The Best American Mystery Stories 2005

by Joyce Carol Oates (Editor), Otto Penzler (Series Editor)

The Best American series has been the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction since 1915. Each volume's series editor selects notable works from hundreds of periodicals. A special guest editor, a leading writer in the field, then chooses the very best twenty or so pieces to publish. This unique system has made the Best American series the most respected--and most popular--of its kind.

The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 includes

Scott Turow • Edward P. Jones • Louise Erdrich • Dennis Lehane • Daniel Handler • Laura Lippman • George V. Higgins • David Means • Richard Burgin • Scott Wolven • Stuart M. Kaminsky • and others

Joyce Carol Oates, guest editor, is a highly respected novelist, critic, playwright, poet, and short story writer. She is the author of numerous books, including the National Book Award winner Them and most recently the novel The Falls.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Mystery Thriller

324 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Joyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.

Reviews

[S.R. Hughes · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strong collection of mystery/pulp stories. None come across as particularly weak, but as with any anthology collection...enjoyment of the individual parts is largely subjective. I didn't hate any of them, but I wasn't floored by all of them.

My personal favorites:

Old Boys, Old Girls, Edward P. Jones
Until Gwen, Dennis Lehane
Sault St. Marie, David Means
Officers Weep, Daniel Orozco
The Love of a Strong Man, Oz Spies

As Joyce Carol Oates mentions in the forward, the stories represent an excellent examination of mundane violence and the consequences thereof. These are tales of lives riven and defined by moments of brutality. And many of them do a fantastic job.

I recommend the book to anyone who enjoys mystery, thriller, noir, or pulp.

[Karen]

There were a few standout stories here for me, but mostly this felt like a big pile of Same. Basically, Joyce Carol Oates likes dark stories of the American working class underbelly, heavy on on-the-lam grifters and skeevy predators. No big surprise there, I guess. But I was surprised at how similar her picks were, tonally. After putting the book down I feel like I could have been reading one voice the whole time--and it was Dennis Lehane.

That said, Louise Erdrich's story about a small town's dark past is a bright spot, as is David Rachel's "The Last Man I Killed," which breaks away from the field with a highly educated, crafty, and unreliable academic narrator. Daniel Handler's "Delmonico," which I'd read somewhere else previously, is a clever and atmospheric tale that's neither grisly nor perverse. Hooray.

The rest of the stories in the collection are well-told--in particular, Scott Wolven's "Barracuda" and George V. Higgins's "Jack Duggan's Law" are sharp as knives--but they didn't really grab me. And I was surprised at how little actual mystery there is here. Is "mystery" now code for "crime thriller?" Maybe so, or maybe it was just JCO's tastes skewing that direction.

Speaking of editorial picks, out of a TOC of 20 stories, care to guess how many were by women? Yeah. Two. I guess women don't write or read mysteries, crime fiction, noir, or thrillers. One is by Louise Erdrich, one by Laura Lippman. I counted up the names in the 2007 edition (Carl Hiassen, Ed.), which is the next one on my desk. Out of another 20 stories, three are by women. Care to guess who they are? Louise Erdrich, Laura Lippman. And Joyce Carol Oates.

That's kind of a noir-ish twist in itself, ain't it?

[Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a used copy of this book as a gift a year or two ago, and since then I've picked it up here and there when I was looking for something to read in the bathtub. During and after our recent California vacation, I started reading it in earnest. The stories in this volume are often quite literary; the term "mystery stories" is pretty flexible. This collection is like a Best American Short Stories or O. Henry prize collection—except that the stories tend to have more gripping plots and involve some kind of suspense or crime or secret. I'd like to read more of these, and in fact I've checked the 2014 collection, guest edited by Laura Lippman, out of the library.

Favorite Stories
"Disaster Stamps of Pluto," by Louise Erdrich—actually I read this one when it was in the New Yorker
"The Shoeshine Man's Regrets," by Laura Lippman
"When All This Was Bay Ridge," by Tim McLoughlin
"The Last Man I Killed," by David Rachel
"Cruisers," by John Sayles
"Reconstruction," by Sam Shaw

[Lee Battersby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I seem to be in the minority in that I've never liked Joyce Carol Oates' work, finding it largely pretentious, uninspired, and often startlingly unoriginal. Thankfully, despite a couple of tales that echo these attributes, Oates' guest editorship of this series goes better than I had expected. A couple of stories-- Disaster Stamps of Pluto, by Louise Erdrich and Officers Weep, by Daniel Orozco, stand out as exceptional examples of any type of storytelling.

A solid anthology, with only a few weak spots where stories stray towards pointless maunderings. Not the best in the series, but not, by any stretch, as bad as I had feared from the name on the cover.

[Steven Belanger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good collection, the kind that makes you want to write better yourself. Maybe one or two I thought were meh, but that’s not bad at all for anthos like these, and the two I thought meh might knock your socks off.

The very, very good ones were by Louise Erdrich, Daniel Handler, Edward P. Jones, and, well, all but two or three are that good.

But the absolute best was Dennis Lehane’s “Until Gwen.” Shockingly good. This is the one worth checking the whole book out for. I didn’t care for a couple of these, but all the rest I would’ve been proud to have written. For Lehane’s I might’ve sacrificed someone special.

Most collections like this are hit or miss, but this one’s a keeper. Check this one out.

[John Boyda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I’m forced to give this volume 3 stars, I wanted to go with 2 and a half. Though the writing was good, the stories in this collection were not what I consider traditional mysteries. In fact, to me the greatest mystery was why some were included! I’ve enjoyed other annuals in this series of books but I never realized how much the editor influenced the content of each. This one definitely shows the influence and taste of Oates, an author whom I’ve never followed. For some it might be excellent, but not me!

[Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really need to stop buying these collections. The first few stories were okay, but most of them were so awful I could barely get past the first page. One story was just a wall of text. I'm glad I only paid $1 for it. Would have been better free, but at least the money went to the library.

[Peter Metcalfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A goodly collection of great variety

[Zhenyu Towne · Rating 4 out of 5]

不错的类型文学anthology 我本期待是一些whodunit的拼凑 没想到从Old Boys, Old Girls开始渐入佳境 非常喜欢这篇的nourish氛围 Until Gwen读到结尾被催泪 除了标题的mystery 还有非常丰富的 在暴力事件发生后作为当事人或是旁观者的主角 如何继续走下去 非常好奇25年的这个集子是什么境况

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick points:
- Easy to see how each story reflects Oates' personal history, which seems to influence her own writing
- All worthwhile reads but here are the stories that stick with me: "The Identity Club" by Richard Burgin; "Delmonico" by Daniel Handler; "Jack Duggan's Law" by George V. Higgins; "The Shooting of John Roy Worth" by Stuart M. Kaminsky; "Until Gwen" by Dennis Lehane; "The Shoeshine Man's Regrets" by Laura Lippman; "Case Closed" by Lou Manfredo; "Public Trouble" by Kent Nelson; "Officers Weep" by Daniel Orozco; "The Last Man I Killed" by David Rachel; "One Mississippi" by Joseph Raiche; "The Love of a Strong Man" by Oz Spies.
- I'm not going to attempt to provide a summary and analysis of these stories. I mean, how do you compete with Oates? Especially when she takes Edmund Wilson (!) to task for his characterization of mystery stories as being overwrought and focused too intently on the plot.

[Kathy Ahn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this off my shelf thinking I hadn't read it, but apparently I'd had so this is my re-read review. The stories are great and in true JCO fashion, oftentimes more psychological thrillers/mysteries than what you would traditionally call a mystery story. I haven't read any of the other Best American Mystery collections so I don't have anything to compare it, but I really enjoyed this one. My favorite story is "Disaster Stamps of Pluto" by Louise Erdich about a town that's fading away and its last historic society member tells of her own tragic history.

[James Mourgos · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hate to say it, but I did not get a lot out of these stories. I would read one, it would be somewhat interesting and then end flat, leaving me with the feeling of being cheated. Kinda like eating stone crackers with no water or salt. Tasteless. Bland. And sadly, I could not finish this thick book.

Rather, I picked up its companion, Best American Fantastic Tales, and this reads much better.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good picks in here. Joyce Carol Oates has good taste. Some, like the excellent Disaster Stamps of Pluto, are effete submissions from accomplished names like Louise Erdrich. Others, including the opening story, The Identity Club, are a little clunky, but still enjoyable. Lots of creative things going on with structure and style (Officers Weep.) I also love the clever and poignant The Last Man I Killed (dark ending.)

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these collections! Some real standouts. Can't say any of the stories are bad. John Sayles just may be one of my new favorite writers. He's been in a couple of these collections, I hadn't heard of him before, now I'm going to be looking for more by him. Very nuanced writer. I like him a lot. If you like short stories, this is a great book. All different styles of mystery, all in one volume. Delightful.

[Andre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Come December, I head for Vrooman's and look for the latest installment in the series. Every year's collection is put together by publisher Otto Penzler and new guest editor (Joyce Carol Oates, in this case). Some years are better than others, but none are dogs. These are great books to bring along while traveling — because they're easier to put down.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

Usually I love these compilations of short stories, but this one was simply depressing. It seemed like the main character dies in almost all of them. So you build up this attachment to the characters and then they all die in horrible ways. Some of the stories weren't mysteries either. So I would skip this one!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I repeatedly had to stifle laughter while reading Daniel Orozco's "Officers Weep," which hilariously sends up that sole reason to subscribe to a small-town newspaper, the police blotter. The entries by Erdrich and Higgins are great as well.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a great collection of short mystery stories. They weren't the kind of mysteries one might expect - they actually felt more like crime stories than any sort of mystery to me - but overall a good read. Favorite story was "Delmonico".

[Ana Valle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the stories were from the perspective of those who commit crimes and were interesting reads although not necessarily memorable. However, the short story "One Mississippi" was insightful, tragic, and haunting. Highly recommend it.

[Sandy Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast read, entertaining

[Marbree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story in here by Oz Spies.

[Ann M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional collection.

[Peter Macinnis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. A few mysteries in the classic mould, the rest seemed more like "True Crime". Well crafted, but that was about it. I think I'm getting out of date . . .

[Jeremy Wagner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This edition is packed with absolutely stellar stories. The Dennis LeHane story, "Until Gwen," is my favorite...

[Mardell · Rating 4 out of 5]

They are all different and all great stories. A well selected diversity of mysteries!

[Vince Darcangelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Best stories:

Richard Burgin: "The Identity Club"
Daniel Handler: "Delmonico"
Tim McLoughlin: "When All This Was Bay Ridge"
Joseph Raiche: "One Mississippi" (amazing)
Scott Turow: "Loyalty"

[Pranay Dharmale · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first BAMS. Great collection.

[Lolese · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like any compilation, some stories were better than others. I'd probably have given it a 2.5 stars if that had been an option.

[Roberts]

-- Loyalty by Scott Turow