A week of crime reading

kw: book reviews, fiction, crime fiction, anthologies

From time to time I like to read mysteries. I like the cerebral stuff such as the Agatha Christie classics featuring Hercule Poirot. I prefer to avoid murder mysteries; thefts, daring escapes, and clever conspiracies are more my speed. I decided to venture into reading crime fiction when I saw the collection CWA Anthology of Short Stories: Mystery Tour, edited by Martin Edwards.

Apparently, everyone's favorite crimes are murders. Of the 28 stories, more than 20 involve a murder, plus one probable murder (but a lot about that story is ambiguous as well). Whether murder, theft, arson, or something else, in about 2/3 of the stories the perpetrator got away with it. In the three stories that feature a detective, by the various names they are called, the perpetrator is caught, typically in a clever way.

The subtitle indicates that these stories are set in locales worldwide. Few are placed in America. One touching, and very gentle story, "Bombay Brigadoon" by Vaseem Khan, is set in India. "Wife on Tour" by Julia Crouch is an escape story, with plenty of backstory to have the reader rooting for the wife to take flight. I'll not give the title to avoid a spoiler: one story has two seeming friends, each plotting to kill the other. The better planner succeeds.

The writing is, of course, excellent from end to end. Given my proclivities, however, this book has sated my interest in the genre for a good, long time to come.