The Best American Mystery Stories

Brief Description: The best-selling author Carl Hiaasen takes the reins for the eleventh edition of this series, featuring twenty of the past year's most distinguished tales of mystery, crime, and suspense. Laura Lippman introduces us to a suburban soccer mom who moonlights as a call girl and who has a fateful encounter with a former client at her son's soccer game. Ridley Pearson traces a famous author of horror tales who becomes trapped in a real one after his wife vanishes while jogging. Joyce Carol Oates travels to a New Jersey racetrack where the animals that break down are of the two-legged type. Lawrence Block tells the story of Keller, a hitman for hire who happens to live in Greenwich Village, loves spicy food, and collects stamps as a hobby. And Scott Wolven plunges us into the world of an ex-con who takes a job at a private and very illegal Nevada racetrack where each day millions are won and lost. Mostly lost. As Carl Hiaasen notes in his introduction, "The stories in this collection would do honor to any anthology of short literature. More than transcending the genre of crime, they blow away its nebulous boundaries." The Best American Mystery Stories 2007 is a powerful collection certain to delight mystery aficionados and all lovers of great fiction. Table of Contents: Foreword - ix Introduction by Carl Hiaasen - xiii Chris Adrian Stab - 1 Robert Andrews Solomon's Alley - 22 Peter Blauner Going, Going, Gone - 33 Lawrence Block Keller's Double Dribble - 41 John Bond T-Bird - 69 James Lee Burke A Season of Regret - 88 John Dufresne The Timing of Unfelt Smiles - 106 Louise Erdrich Gleason - 121 Jim Fusilli Chellini's Solution - 135 William Gay Where Will You Go When Your SkinCannot Contain You? - 148 Robert Knightly Take the Man's Pay - 162 Laura Lippman One True Love - 173 David Means The Spot - 189 Kent Meyers Rodney Valen's Second Life - 200 Joyce Carol Oates Meadowlands - 218 Jason Ockert Jakob Loomis - 241 Ridley Pearson Queeny - 257 John Sandford Lucy Had a List - 264 Brent Spencer The True History - 287 Scott Wolven Pinwheel - 304 Contributors' Notes - 313 Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2006 - 324 Review Citations:

Booklist 10/15/2007 pg. 34 (EAN 9780618812653, Paperback)

Library Journal 11/01/2007 pg. 51 (EAN 9780618812653, Paperback) - *Starred Review

Publishers Weekly 09/10/2007 pg. 44 (EAN 9780618812653, Paperback) - *Starred Review

Publishers Weekly 09/10/2007 pg. 44 (EAN 9780618812639, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Library Journal 11/01/2007 pg. 51 (EAN 9780618812639, Hardcover) - *Starred Review

Booklist 10/15/2007 pg. 34 (EAN 9780618812639, Hardcover)

Contributor Bio:  Hiaasen, Carl Carl Hiaasen is a successful journalist and novelist. He is a writer and investigative reporter for the Miami Herald, and his work has appeared in Sports Illustrated, Playboy, Time, Life, Esquire, and Gourmet. His earliest novels, Powder Burn, Trap Line, and A Death In China, were co-written with fellow journalist Bill Montalbano. Since then, he has written books in a variety of genres. His novel Strip Tease was made into a movie in 1996, and his young adult novel Hoot, winner of the Newbery Honor Award, was made into a movie in May of 2006. A number of Hiassen s works have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, including Star Island, Chomp, Sick Puppy, and Scat. In addition to being a writer, Hiassen is also a public speaker. He lives in Florida with his family.