Mysterious Pleasures by
Martin Edwards ed
hbk out November 03
Published by Time Warner
at £12.99
It is virtually impossible to review an anthology of short stories in any
meaningful way, as they are so disparate, but this collection to celebrate
the Crime Writers' Association 50th Anniversary is an excellent cross-
section of the talents of the members of that illustrious organisation.
Martin Edwards, himself a front-rank crime-writer, has chosen the stories
and written an informative Foreword, especially about John Creasey, the
super-prolific author who started the CWA in 1953. He was the chap who
once told me that he tried his hand at Westerns, but gave up after
someone spotted that he had described 'coyotes circling in the sky'!
Many of the great names in contemporary British crime-writing are there
... Peter Lovesey, Ian Rankin, Lindsey Davis, Colin Dexter, Reginald
Hill, Robert Barnard, Dick Francis, Val McDermid, Ruth Rendell, Harry
Keating and many others, as well as some from former years like
Margery Allingham, Leslie Charteris, Ellis Peters and John Creasey
himself.
Though short stories are not everyone's cup of tea, many preferring the
long format where a story can be fully developed, they are intriguing for
the challenge they present in squeezing plot, characterisation and
dénouement into a small compass - and this collection is as good as you
can get in that respect.
(
Bernard Knight
ex Home Office Pathologist and author of the highly acclaimed Crowner John series)
Mysterious Pleasures by
Martin Edwards ed 
