The Best American Mystery Stories 1997edited by Robert B. Parker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This is a collection of stories about crime, and brutality, and suffering. It is not a collection of mystery stories. It was edited by Robert B. Parker, who ought to know a mystery story when he sees one, but his introduction to this collection raised doubts and the collection itself proves that his understanding of what constitutes a mystery is a lot different than mine.
Setting aside the expectation that there would be a mystery involved, some of the stories were quite good. Jonathan Kellerman's "The Things We Do for Love" was very well crafted and had an amazing ending. I found the world through the eyes of "Lou Monahan, County Prosector" fascinating as Andrew Klavan wrote it. Allen Steele's story "Doblin's Lecture" was a powerful piece that ended in a way that made me think. I also really liked "Mrs. Feeley is Quite Mad" by Mabel Maney.
If you can't deal with stories where bad stuff happens to kids, or to adults for that matter, this is not a book for you.
I read this as part of the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge.
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