This was my first Anne Perry book. It may be my last.

My impressions:

1) The story plays too many head games with it's characters for a story less than 75 pages. I can't imagine what her longer stories might be like.

2) I never felt comfortable with Celie, the main character. Then again, I don't feel comfortable being around unstable people in the 'real world'.

3) This story could have taken place during any time in history. The back drop simply made a [bad] story, [a bad] story with a morbid setting.

After reading this book, I had to check the photo on the jacket to make sure it was the same Anne Perry who writes such wonderful Victorian mysteries. I found the main character annoying and I didn't really care about what happened to any of them. I'm a big fan of Anne Perry, but this book was a major disapointment. If you are looking for a character like the Pitt or the Monk books, you won't find that here.

This story is a departure from the usual Anne Perry novels in several ways. It is not set in Victorian England (story is set in revolutionary France, August-September 1792), the pace of the story moves much more quickly, and, given that it is only 73 pages long, there is naturally much less character development and attention to detail than I usually associate with Anne Perry's novels. None of this detracts from the novella in any way because it focuses only upon one event in Celie's life and how she reacts to it, with the beginning of the Reign of Terror in the backdrop. This makes the novella all the more intriguing because it provides a vehicle in which to carry out plans of revenge that were not available earlier. It is also all the more dangerous because once set in motion, there is no way to stop it. Anne Perry manages to convey Celie's deep hurt, sorrow, anger, gullibility, jealousy, thoughts (helped here by a less-than-well-meaning "friend"),plans, & acts for revenge, second thoughts, actions to remedy what she has done before it is too late, redemption, forgiveness, and love for her fellow human beings in what was possibly most terrifying period in French history. It is a story of revenge, but the revenge is carried out by different people for different reasons. Although there is not as much character development of Celie compared with Charlotte Pitt or Hester Latterly, I think readers still learn what kind of a person Celie is by her actions. If you are looking for the standard Anne Perry novel, then you will be disappointed (it is NOT a mystery), but if you are willing to take a chance on a different kind of story, you will not be disappointed.

Don't let this be your introduction to the Ellery Queen series. While it sets up a nice whodunnit, the characters and pace are a little uneven. Dannay and Lee were just getting started with their famous detective and it shows as the story is rough around the edges. It also hasn't really aged well. There is a lot of slang and habits from the late twenties and early thirties that, for me, dates the story too much and diminishes the atmosphere of the book - fine for it's time but a little out of place 70 years later. Queen (Dannay and Lee) didn't hit their stride until several novels later.

I find Ellery Queen far too self involved and his solutions are so far fetched that no mortal being could attain them. Give me Agatha Christie any day. She plays fair with the reader. However, his characters are more interesting than Christie's.

This book, along with the Gracie Allen mystery, were intended to turned into a screenplay with Sonja Henie playing the lead. Van Dine died before the book could be finalized.

It is definitely not as good as his earlier books but still retains the flavor of the Philo Vance mysteries.

I was really expecting something special after reading Publisher's Weekly's review. I thought the story was predictable and rather foolish. One football player sends six opponents off on stretchers because he knows physics? I also got a little tired of hearing how "brilliant" Tor was. Make the point and move on.

A couple of the stories are actually engaging. "A Sunday in January" and "Whatever It Takes to Win" are by far the best of the lot. I would like to have seen the latter flushed out into a full length novel, and I could actually see it being developed into a screenplay. The rest of the stories are barely readable. Baldacci's novella is nowhere near the level of his writing in his full length books.
PLUS, this is by far the WORST EDITING JOB I HAVE EVER SEEN. I am embarrassed for the authors that their work (as much as I didn't particularly enjoy the stories) appeared in this collection. Page 61 alone had four typographical errors, and it got worse from there. It seemed that every story had a different problem, from periods in the middle of sentences, to transposed 'that's and 'what's, to missing words, misspelled words, forgotten periods and appostrophes--it was atrocious. It literally made the book unreadable.
I wanted desparately to enjoy the stories, but the lack of effort put in by the oft-acclaimed Otto Penzler ruined the experience.
Do not buy this book. All it will do is infuriate you to think that the publisher and editor are profitting from such a shoddy product. Save your money. And if you have already purchased this book, spend another 37 cents on a stamp to send New Millenium Press and Otto Penzler a letter of complaint. But don't forget to proofread before you send it!

I couldn't have been more disappointed in this book. I am huge Baldacci, Meltzer, Green fan as well as a football nut, and I thought this would be a great read (similar to Tim Green's football novels). These stories are so bad, and paint football players in the worst light. Some of this is borderline racist in the way that these authors (Lupica, especially) try to write in the first person as "gangsta" football players. The editor needs to learn how to proofread, and also needs to make sure that the author information is accurate. If you are football fan and you love these authors, do not be fooled.

Penzler and Block sold out to the literary establishment on this one. Or maybe it was Michele Slung. Anyway, it seems like they chose any story--no matter how pointless and uninteresting--with a crime in it that appeared in a 'literary magazine'. Trying to brown-nose some credibility perhaps? Anyway, don't read this if you're looking for a good mystery of crime story. Try Gorman's 'World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories'. This one's a waste.

I should note from the start that I only listened to the nine stories on the CD audio edition, so my comments only reflect roughly half of the book's contents. I have to say that they were a bit of a disappointment overall. One would expect a collection of mystery stories to have some, well, mystery... Instead, the stories are heavy on atmosphere, emphasizing it over plot, and sometimes there is only the slimmest connection to crime at all. Roxana Robinson's "Face Lift" for example, is a curious inclusion by any measure. I'm not any kind of genre purist, nor am I big fan of whodunits, or traditional mysteries-but it seems like the editors were going more for stories with cachet (either a name literary author such as Russell Banks or Joyce Carol Oates, or a name source publication like Esquire), rather than actually finding mysteries that are great reads. I'm also not one who likes to puzzle out the endings to mysteries ahead of time, but I had the endings spotted halfway through the three most "traditional" mysteries of the nine on the CD (which were also my three favorites as it happened). The only story to make me somewhat interested in reading something else by the author was Peter Robinson's "Missing in Action", which had an interesting WWII setting and a light touch. Still, one out of nine isn't a great success rate, and if the other eleven stories are of the same ilk, I'd have to recommend skipping this year's collection.

"The Best Mystery Stories of 2001" is a strange collection. Because it was edited by the great Lawrence Block, I expected it to contain a fair number of good hardboiled stories. Alas, that is the one subgenre that gets the short shrift in this collection. I noted that many of these stories first appeared in literary magazines, which may have something to do with why so many of them are written with flowery prose and are a tad shy on gritty street realism. There is also a decided absence of big name mystery authors, with long time great Bill Pronzini being one of the few icons in the collection. As soon as Pronzini's story, a first rate "Nameless" dectective tale, begins, the level of excitement rose for me. Jerimiah Healy is also in this collection, but his Cuddy short story is fairly pedestrian. Big name T. Jefferson Parker delivers "Easy Street," which is among the best in the collection. The others were a mixed bag for me, and I found some of them, like Roxanna Robinson's "The Face Lift," to barely qualify as mystery stories.

Overall, this collection left me wondering. If these really are the "best" mystery short stories being produced today, then the genre could definately use a good jump start.

The idea for this story is intriguing, but the result is as shallow and unconvincing as a 30-minute written-for-TV plot rather than what might have been an interesting story.

The plot hinges on the victim stepping into the path of a car at the precise moment necessary to be struck and killed. Half-a-second early, or half-a-second late, and the opportunity is lost by a car length. Yet, McBain suggests the car driver knows the precise instant the victim will step without a glance for oncoming traffic or other hazards into the path of a car moving at 44 feet per second.

Sorry, that just doesn't cut it.

Granted, life is sometimes inexplicably strange. But, the plot in this story -- homicide by car-pedestrian accident -- asks too much. It could have been a great story, the delusion of two people who fear their dreams may be impossible and desperately grasp each other in the vain hope of making something come true, but McBain asks too much of the reader by using an basically implausible plot.

McBain is an obviously talented writer, his 87th Precinct saga is the most celebrated police stories in the history of crime fiction. But, it sometimes takes more talent and ability to write a good 72-page short story than a competent full-length work.

It would be grossly unfair to judge his work on the basis of this book. And, unless you are addicted to the "reality" of tv-plots, it would be a waste of time to read this book.

This, the first of a proposed series of novellas published in hardcover by Otto Penzler, is a noble experiment, but this was a poor choice with which to kick off the series. The story originally appeared as a book-on-tape and maybe it is better heard than read. This is Ed McBain coasting. There is little to recommend about this effort. McBain's writing appears to be strained and neither the story or he pacing is compelling. If you want to have a taste of this author, you'd be better off reading almost any of his 87th Precinct series, or some of his non-mystery works under his other pen name, Evan Hunter.

Sixteen year old Rebecca Patton strikes and kills a female pedestrian, during her driving lesson. When the police arrive, they find her instructor, Andrew Newell, stumbling and totally disoriented. At first the police believe he's drunk. But he passes the breathalyzer test. Then they figure he must have taken drugs, but Rebecca insists that he didn't take or drink anything, during her lesson. The police become even more suspicious, when the identity of the dead woman is discovered. It's Mary Beth Newell, Andrew's wife. Ed McBain is always a master of mystery and suspense and never disappoints. This well written, short novella is very tense, with smart, crisp dialogue, interesting characters, that subtle feeling that everything isn't as it seems and an unexpected twist at the end. Driving Lessons is a fast read and pure enjoyment. What else could you ask for?

What is Mr. Penzler thinking? This is the second year in a row that he has chosen inferior mystery fiction as the "best". Although this book is a slight improvement over last year's, which isn't saying much, as a mystery fan and reader, I expect more. And what's most troubling is that I know there are far better stories out there. This anthology, like last year's stinker, is tedious and baffling. I'm beginning to wonder if Mr. Penzler has some ulterior motives in his selection process. Whatever his motivation, it certainly isn't selecting the "best" that mystery fiction has to offer.

Don't let editors get away with selecting just anything as the best. Please, punish Mr. Penzler for his editorial crimes and skip this book.

I agree with another reviewer that the title should have indicated crime stories rather than mysteries. There was never any mystery about who had done it. Also, the vast majority of the stories seemed aimed at a male audience. I got pretty tired of descriptions of fights and near fights and thugs and guns.If I remember correctly, only one story seemed aimed at a female audience and was also the only one read by a female.

I don't buy the Best American Mystery Stories every year (like I do for the Best American Short Stories, Essays, Science and Nature Writing, and now Nonrequired Reading). What I do is glance at the editor and at the authors included within. This year's edition is edited by James Ellroy (L.A. Confidential and the rest of his L.A. Quartet). And it has a story by Joe Lansdale, "The Mule Rustlers" --which is a great story, with a nice, humorous twist at the end-- (Lansdale is the greatest Texas writer whose name isn't McMurtry); and a story by Joyce Carol Oates, "The High School Sweetheart"--which is a story very much in her style, and somewhat 'experimental', but isn't as good as what she normally does. The best two stories in this year's volume is Brendan Dubois' "A Family Game" (great twist of an ending) and Daniel Waterman's "A Lepidopterist's Tale", which really only kicks in at the end, and reminds me of an Oates story. Stuart M. Kaminsky, Fred Melton, Annette Meyers, Michael Connelly, Thomas H. Cook, Sean Doolittle, and Joe Gores also have good stories within. What detracts from the collection: the fact that while these may be good stories, there isn't a whole lot of mystery to them; John Biguenet's dull story "It Is Raining in Bejucal"; David Edgerley Gates' mediocre "The Blue Mirror"; James Grady's unreadable "The Championship of Nowhere"; amd F.X. Toole's story "Midnight Emissions", which I was unable to finish. When reading the collection you'll notice an unusual amount of sports stories--mainly baseball and boxing stories (or maybe not surprising since Otto Penzler edited the two books those stories came from).

If you are looking for really good 'mystery' stories, you probably want to move along, but there are 11 really good stories (that's over half) to read. Some you would call mystery, some you wouldn't.