Deadly Anniversaries

March 2, 2020
Anniversaries of all kinds are the source of mayhem for the 19 stories in this entertaining all-original anthology from MWA grand masters Muller and Pronzini (the Sabrina Carpenter series). Wedding anniversaries feature prominently, as in Max Allan Collins’s diverting “Amazing Grace,” in which a 50th anniversary cake becomes the catalyst for murder. Historical anniversaries, meanwhile, are central to Lee Child’s clever “Normal in Every Way,” in which knowledge of key dates from WWII enables a police file clerk to target a serial killer in 1950s San Francisco. Series characters also appear, notably the mother of S.J. Rozan’s Lydia Chin in “Chin Yong-Sun Sets the Date,” in which the mother foils an attempt to sabotage one wedding engagement and smooths the way for another. On a lighter note, a pair of redneck thieves in Julie Smith’s “Whodat Heist” pull off a big score on Superbowl Sunday only to be once again outmatched by their female partner. Other contributors include Jeffery Deaver, Laurie R. King, Peter Lovesey, and Margaret Maron. This is a must for mystery fans.

March 1, 2020
The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Mystery Writers of America, which bestows the Edgar Awards, is celebrated in high style with this stellar anthology, which brings together previously unpublished stories from 20 genre luminaries, all past Edgar winners, MWA presidents, or Grand Masters (the organization's highest award, for an author's body of work). Edited by two past Grand Masters, Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini, the stories range across all variety of crime fiction, from noir to puzzle-centered mysteries to detective stories, but each introduces a variation on the anniversary theme; whether it's a wedding or a retirement or a tragedy that drives the plot, the authors find a way to spin the memorable occasion into crime. Highlights? Pick from random on the contents page. This is an anthology well worthy of a diamond jubilee, though particular note should be made of S. J. Rozan's delightful "Chin Yong-Un Sets the Date," in which an enterprising mother uses a bit of sleuthing to bring two families together. But whatever your taste in mystery, there's a marquee author here (Child, Lippman, Maron, and many more) to deliver the goods.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)