PDQ thrillers

The Best American

Mystery Stories 2002

Edited by James Ellroy and Otto Penzler

Mariner Books: 320 pp., $13 paper

*

I, Richard

Elizabeth George

Bantam: 256 pp., $21.95

*

Enough Rope

Lawrence Block

William Morrow: 896 pp., $29.95

*

Tart Noir

Edited by Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson

Berkley/Prime Crime: 320 pp., $13 paper

*

Murder on Sunset Boulevard

Edited by Rochelle Krich, Michael Mallory and Lisa Seidman

Top Publications: 230 pp., $12.95 paper

*

Murder, Mystery and Malone

Craig Rice

Crippen & Landru: 198 pp., $17 paper

*

Hildegarde Withers

Uncollected Riddles

Stuart Palmer

Crippen & Landru: 200 pp., $19 paper

*

Rumpole Rests His Case

John Mortimer

Viking: 212 pp., $24.95

*

A good short crime story is like a “knocked back cocktail,” James Ellroy tells us in his typically jazzy introduction to “The Best American Mystery Stories 2002.” “It hits strong, it’s over quick, it induces heat and lingers when it’s done.” A sampling of the 20 tales that he and Otto Penzler consider the best of last year’s crop tends to back up that analogy. Imbibing Michael Malone’s darkly funny Southern gothic tale “Maniac Loose,” or the Brendan Dubois entry that pits a Little League coach with a dark past against an abrasive baseball dad, or Joyce Carol Oates’ chilling exploration of the mind of a suspense writer can be a heady experience.

That the book features recent work by these and other bestselling novelists, such as Robert B. Parker and Michael Connelly, is an indication that the mystery short story, which had been drifting in the direction of such infrequently employed literary formats as the epic poem or the novel of whimsy, has returned to prominence with a vengeance.

One reason for the form’s descent into the maelstrom had been the decline of fiction-bearing magazines. Its recent rebirth (the Amazon.com Web site lists more than 1,200 crime story collections) has been largely due to a cadre of anthologists who have proved to publishers’ satisfaction that groupings of original short works can turn a profit.

Chief among them are the aforementioned bookman-essayist Penzler; the ubiquitous Martin H. Greenberg, a co-editor of countless anthologies (more than 100 since 1990); his frequent cohort in crime-editing, novelist Ed Gorman; Robert Randisi, whose compilations usually feature members of the Private Eye Writers of America, an organization he founded; and Marilyn Wallace, the primary editor of what has become a continuing series of collections by the members of Sisters in Crime.

The fate of these anthologies depends heavily on the participation of famous authors whom the editors are able to intrigue or cajole or guilt-trip into trying their hands at the short form for considerably shortened monetary compensation. A prime example is Elizabeth George, the popular Orange County author whose novels set in England usually run to 400-plus pages. She was moved to minimize by an invitation to contribute to the second Sisters in Crime anthology. The result, reworked and renamed “Exposure,” is one of five novellas that constitute her new book, “I, Richard.”

In spite of an ominous night-on-the-moors dust jacket, several of the quintet are surprisingly light in tone, satirically skewering a variety of unpleasant types while paying homage to time-honored plot devices. There’s a whodunit enhanced by her series hero Thomas Lynley and a smattering of British architecture history, a horror story involving rodents, the chronicle of a widow’s reaction to the surfacing of secrets from her late husband’s past and two accounts of wannabe perfect murderers on the way to their inevitable comeuppances. As engaging as George’s writing is, these tales all seem a bit too familiar. You half expect them to lead into the black-and-white appearance of Alfred Hitchcock delivering a closing quip.

Though George’s shorter works were written after she had established her bestseller bona fides, the bulk of the 84 stories in Lawrence Block’s “Enough Rope” were penned before and during his rise to prominence. Among them you will find surprise endings (“Sometimes They Bite”), playful riffs on suspense conventions (“Strangers on a Handball Court”), even twisted shaggy dog stories (“One Thousand Dollars a Word”).

Most of the author’s popular protagonists are present, including the cheery but sinister defense attorney Martin Ehrengraf (with 10 successful cases); Bernie Rhodenbarr, who finances his used bookstore with burglaries (three thefts here, including a classic involving Elvis Presley’s revered homestead); the wistful assassin Keller (five hits); and, best of all, Block’s pensive private eye Matthew Scudder (with nine superb sleuthings).

It is a bit of a leap from Block’s tales to “Tart Noir” with its martini and stiletto heel-bedecked cover. Edited by British authors Stella Duffy and Lauren Henderson, the book promises entries featuring “20 edgy, outrageous, and badly behaved heroines.” Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum would seem to be the exemplar for this group, but, alas, she is a noticeable absentee. And in fact, these tarts may be bold and brassy, but they’re not having much fun. By and large, they’re angry, resentful and/or homicidal and their stories, while rich in attitude, are generally lacking in style or substance.

There are a few exceptions. Jenny Colgan has delivered a stirring action-adventure yarn in which an administrative assistant in Britain’s secret service takes “The Wrong Train” in the London Underground. Lauren Henderson extracts every bit of amusement from Lady Macbeth, Medea and Phaedra discussing their dysfunctional families on a confessional TV show. And Laura Lippman comes through with a shrewdly satirical tale of a woman seeking surcease from the smothering effect of an over-possessive husband.

The selections in the Southern California Sisters in Crime concoction, “Murder on Sunset Boulevard,” provide much better measure for measure. The authors’ use of this city’s famously noir boulevard is generally imaginative and organic to plots that are properly dark and satisfying.

Even in the short story’s heyday, a collection devoted to humorous crime was a rarity. It is further evidence of the format’s revival that three are currently available. “Murder, Mystery and Malone” by Craig Rice and “Hildegarde Withers: Uncollected Riddles” by Stuart Palmer are the latest trade paperbacks in publisher Crippen & Landru’s “Lost Classics Series.” Not only do they demonstrate how charming, funny and durable the short form can be, they call attention to two wonderful but nearly forgotten characters from the genre’s past.

The often besotted but never less than brilliant Chicago criminal lawyer John J. Malone was popular enough in his day to land his author on the cover of Time magazine. Withers, the acerbic schoolteacher who can’t keep her nose out of murder, served as the subject of several movies and at least two television pilots.

Palmer’s previously uncollected Withers “Riddles” date to the 1930s -- little gems of wit and deduction set in Manhattan in the midst of the Great Depression. The stories in “Murder, Mystery and Malone” are from the 1950s, Rice’s final decade. Though suffering from depression, alcoholism and neurological disorders, she somehow was able to produce these effervescent, unique, beautifully crafted wonders. She also had a little help. The publisher made a post-publication discovery: One of the stories in the collection was ghost-written by Lawrence Block. It’s offering a free book from its list to the first reader who can sift out the pseudo Rice.

The third new book of comic crime stories, John Mortimer’s “Rumpole Rests His Case,” finds the grumpy, rumpled barrister continuing to mock the British legal system while railing against snobbery, fads and the sort of politically correct small-mindedness that forces him to leave his chambers to enjoy a mid-afternoon stogie.

Horace Rumpole’s international fame probably stems from his television adventures (on PBS’ “Mystery!” series). However, the courageous curmudgeon is just as entertaining on the page, a point underscored by the fact that his courtroom capers now fill 12 volumes. Leo McKern, the actor who perfectly embodied the character for more than 20 years, passed away recently, and the new collection’s title and final story suggest that Rumpole may be following his example.

But fans shouldn’t approach the book fearing the beloved barrister’s mortal farewell. Though the series’ literary future seems doubtful, Mortimer is too wily a wordsmith to cancel all options. Especially when Rumpole’s favorite format seems to be on the upswing.