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The best American mystery stories of the century

Format: Print Book 2000
Availability: Available at 7 Libraries 7 of 9 copies

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CLP - Main Library First Floor - Fiction Stacks FICTION Best
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Collection  First Floor - Fiction Stacks
 
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Carnegie Library of McKeesport Fiction F BES
Location  Carnegie Library of McKeesport
 
Collection  Fiction
 
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Crafton Public Library Adult - Non-Fiction 813.08 BEST 2000 CRAFTON 07/17
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Collection  Adult - Non-Fiction
 
Call Number  813.08 BEST 2000 CRAFTON 07/17
 
 
Jefferson Hills Public Library Fiction FIC HIL
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Mt. Lebanon Public Library Fiction BEST
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Collection  Fiction
 
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Pleasant Hills Public Library Mystery Fic Mys Bes
Location  Pleasant Hills Public Library
 
Collection  Mystery
 
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Shaler North Hills Library Non-Fiction 809.3872 B
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Call Number  809.3872 B
 
 
 
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Bethel Park Public Library Mystery CHECKED OUT
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Collection  Mystery
 
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C.C. Mellor Memorial Library Fiction CHECKED OUT
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Collection  Fiction
 
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Summary
In THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES OF THE CENTURY, best-selling author Tony Hillerman and mystery expert Otto Penzler present an unparalleled treasury of American suspense fiction that every fan will cherish. Offering the finest examples from all reaches of the genre, this collection charts the mystery's eminent history from the turn-of-the-century puzzles of Futrelle, to the seminal pulp fiction of Hammett and Chandler, to the mystery story's rise to legitimacy in the popular mind, a trend that has benefited masterly writers like Westlake, Hunter, and Grafton. Nowhere else can readers find a more thorough, more engaging, more essential distillation of American crime fiction.

Penzler, BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES series editor, and Hillerman, whose Leaphorn/Chee novels have won him multiple Edgar Awards and millions of devotees, winnowed this select group out of a thousand stories, drawing on sources as diverse as ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE and ESQUIRE, COLLIER'S and THE NEW YORKER. Giants of the genre abound -- Raymond Chandler, Stephen King, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Ellery Queen, Sara Paretsky, and others -- but the editors also unearthed gems by luminaries rarely found in suspense anthologies: William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Damon Runyon, Harlan Ellison, James Thurber, and Joyce Carol Oates. Mystery buffs and newcomers alike will delight in the thrilling stories and top-notch writing of a hundred years' worth of the finest suspense, crime, and mystery writing.
Contents
A retrieved reformation / O. Henry
Paul's case / Willa Cather
The problem of cell 13 / Jacques Futrelle
Blind man's buff / Frederick Irving Anderson
Naboth's vineyard / Melville Davisson Post
A jury of her peers / Susan Glaspell
The gutting of Couffignal / Dashiell Hammett
Haircut / Ring Lardner
Blue murder / Wilbur Daniel Steele
The perfect crime / Ben Ray Redman
The baby in the icebox / James M. Cain
The murder / John Steinbeck
Sense of humor / Damon Runyan
Ransom / Pearl S. Buck
Red wind / Raymond Chandler
The catbird seat / James Thurber
Rear window / Cornell Woolrich
An error in chemistry / William Faulkner
The nine mile walk / Harry Kemelman
The adventure of the president's half disme / Ellery Queen
The homesick Buick / John D. MacDonald
Gone girl / Ross Macdonald
The moment of decision / Stanley Ellin
First offense / Evan Hunter
The couple next door / Margaret Millar
The day of the execution / Henry Slesar
The terrapin / Patricia Highsmith
The possibility of evil / Shirley Jackson
The comforts of home / Flannery O'Connor
Good man, bad man / Jerome Weidman
Goodbye, Pops / Joe Gores
The whimper of whipped dogs / Harlan Ellison
The wager / Robert L. Fish
Do with me what you will / Joyce Carol Oates
Quitters, Inc. / Stephen King
The absence of Emily / Jack Ritchie
By the dawn's early light / Lawrence Block
Iris / Stephen Greenleaf
Three-Dot Po / Sara Paretsky
The Parker shotgun / Sue Grafton
Too many crooks / Donald E. Westlake
Hot springs / James Crumley
The dark snow / Brendan DuBois
Red clay / Michael Malone
Poachers / Tom Franklin
Running out of dog / Dennis Lehane.
Published Reviews
Booklist Review: "Just when it seemed safe to think we were through with "best of the century" compilations, here comes one more--but a very good one. Crime fiction presents special challenges to the "best of" compiler, as the genre encompasses so widely divergent a group of styles: puzzle tales, cozies, classic hard-boiled stories, and the contemporary, character-driven approach. Hillerman and Penzler, who has capably shepherded the Best American Mystery Stories annual compilations through its first three installments, prove more than equal to the challenge. Hillerman's selections cross all the borders, paying appropriate homage to the early giants of the American mystery (O. Henry, Ellery Queen) and the hard-boiled masters (Hammett, Chandler, Cain) but devoting plenty of space to the post-1950 set: from John D. MacDonald, Ross Macdonald, and Patricia Highsmith through contempories including Paretsky, Grafton, Crumley, and Block. Numerous nongenre writers (Hemingway, Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor) are also included, recognizing the universality of the crime theme. The best read of the lot: Michael Malone's superb "Red Clay," a melancholy jewel in which there is no wrong word. An automatic purchase for all public libraries. --Bill Ott"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "Hillerman, one of America's most distinguished crime novelists (The First Eagle, The Fallen Man, etc.), and Penzler, Mysterious Bookshops owner and Mysterious Press founder as well as series editor of the publisher's Best American Mystery Stories, have pooled their considerable expertise to pick the 55 tales that make up this hefty compendium. In between O. Henry's "A Retrieved Reformation" (1903) and Dennis Lehane's "Running Out of Dog" (1999), the editors include short gems by classic masters (Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler) and contemporary giants (Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton, Sara Paretsky). Well represented also are authors not usually associated with the field (Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, William Faulkner, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates). In his foreword, Penzler entertainingly describes the formidable and sometimes subjective process of winnowing thousands of possible stories to a manageable number. Hillerman, meanwhile, who made the final selection, comments in his introduction on the genre's evolution from puzzle mystery for an elite readership 100 years ago to something much more substantial and democratic today, taking issue with critics such as Edmund Wilson and Jacques Barzun--who, he says, have failed to appreciate mystery's literary and social worth. Fans are sure to agree with Hillerman. This anthology is a cornerstone volume for any mystery library. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Additional Information
Series Best American series.
Subjects Detective and mystery stories, American.
Short stories, American.
Detective and mystery fiction.
Short stories.
Publisher Boston :Houghton Mifflin Company,2000
Contributors Hillerman, Tony, editor.
Penzler, Otto, editor.
Language English
Description xviii, 813 pages ; 24 cm.
Bibliography Notes Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0618012672
9780618012671
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