Review by Booklist Review
Penzler bibliophile, author, and owner of New York's Mysterious Bookshop presents stories commissioned by the shop and written by some of today's leading mystery writers. The tales feature books and bibliophiles, and the best of them is easily John Connolly's The Caxton Lending Library and Book Depository, which won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Short Story. One of the most imaginative short stories in any genre, it blurs the line between fiction and reality when a retired accountant begins encountering fictional characters in real life. Hot on its heels in terms of quality is Thomas H. Cook's What's in a Name?, which looks at an alternative life for one of history's worst figures. The remainder of the collection is almost universally enthralling and features beloved gumshoes such as Columbo along with favorite authors including Jeffrey Deaver, C. J. Box, Reed Farrel Coleman, Loren D. Estleman, Laura Lippman, Anne Perry, and Nelson DeMille. A must for mystery shelves.--Verma, Henrietta Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
How many different kinds of crime stories can be centered on books and bookstores? At least 15, based on the number of entries in this superior reprint anthology, each of which originated as a special Christmas publication issued by Penzler's Mysterious Bookshop. In David Bell's moving "Rides a Stranger," a professor learns that his late father, an auto parts salesman with whom he had a strained relationship, may have written a book that's now a valuable collector's item. C.J. Box weighs in with the most intriguingly titled story, the twisty "Pronghorns of the Third Reich," in which an attorney is taken hostage by a man who believes that his father was swindled by someone who used a plane to sell antelopes around the U.S.-and to Hitler. William Link demonstrates that the inverted detective format of his Columbo TV series can be successful in prose form, as the rumpled L.A. investigator looks into the death of a rare book dealer, found pinned under a bookcase, in "Death Leaves a Bookmark." Fans of all mystery subgenres will find something to enjoy. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Mysterious Press editor and bookshop proprietor Penzler has done it again, calling on a formidable cadre of authors to contribute short book-related mysteries. There's not a bad one among the 15, though some shine more brightly. Nazis and the Holocaust figure in several selections, including Reed Farrel Coleman's wry and dry "The Book of Ghosts," C.J. Box's "Pronghorns of the Third Reich," "What's in a Name?" by Thomas H. Cook, and Peter Blauner's "The Final Testament," with a dying Sigmund Freud. TV detective Columbo pesters a murderous nephew in William Link's "Death Leaves a Bookmark," while Laura Lippman's PI Tess Monaghan solves a bookstore theft in "The Book Thing." Jeffery Deaver provides plenty of twists in "An Acceptable Sacrifice," about a wealthy Mexican book collector, and Nelson DeMille's "The Book Case" is a perfect miniature of murder. The best story is the one about a library. John Connolly's prize-winning entry, "The Caxton Lending Library & Book Depository," has touches of magic and a large cast of characters. Verdict For book lovers, short story readers, and fans of the eminent contributors assembled here.-Liz French, Library Journal © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Indefatigable mystery bookseller/editor Penzler (The Big Book of Jack the Ripper, 2016, etc.) has assembledwait for ita collection of 15 stories linking murders to books, originally commissioned between 2011 and 2013 as feuilletons distributed by the Mysterious Bookshop.Despite the name-brand roster of contributors, this is a very mixed bag, like so many of the bags readers and characters alike bring home from used bookstores. Jeffery Deaver's tale of government agents bent on assassinating a villainous Mexican bibliophile is ingenious without being memorable. Bookcases crush booksellers to no great effect in Nelson DeMille's (twisty and lightweight) and William Link's (a guilty noir pleasure). C.J. Box, Peter Blauner, and Thomas H. Cook all root their tales in the history of World War II: Blauner's duel between the dying Sigmund Freud and a would-be Third Reich blackmailer has the intensity of a good tennis match; Cook's counterfactual anecdote makes much of a surprise that won't surprise most readers; Box's Western contribution to wartime intrigue defies classification or belief, even if it's all true. Ken Bruen is tiresomely tough (lots of one-word paragraphs), Andrew Taylor tiresomely literary. Reed Farrel Coleman and Loren D. Estleman recycle familiar formulas with professional briskness; Max Allan Collins' completion of a Mickey Spillane story inflates the formula without varying it. Laura Lippman, Anne Perry, and David Bell provide promising premises that peter out gracefully and often touchingly. Even the prize here, John Connolly's Edgar-winning tale of a book lover who stumbles onto the strangest library in the world, is more notable for its lovely proposition than its execution. No matter. Readers who love books will love reading about books, the people who love them, the people who kill for them, and the people who kill with themoften the very same people. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
