Publishers Weekly
When people are pushed to their absolute limit, what might they do? Absolutely anything seems to be the answer as demonstrated in these 19 original stories from members of the Mystery Writers of America. MWA has produced some outstanding anthologies, and while this one doesn't rank with the best, there are a few diamonds on display. The late Henry Slesar's (1927-2002) tale, "The Day of the 31st," reminds us of how good a writer he was, as a husband seeks vengeance on his wife's killer. Charlotte Hinger's "Any Old Mother," about a woman scamming mothers who gave up a child for adoption, is a crafty exercise in consequences. Elizabeth Foxwell's "No Man's Land" gives a glimpse of the tough gals who drove ambulances in France in WWII and demonstrates how they could handle just about anything thrown their way. Elaine Viets's "Red Meat" tells of a wife who gives her husband a perfect gift for his 60th birthday-a beautiful woman who'll whip him back into shape. Brendan DuBois's "Her Last Gift" shows how a potter molds a unique present for the man she blames for her husband's death. A woman investigates the accidental death of her best friend in Elaine Togneri's "Guardian Angel" and makes a life-changing discovery. Block provides an introduction but no story. Other contributors include Rhys Bowen, Marcia Talley and Jeremiah Healy. (July 1) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
The latest anthology from the Mystery Writers of America serves up 19 murderous new morsels. Some courses are more impressive in parts than as wholes. Stephanie Matteson’s torpid husband and resentful wife, like the prissy librarian who gets his from Marcia Talley and Elaine Viets’s personal-trainer triangle, could have used another twist or two. Aileen Schumacher makes things awfully easy for her construction-crew vigilante, and the avengers in Brendan DuBois and the late Henry Slesar seem to have read each other’s stories. Tom Savage tacks a chilling conclusion onto an otherwise routine idyll of curdled domesticity. Noreen Ayres, Shelly Costa, and G. Miki Hayden create effective mood pieces in locales more memorable than their malevolence. The long-lost daughter in Charlotte Hinger runs a sweet scam, but you can see the end a mile away. Mat Coward’s clever premise--senior citizens riding along in cop cars looking for their attackers--runs down instead of winding up. Dan Crawford hurls exciting incidents into a hijacking tale that not even cow blood can hold together. But Tracy Knight’s gleeful attack on the talking cure packs a mind-boggling amount of malevolence into a few pages, and Rhys Bowen’s ironic sketch of a Jew struggling to survive in Nazi Germany is perfectly judged. Best of all, Elizabeth Foxwell combines vivid WWI background with a diabolical plot. No drop-dead entrée, but something worth a nibble on almost every plate that passes.
