one actually DOES fit the espoused theme of the book."
November 27, 2017 – page 136
34.0% "The Law of the Eye- Pieke Biermann-
Proving that intersectionality has ALWAYS been important, and has ALWAYS been neglected. I read this story a few nights back, and I'm still worried about that fictional young man."
November 27, 2017 – page 127
31.75% "The King- Isaac Babel: I HAVE read this one before. Not sure where. The New Yorker? Doesn't matter.
This is a really strong story. It's a short little vignette, but does not feel rushed or cropped; the characters are given a roundness with easy quickness, avoiding the short story trap of only existing to fill a need in the plot."
November 27, 2017 – page 120
30.0% "Manufacture of a Legend- Paco Ignacio Taibo II:
more essay than story, but it IS an interesting essay"
November 27, 2017 – page 115
28.75% "Mafia Western; Leonardo Sciascia-
I suppose maybe there's a statement here about the banality of evil, but I really don't think it's boring on purpose. I think that just happened. Maybe a side-effect of a bad translation, maybe it started out this way."
November 9, 2017 – page 110
27.5% "No Radio, by Mickey Friedman
I liked this story. I kept thinking I've read it before, but I think it's just a type. It was a well done version of the type, though."
October 30, 2017 – page 102
25.5% "The summer of '37, Julian Semionov
another not-even-crime-writing-much-less-a-mystery, but a disturbing portrait nonetheless"
October 29, 2017 – page 96
24.0% "Dealer's Choice, by Sara Paretsky
this may be the first story in the book that is both interesting and an actual mystery. Glad we got one in the first hundred pages!"
October 16, 2017 – page 80
20.0% "Raymond Carver- Cathedral
Welp, Carver managed to paint an evocative picture of a character whom I absolutely despised. Points for craftsmanship. And, surprisingly, in the very same story, there's several pages of almost unutterable beauty. I was truly surprised."
October 16, 2017 – page 64
16.0% "Goldfish- Didier Daeninckx
This one was compelling, if (intentionally) appalling"
October 11, 2017 – page 58
14.5% "I continue to be utterly confounded by the editor's definition of "Mystery".
Good story, though.
(in the bronx, Don DeLillo)"
October 8, 2017 – page 49
12.25% "This one is, at least, a police procedural, though being told from the perspective of the man in jail pretty much negates the "mystery" aspect of a police procedural. Again, an interesting story, and I think I need to just think of this as a general short story anthology and enjoy the selections for that without expectations. Dear Editor: You are an idiot."
October 8, 2017 – page 38
9.5% "And the third story is a straight up horror story. Like, if you went out of your way to find a horror story that could, in no way, be interpreted as a mystery.
It was a very good horror story, though.
(The Snail-Watcher, Patricia Highsmith)"
September 20, 2017 – page 30
7.5% "The second story was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a mystery. If one is remarkably flexible, one could maybe call it crime writing, but really, no.
Which is to say that, if the editor is willing to call this is mystery, than all fiction is mystery. Hell, probably everything everything ever written is a mystery. The US Constitution has more direct references to crime, detection, and justice than this story."
September 19, 2017 – page 14
3.5% "There is an ENORMOUSLY pretentious introduction, clearly written for people who would never have picked up the book in the first place, about how crime fiction isn't what you think it is and is totally great literature and (quite literally it says this) would be god's favorite genre.
The first story is then a quintessential example of the most stereotypical crime fiction one could think of."
at some point, I stopped writing reviews as I read stories, but I still think each story should get it's own seperate review, so this will be chronological, starting with the last story and working it's way to the first, with the ones which were reviewed as read just copied over from the updates.
I Spy, Graham Greene.
This might be a portion of a book which could be called crime writing, but the story itself is not. Like much of this book it is, instead, an interesting character study that is sortof crime adjacent if you stretch your imagination. This kid's dad may or may not have committed a crime, we'll never know, but we do know something about the kid.
The Parker Shotgun, Sue Grafton;
Randomly, I happened to look up Sue Grafton the day before I read this, and I'm glad I did. This is a perfectly serviceable story. It is a mystery, the mystery is solved, it all ties up neatly, and it reads exactly the way you would expect from a character and author who together write exactly one novel a year and have done so for at least 26 years. Comfortable, easy, a little tame, but really fine.
A Good Man in Hard to Find; Flannery O'Connor:
Welp. This one thinks it's about a crime, but whooo boy did that old woman deserve it. I don't know whether to blame the time or the author or if maybe the author was doing it on purpose but... I cannot say I had been planning on picking up any Flannery O-Connor but I'm even moreso not gonna now.
A boy and his dog, Manuel Vasquez Montalban;
that was a horrible experience.
Imagine This, George C. Chesbro:
This one took me by surprise insomuch as it is genuinlly an interesting story. Not just that it is an interesting story but it is an interesting story that clearly knew EXACTLY what kindof hodgepodge weird anthology it was gonna be part of. This is the kind of good story that doesn't make me want to find more of this author's solo work but REALLY makes me want to find other badly curated anthologies that he snuck into. I LOVE THIS STORY.
The Casebook of Dr. Billingsgate, Eric Wright:
This one manages both to be actually crime fiction AND a character portrait of an asshole. I feel like the real theme of this book, intentional of not, it character studies of assholes
Soft Monkey, Harlan Ellison:
This story is effective, but feels manipulative. It's not a story I would recommend for understanding either good writing or the plight of homeless women of color. I wouldn't criticize it for being such a poor portrait, but Ellison clearly thinks he's being very empathetic and he's just wrong.
The moment before the Gun went off, Nadine Gordimer;
Perhaps I should've seen that ending coming, but I did not, which, I suppose, makes this a mystery. It's not the mystery I was expecting, but rather a much darker one. This was one of the better stories in the book, and wrenching.
Missionary Stew, Ross Thomas:
this is an excerpt, apparently? I wouldn't of known but I looked it up on goodreads. Shame on you, book, for not making that clear. Also I am straight up confused because this was viscerally awful, and all the reviews of the whole book make it sound like a comedy and I'm sick to my stomach.
The Werewolf, Angela Carter:
a fairly typical re-take on red riding hood, but told in a perfect sparse language, well matched to the content. It creeps up on you, even as you know where it is going.
Fathers and Daughters, Laura Grimaldi:
Yeeesh. Almost too real, too believable, too much to take in, but well written, well conveyed, and again, I'm a little sick having read it. I compliment the craftsmanship.
Matyrdom, Yukio Mishima;
just substitute this story for any curriculum that currently contains Lord of the Flies. This has everything that that novel has, maybe more, and will take a lot less time.
Devices and Desires; P.D. james;
I'm sure the broken timeline is meant to sound arty and smart, but it's just not well enough done and instead of increasing our sense of dread just made me keep thinking versions of "awh hell, they didn't kill her either?! when is she gonna get around to dieing, dammit?!"
Pig Latin, Clarice Lispector,
this, now, is some terrifying shit. Well written, well paced, well managed terror.
"The man who hated books; Stuart Kaminsky.
I'm sure I've read this one before. So sure that I actually checked to make sure it wasn't somehow in the book twice. It's not. I blame the New Yorker.
This is, in fact, a pretty great little crime based vignette. It's almost perfect, just like his crime."
July 10, 2018 – page 242
60.5% "mirror girl; william bayer:
This is a delicious little bit of wishful thinking."
July 9, 2018 – page 230
57.5% "Captain Blood; Barthelme.
Barthelme's version of a pirate tale; charming, debonair, silly, full of froth and joy. Does not belong in this book at all, but still I'm glad it's here so that I read it"
July 9, 2018 – page 226
56.5% "Nicholas in Exile; Herbert Gold
Well, not exactly crime fiction so much as a character study of (at least) two horrible people, one of whom we are meant to consider to be the protagonist. I feel icky just having read it."
July 9, 2018 – page 216
54.0% "I picked up this book largely because it listed Borges as an included author, and I couldn't think of Borges writing a mystery. I was wrong. Borges totally wrote a mystery. I'm not sure if this is a tribute to, or a parody of, Poirot and his ilk, but either way it is brilliant."
March 31, 2018 – page 205
51.25% "Gravy Train- James Ellroy: This story is absurdly convoluted, kinda sweet, and SUPER gruesome. But mostly convoluted."
March 28, 2018 – page 191
47.75% "Cities and the Dead- Italo Calvino
I love Calvino. The promise of a Calvino story was part pf the strength on which I picked up this book. Imagine my disappointment when the story in question was just a chapter from Invisible Cities, and further, one that doesn;t even relate to the presupposed theme of the collection."
March 27, 2018 – page 188
47.0% "Jerome Charyn-Little Leo:
Well, that was confusing and depressing and didn't make much sense."
March 26, 2018 – page 179
44.75% "Tony Hillerman- Chee's Witch: an interesting character study in respect and racism and city people who think they understand everything because cities are more complicated but forgetting that cities are just different."
March 9, 2018 – page 165
41.25% "Cain- Andrew Vachss
This story really truly does take the concept of the mystery and do something interesting with it. It's such a weirdly sweet story; working with the quintessential vigilante overdramatic reaction and applying it to someone's hurt dog, instead of the typical femme fatale. I sorta love it. I don't know. I mean, it's still super violent, but... I dunno. <3"
March 9, 2018 – page 157
39.25% "The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship- Gabriel Garcia Marquez
This is one of the authors that I picked up this collection for. I was curious what the editor would pick for Marquez. The editor chose poorly. Marquez wrote PLENTY of things that could be listed as mystery, but even by the loosest definition, this isn't one. It is, however, a gorgeous, lush, fantastically spooky tale, so I'm not sorry to have read it."
February 9, 2018 – page 157
39.25% "Ishmael- Joe Gores
This just feels like violence porn. Not only did I not enjoy it, but I do not feel it has, in any way, added to my store of experience or knowledge"
February 9, 2018 – page 150
37.5% "The Merciful Angel of Death- Lawrence Block
Well. That's intense. Als sorta awkward, but that might be intentional? And, surprisingly, this one actually DOES fit the espoused theme of the book."
November 27, 2017 – page 136
34.0% "The Law of the Eye- Pieke Biermann-
Proving that intersectionality has ALWAYS been important, and has ALWAYS been neglected. I read this story a few nights back, and I'm still worried about that fictional young man."
November 27, 2017 – page 127
31.75% "The King- Isaac Babel: I HAVE read this one before. Not sure where. The New Yorker? Doesn't matter.
This is a really strong story. It's a short little vignette, but does not feel rushed or cropped; the characters are given a roundness with easy quickness, avoiding the short story trap of only existing to fill a need in the plot."
November 27, 2017 – page 120
30.0% "Manufacture of a Legend- Paco Ignacio Taibo II:
more essay than story, but it IS an interesting essay"
November 27, 2017 – page 115
28.75% "Mafia Western; Leonardo Sciascia-
I suppose maybe there's a statement here about the banality of evil, but I really don't think it's boring on purpose. I think that just happened. Maybe a side-effect of a bad translation, maybe it started out this way."
November 9, 2017 – page 110
27.5% "No Radio, by Mickey Friedman
I liked this story. I kept thinking I've read it before, but I think it's just a type. It was a well done version of the type, though."
October 30, 2017 – page 102
25.5% "The summer of '37, Julian Semionov
another not-even-crime-writing-much-less-a-mystery, but a disturbing portrait nonetheless"
October 29, 2017 – page 96
24.0% "Dealer's Choice, by Sara Paretsky
this may be the first story in the book that is both interesting and an actual mystery. Glad we got one in the first hundred pages!"
October 16, 2017 – page 80
20.0% "Raymond Carver- Cathedral
Welp, Carver managed to paint an evocative picture of a character whom I absolutely despised. Points for craftsmanship. And, surprisingly, in the very same story, there's several pages of almost unutterable beauty. I was truly surprised."
October 16, 2017 – page 64
16.0% "Goldfish- Didier Daeninckx
This one was compelling, if (intentionally) appalling"
October 11, 2017 – page 58
14.5% "I continue to be utterly confounded by the editor's definition of "Mystery".
Good story, though.
(in the bronx, Don DeLillo)"
October 8, 2017 – page 49
12.25% "This one is, at least, a police procedural, though being told from the perspective of the man in jail pretty much negates the "mystery" aspect of a police procedural. Again, an interesting story, and I think I need to just think of this as a general short story anthology and enjoy the selections for that without expectations. Dear Editor: You are an idiot."
October 8, 2017 – page 38
9.5% "And the third story is a straight up horror story. Like, if you went out of your way to find a horror story that could, in no way, be interpreted as a mystery.
It was a very good horror story, though.
(The Snail-Watcher, Patricia Highsmith)"
September 20, 2017 – page 30
7.5% "The second story was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a mystery. If one is remarkably flexible, one could maybe call it crime writing, but really, no.
Which is to say that, if the editor is willing to call this is mystery, than all fiction is mystery. Hell, probably everything everything ever written is a mystery. The US Constitution has more direct references to crime, detection, and justice than this story."
September 19, 2017 – page 14
3.5% "There is an ENORMOUSLY pretentious introduction, clearly written for people who would never have picked up the book in the first place, about how crime fiction isn't what you think it is and is totally great literature and (quite literally it says this) would be god's favorite genre.
The first story is then a quintessential example of the most stereotypical crime fiction one could think of."
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