books

Max Allan Collins

Books: Mystery

Anthologies: Hellboy: Odd Jobs (1999), At the Scene of the Crime (2008), The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (2010), Crimes by Moonlight (2010)

Hellboy: Odd Jobs (1999) edited by Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola

Hellboy: Odd Jobs

 Publisher: Dark Horse Books

At the Scene of the Crime (2008) edited by Dana Stabenow

At the scene of the crimeI first stumbled across Dana Stabenow when I picked up a fantasy/mystery anthology she edited. After a second anthology, I discovered she was primarily a mystery write, and so picked up her Kate Shugak series. Which I absolutely loved. So I found myself interested when I discovered a forensic crime anthology.

I actually am not familiar with most of the writers, which caused me to put this on my wishlist instead of buying it outright. However, when I ended up getting two copies for Christmas, I decided it was a sign I should read the anthology.

As with all anthologies, I liked some stories better than others. Unlike some anthologies, there were not any stories I hated, so that’s always good.

The main character in Brendan Dubois’s story “A Trace of a Trace” is newly retired, but the detective in a perplexing case asks him to help out on a case where they think someone has gotten away with murder. I found the mystery and murder quite interesting–perhaps the perfect murder, so I was curious to see how they thought they might catch the murderer.

“Five Sorrowful Mysteries” by Julie Hyzy was another story I particularly liked. The story begins with a woman doing an autopsy, and ends with her husband the detective making the arrest, but I particularly enjoyed how their putting together of the evidence was almost accidental.

“The Retired Arsonist” by Edward D. Hoch was a good story, and although I didn’t necessarily buy the resolution of the mystery, I enjoyed the characters andthe story nevertheless.

“Occam’s Razor” by Maynard F. Thompson was another particularly good story. The murder is related to a somewhat indifferent reporter, who is interviewing the retired medical examiner, and gets the case that started him on his path in police work.

All in all, it’s an interesting collection.

Rating: 7/10

The Best Paranormal Crime Stories Ever Told (2010) edited by Martin H. Greenberg & John Helfers

I wouldn’t say the best necessarily, but it’s not a bad selection of stories. And the fact that I got to read it for free probably helped.

Max Allen Collins’ story, “The Night of their Lives” was one that surprised me into liking it. It’s set during a great Depression, and a cop goes undercover into a shantytown to see if he can find out who has killed 11 of the down-down-on-their luck. I really liked this story, for a variety of reasons.

There were a couple other stories in the collection, but I didn’t love or hate them, so all in all, this was a pretty strong collection.

Published by Skyhorse Publishing

Rating: 8/10