The Best American Mystery Stories 2004

by Penzler, Otto

• ISBN13: 9780618329687
• ISBN10: 0618329684
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-10-14
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Summary

Now in its eighth year, this perennially popular anthology holds something for every reader. Encompassing all aspects of the genre, "this series can be counted on to showcase the best of mainstream mystery and crime fiction" (Booklist). Stephen King blurs the line between reality and dream. Joyce Carol Oates follows a young girl who preys on her sexual predators. Jeff Abbott enters the high-stakes world of Las Vegas and the trap of a beautiful redhead. Scott Wolven brings boxing and murder to a small town in Vermont. Assembled by best-selling suspense author Nelson DeMille, The Best American Mystery Stories 2004 promises to be the most thrilling volume yet.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Introduction	p. xii
Bet on Red	p. 1
Stonewalls	p. 20
Height Advantage	p. 34
Evolution	p. 69
All Through the House	p. 110
Where Beautiful Ladies Dance for You	p. 151
How Wendy Tudhope Was Saved from Sure and Certain Death	p. 172
Snake Eyes	p. 195
Harvey's Dream	p. 216
Smash and Grab	p. 226
Bank of America	p. 238
Lids	p. 260
Low Tide	p. 280
The Incident of the Impecunious Chevalier	p. 300
Doll: A Romance of the Mississippi	p. 322
The Swag from Doc Hawthorne's	p. 341
Best Man Wins	p. 362
Something About Teddy	p. 374
El Rey	p. 387
Green Heat	p. 400
Contributors' Notes	p. 421
Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2003	p. 431
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

IntroductionAs editor and introducer of The Best American Mystery Stories 2004, I bid you welcome.You needn't read any further, but may now go directly to the stories. Still here? Well, then, I won't take much of your time.In the beginning was Otto Penzler, a legend in the eld of mystery publishing, and a very persuasive gentleman. When Mr. Penzler asked me to be the editor of this anthology, I explained that I wasn't qualied to take on the task. He agreed, but in turn explained to me that his rst and second choices had dropped out at the last minute, and I apparently owed him a favor.Like many of my generation, I grew up on mystery short stories, devouring anthologies and collections as well as mystery magazines.My favorite mystery stories, and probably everyone's favorites, were Edgar Allan Poe, and Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes mysteries. The short story is a deceptively simple format, and the mystery shorts seem even simpler, until you try to write one.Two of the rst things I ever had published were mystery stories: one titled "Life or Breath," in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine; the other called "The Mystery at Thorn Mansion," in the now-defunct Mystery Monthly.I also have a le of rejection letters and enough unpublished short stories to kindle wet logs.It became obvious to me that short stories are not easy to write just because they are short. Which takes me back to my high school days, when I was a sprinter on the track team. Anyone can run a hundred-yard dash, but the difference between doing it in 11 seconds or 10.2 seconds is the difference between last place and rst place.Obviously, when it came to writing, I wasn't a sprinter, so I tried out for the long-distance team and became a novelist, which I found to be a lot easier.The moral, if there is a moral, is that the short story, like the short race, needs to be close to perfect; there is no recovery from a bad start, no time to get a second wind, and no forgiveness for even one misstep.And so, I am honored to have been chosen to pick the top twenty stories for this anthology, and to join a long and illustrious list of past editors whom I will mention here in the hope that future editors will mention me: Robert B. Parker, Sue Grafton, Ed McBain, Donald E. Westlake, Lawrence Block, James Ellroy, and Michael Connelly.Those authors are themselves the best of the best, but I'm sure that they, like me, have trouble judging the works of others. I am currently one of four judges for the Book-of-the-Month Club, along with Annie Proulx, Bill Bryson, and Anna Quindlen, and I can tell you that most authors would rather not be judges of other authors I'd rather be a wine judge, or (ecstasy!) a beauty pageant judge.So, when Otto Penzler asked me to pick the best twenty mystery stories from more than fty entries, I was not being coy or humble when I said I was not qualied; I am actually qualied, I just don't like to read with the knowledge that I've got to winnow and toss. Newsday once asked me and Susan Isaacs and Roger Rosenblatt to judge essays and ction pieces sent in by hundreds of readers on the topic of Long Island history. We had to pick one nonction and one ction piece, and I can tell you, these were among the worst pieces of writing any of us had ever read. Thankfully, there were two or three pieces in each category that were good, so picking the winners was not that difcult. But here we have a different situation; without exception all fty mystery stories that I read were very good to excellent, and the difference in quality was like the difference between the 11-second hundred-yard dash very impressive and the 10.2-second hundred- yard dash exceptional.I had great fun reading, but not so much fun picking. In fact, it was agonizing, and I suggested to Otto Penzler a bigger, fatter book of, say, fty of the Best American Mystery Stories."Not possible," he said. "It would look like your last bloated novel."So, I went back to the stories, this time using a single criterion: Did I really want to reread this story?Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories are probably the only things I've read six, eight, or ten times each. I can pick up a collection of Sherlock Holmes anytime, anyplace, open at random, and enjoy the story as much as or even more than when I rst read it. So, for better or worse, without too much further agonizing, I have picked what I hope you agree are the Best American Mystery Stories for the 2004 edition.Enjoy.And try to pick the best ve.Nelson De MilleCopyright 2004 by Houghton Mifflin. Introduction copyright 2004 by Nelson De Mille. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company.

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Excerpted from The Best American Mystery Stories 2004
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