Crime and ambiguity

 kw: book reviews, mysteries, anthologies, crime fiction

I took a break from a steady diet of nonfiction to read The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021, edited by Lee Child.

The phrase "murder mystery" evokes the most common subgenre of mystery and crime fiction. Fortunately, not all good mystery stories involve murder, and these are the ones I prefer. Some stories and story series, set in small towns, involve so many murders that one is left wondering whether the town will soon be uninhabited. I like a clever crime with a clever solution, or even a banal crime that requires cleverness to be solved.

A mystery story usually needs a resolution, meaning most mysteries are also problem-solving or puzzle-solving stories. Come to think of it, nearly all satisfying stories, of every genre, involve problem solving. Stories that don't resolve are rarely satisfying; the few such that make it into print (or are published online) draw few positive reviews.

Enough philosophizing! The last story in this volume, a "bonus story", "My Favorite Murder" by Ambrose Bierce, is one of the very few engaging stories that doesn't resolve, but the story-within-the-story has an ending of sorts, leaving the "outer resolution" up to the reader. Bierce exaggerates so dramatically that he can be considered an honorary member of the X (for "eXtreme") generation. Prior to reading this story, I had only read a few bits of The Devil's Dictionary, which exemplifies why he is called "bitter Bierce."

Of the 20 stories of 2021, I read 19. A story by Stephen King is included, but having read one short story by King a long time ago I decided that he takes a reader to places I don't care to visit.

A few of the stories involve crimes other than murder. One that deserves special mention is "The Adventure of the Home Office Baby" by David Marcum; he is a devotee of Sherlock Holmes, and writes new Holmes stories with great verisimilitude. I believe Conan Doyle would be flattered. A stillborn baby is the only death in the piece, which is much more about international intrigue, meaning Mycroft Holmes is involved. Saying any more would be too much. This is my favorite of the 19.

A few other stories don't involve murder, but most do. All are very well written and I enjoyed them. I'll leave it at that.