Edited by Janet Hutchings.
Written by (See Below).
Cover Art by Ken Joudrey; Earl Keleney; Fred Husten; & Roy Colmer.
SUMMARY:
Published in 1998 by Carroll & Graff Publishers, Inc., this 352-page hardcover reprints sixteen Edgar-winning short stories, along with six additional Edgar front-runners/nominees, all from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The chosen tales are:
- “The House Party” by Stanley Ellin (1954). A suspicious fall sets up a self-involved party host for a dark epiphany.
- “Dream No More” by Philip McDonald (1955). A congenial college professor ingratiates himself with a favorite student and his doting mother at their posh California coastal home.
- “The Blessington Method” by Stanley Ellin (1956). Resolving the ethical dilemma of an unwanted, live-in father-in-law perplexes a middled-aged businessman.
- * “And Already Lost” by Charlotte Armstrong (1957). A high school assistant principal finds herself tormented by four notorious students.
- “The Affair at Lahore Cantonment” by Avram Davidson (1961). In a rural, post-war pub, a writer overhears a tragic British Army love story that occurred in India decades before. The tale includes Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “Danny Deever.”
- * “The Terrapin” by Patricia Highsmith (1962). Tormented by his overbearing mother, a young boy’s relentless humiliation reaches its breaking point.
- “H as in Homicide” by Lawrence Treat (1964). Reminiscent of film noir, a small-town homicide cop probes a missing-person case involving two female strangers traveling cross-country together.
- “Goodbye, Pops” by Joe Gores (1969). A hardened convict escapes prison to return home and visit his terminally-ill father.
- “The Purple Shroud” by Joyce Harrington (1972). At a summer-long art camp, a middle-aged wife painstakingly seeks revenge for her husband’s serial adultery.
- “The Fallen Curtain” by Ruth Rendell (1974). A British college student’s mysterious childhood abduction comes full circle.
- “Like a Terrible Scream” by Etta Revesz (1976). A handicapped Latino boy reflects on the shocking crime that has gotten him incarcerated.
- “Chance After Chance” by Thomas Walsh (1977). In Massachusetts, an alcoholic ex-priest’s path to redemption may be a deadly ruse.
- “The Cloud Beneath the Eaves” by Barbara Owens (1978). Attempting a normal life, a woman’s private journal entries relate a descent (or possibly a return) into madness.
- * “This is Death” by Donald E. Westlake (1978). A man’s ghost grimly recounts the events leading up to his own suicide.
- “Horn Man” by Clark Howard (1980). After wrongfully serving decades in prison for homicide, an ex-musician returns to New Orleans for payback against his accuser.
- “The Absence of Emily” by Jack Ritchie (1981). After a wife’s peculiar disappearance, her cousin suspects the nonchalant husband.
- “The New Girl Friend” by Ruth Rendell (1983). A kinky extramarital affair impacting two British married couples takes an even more bizarre twist.
- * “The Anderson Boy” by Joseph Hansen (1983). Almost twenty years later, a troubled husband’s teenage discretion comes back as a haunting vendetta.
- “Elvis Lives” by Lynne Barrett (1990). A forty-ish Elvis impersonator has second thoughts about finally reaching the big time.
- * “Candles in the Rain” by Doug Allyn (1992). Just prior to the public transfer of an ex-U.S. military base to Michigan’s Ojibwa Council, a protester’s fiery death raises suspicions.
- * “When Your Breath Freezes” by Kathleen Dougherty (1995). Multiple deaths at an Alaskan convent convince a nun that all isn’t what it seems.
- “The Judge’s Boy” by Jean B. Cooper (1995). In the humid Deep South, a down-on-his-luck lawyer is recruited by a decrepit judge to recover his stolen fortune.
Notes: The asterisk indicates which tales didn’t win an Edgar. The generic cover artwork doesn’t reflect any particular story.
REVIEW:
Even the oldest of these macabre tales hardly seem musty – i.e. “The House Party” and “The Affair at Lahore Cantonment” would be considered well-played in any generation. Of the more recent stories, “Candles in the Rain” is an excellent read.
Hence, mystery fans favoring short story anthologies (like the Malice Domestic series) can appreciate how timeless this obscure assortment is. Though some tales infer perhaps one too many clever hints, a savvy reader’s enthusiasm won’t be dampened much.
The flip side is that this anthology’s grim contents aren’t necessarily superior entertainment to others in the genre simply because of the Edgar Award’s prominence. Frankly, this book’s most well-constructed crime fiction isn’t guaranteed to leave a lasting impression, neither good nor bad. Simply the Best Mysteries risks overstating its appeal with such a presumptuous title, but, aside from “The Terrapin,” and “The New Girl Friend,” it’s still a welcome find at a garage sale. More so, this anthology delivers effective samplers to consider exploring other works by many of these authors.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Janet Hutchings’ three-page introduction explains the Edgar Allan Poe Awards, as well as how these particular stories were selected from Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6 Stars
Note: A similar anthology worth exploring is editor Tony Hillerman’s The Mysterious West. Thematically, “The Purple Shroud,” and “Candles in the Rain,” would best fit Hillerman’s moody 1994 anthology.
