from: Houghton Mifflin
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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.087208
EAN num: 9780395939185
ISBN number: 0395939186
Label: Houghton Mifflin
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: October 26, 2000
Publishing house: Houghton Mifflin
Sale Popularity Level: 471496
Studio: Houghton Mifflin
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
After just three years, THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES series is already a great success, earning raves from such diverse sources as Joyce Carol Oates, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, and ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. Little wonder, given the power of the Best American brand, the talent of the series editor, Otto Penzler, and the high profile of the guest editors. Now, with the legendary mystery writer Donald E. Westlake as guest editor, the 2000 edition is sure to boost the series' popularity even more. From Þfty exceptional stories chosen by Penzler, Westlake has selected the twenty best, including stories by Tom Franklin, Jeffery Deaver, Shel Silverstein, and Dennis Lehane, for a collection that will delight mystery buffs and casual readers alike.
Amazon.com Review:
'It has been said that jazz and the short story are the two American contributions to the world of art, and they do seem to have at least this one thing in common: both are engaged in by the practitioner primarily for the love of doing it,' begins editor Donald E. Westlake in the introduction to The Best American Mystery Stories 2000. Over the last three years, this series has become an annually awaited delight in the October mystery lineup, with series editor Otto Penzler providing the backbeat and writers like Ed McBain, Sue Grafton, and Tony Hillerman providing the editorial riffs that make each volume unique. Here, Westlake has helped produce an appropriately dark collection with a few sardonic chops, like the late Shel Silverstein's 'The Guilty Party' and Bentley Dadmun's 'Annie's Dream.'
The contributors are nicely balanced between big names like Jeffery Deaver and Dennis Lehane; short-story stalwarts like Barbara D'Amato, Tom Franklin, and Doug Allyn; and newcomers like Geary Danihy, whose very first published story, 'Jumping with Jim,' adds a Conradian twist to the story mix. The nice thing about mystery short stories vis-à-vis novels is that they rarely sacrifice the elements of plot and motive to the whimsy of character development. These in particular use the classic themes well, from jealousy and revenge in Deaver's 'Triangle' (where the murderer's identity is given a surprise fillip), D'Amato's 'Motel 66,' and Lehane's 'Running Out of Dog,' to professional rivalry in Edward Lee's 'ICU' (the title of which is a very dark pun indeed), to sheer disgust in Allyn's graceful 'Miracles! Happen!' and Robert Girardi's 'The Defenestration of Aba Sid.' If there is any weakness to the collection, it might be the preponderance of Southern and rural story settings, but that also helps give it the uniquely American flavor this series is known for. Think of it like a good Glenn Miller album: it may not push the envelope of the art, but it's got more than enough variety to keep any fan of American mystery entertained through more than one long autumn evening. --Barrie Trinkle
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Rated by buyers 
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The recorded cassettes include only eight of the stories, and their range is spotty. As with other reviewers, I was amused by "The Guilty Party", not knowing the premise and wondering what Silverstein was even doing here.
"Motel 66" is also a fine story, and "Grit" was suitably gritty in its collection of low-life characters and theme. Texas-based "Compass Rose" caught my attention, perhaps because its language and dialogue reflected its setting of nearly 100 years ago, and I thought read Eric Conger was especially fitting. The story ended abruptly, without the confrontation I expected. Eric Conger's voice also matched well in "Grit".
"Forgetting the Girl" and "Wrong Numbers" were relatively unpleasant. If I were reading the book instead of listening, I probably would have bailed on them and moved on.
Rated by buyers -
I'm not the biggest fan of mystery stories, so I was unsure of how much I would like this collection. I was surprised at how much I liked it. There were a few that I didn't like that much, but most of them were good stories and most were well written. They ranged from ok to good, better, and on up to great stories like Shel Silverstein's story, Edward Lee's twisted story "ICU", and what i think was the best, Robert Girardi's "The Defenestration of Aba Sid", which is his 'anti-Grisham' story. A great deal of the selections here come from books and there is no surprise that both Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine both had three stories in here (the most from any one place). I suppose it's because there aren't many genre magazines anymore, but a few of these stories very first appeared in literary magazines. The book is a little longer (around 480 pages) than those in The Best American Short Story series, but mystery stories need a little time to unfold. It's a good selection for the mystery reader (no matter which 'type' of mystery story you like) and for those of us who don't normally read the genre.
Rated by buyers 
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"Best American Mystery Stories 2000" lives up to its title. It is a varied collection of (mostly) fine mystery and crime stories, many by up and coming authors. I'll confess that two or three of them didn't work for me, but that's a very small number in a book than contains 20 stories and nearly 480 pages of text. My two favorites were by two of the few old names in the collection. Dennis Lehane spins an excellent down south slice of life tale in "Running Out of Dog," while longtime television writer and children's author, the late Shel Silverstein, chimes in with the light-in-tone but still serious courtroom story "The Guilty Party." Doug Allyn contributes a fine private eye tale with "Miracles! Happen!" while Barbara D'Amato spins an on-the-road yarn with a twist in "Motel 66." Also very first rate are Tom Franklin's "Grit," and the down and dirty gangster in the hospital tale "ICU."
Basically, there's a mystery story here for just about every type of mystery fan, from hard-boiled detective tales, to crime stories, to amature sleuths to compelling whodunnits? Modern short stories do not get nearly the audience they should, and this is a book that deserves to be read.
(Note: The 2000 "Best Mystery Stories" collection is far superior to the 2001 anthology, mostly because it has a better variety of stories).
Rated by buyers -
In this anthology, Donald E. Westlake includes a lot of new authors who have not yet published their very first novel. I had trouble following some of the stories after reaching their conclusion (GHOSTS by David Beaty), but others show real promise for the future.
One of my favorite stories is MOTEL 66 by Barbara D'Amato. It is a fairly short story that packs a lot of suspense and intrigue. The story takes place at different points in time (1971, 1985, and 1999) in which two events that happened in 1971 come full circle in 1999. There is no real ending to this story except for the one in the reader's mind. This is what a good short story should be like. It should leave the reader wondering what will happen after all the stories secrets are revealed. Another one of my favorites is WRONG NUMBERS by Josh Pryor.
There are some other good stories in the anthology written by Dennis Lehane, Shel Silverstein and Jeffery Deaver.
Rated by buyers -
...This book was a pleasant exception to the anthologies-are-boring rule. It was a fun read and I could not find any story that I didn't like. It was worth every penny. Definitely check it out. I loved it and I'm giving a fiver!
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