The Best American Mystery Stories 2003

Abridged
Author: Michael Connelly , Otto Penzler
Narrator: Various .
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Date: October 2007
Length: 4 hours
Ratings:
  • Book Rating: 2.5/5
Formats:
  • CD

Overview

Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.

This seventh installment of the premier mystery anthology boasts pulse-quickening stories from all reaches of the genre. Michael Connelly's choices include a Prohibition-era tale of a scorned lover's revenge, a Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery solved by an actor playing the famous detective onstage, and a tale of murder by psychology. This year's edition features mystery favorites as well as talented up-and-comers, for a diverse collection sure to thrill all readers.

Reviews (2)

Best American Short Stories

Written by Pamela Christensen from , on May 9th, 2006

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I really did like the stories, but they did drag on a bit.

Best American Mystery Stories - A Mixed Bag

Written by Koka Thomason on January 7th, 2005

  • Book Rating: 3/5

The first few stories were pretty good and engaging. However, I lost interest in the last 2 discs. The stories were hard to follow and not very interesting.

Author Details

Author Details

Connelly, Michael

"Connelly has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Nero, Barry, Ridley, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.

In addition to his work in publishing, Michael Connelly was one of the creators, writers, and consulting producers of Level 9, a TV show about a task force fighting cyber crime that ran on UPN in the Fall of 2000.

Connelly is currently writing his next book which will be released in 2004. It will be another in the Harry Bosch series.

He lives with his family in Florida. "

Penzler, Otto

"Thomas H. Cook is the author of eighteen books, including two works of true crime. His novels have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Macavity Award and the Dashiell Hammett Prize. The Chatham School Affair won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 1996. His true crime book, Blood Echoes, was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1992, and his story ?Fatherhood? won the Herodotus Prize in 1998 and was included in Best Mystery Stories of 1998, edited by Otto Penzler and Ed McBain. His works have been translated into fifteen languages.

Otto Penzler is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. He was publisher of The Armchair Detective, the founder of the Mysterious Press and the Armchair Detective Library, and created the publishing firm Otto Penzler Books. He is a recipient of an Edgar Award for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection and the Ellery Queen Award by the Mystery Writers of America for his many contributions to the field. He is the series editor of The Best American Mystery Stories of the Year. His other anthologies include Murder for Love, Murder for Revenge, Murder and Obsession, The 50 Greatest Mysteries of All Time, and The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century. He wrote 101 Greatest Movies of Mystery & Suspense. He lives in New York City.

John Berendt is the author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil which spent four years on the New York Times Bestseller list. He has been the editor of New York magazine and an Esquire columnist. He lives in New York."