The Best American Mystery Stories 2003

by Michael Connelly (Editor), Otto Penzler (Series Editor)

Don't miss this page-turner for the mystery lover
Since its inception in 1915, the Best American series has become the premier annual showcase for the country's finest short fiction and nonfiction. For each volume, a series editor reads pieces from hundreds of periodicals, then selects between fifty and a hundred outstanding works. That selection is pared down to twenty or so very best pieces by a guest editor who is widely recognized as a leading writer in his or her field. This unique system has helped make the Best American series the most respected -- and most popular -- of its kind.
This seventh installment of the premier mystery anthology boasts pulse-quickening stories from all reaches of the genre, selected by the world-renowned mystery writer Michael Connelly. His choices include a Prohibition-era tale of a scorned lover's revenge, a Sherlock Holmesinspired mystery solved by an actor playing the famous detective onstage, stories of a woman's near-fatal search for self-discovery, a bar owner's gutsy attempt to outwit the mob, and a showdown between double-crossing detectives, and a tale of murder by psychology. This year's edition features mystery favorites as well as talented up-and-comers, for a diverse colleciton sure to thrill all readers.

James Crumley Pete Dexter Brendan DuBois Elmore Leonard Walter Mosley Joyce Carol Oates

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Crime, Audiobook

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing — a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.

After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.

After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles, was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly has followed that up with over 30 more novels.

Over eighty million copies of Connelly’s books have sold worldwide and he has been translated into forty-five foreign languages. He has won the Edgar Award, Anthony Award, Macavity Award, Los Angeles Times Best Mystery/Thriller Award, Shamus Award, Dilys Award, Nero Award, Barry Award, Audie Award, Ridley Award, Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), .38 Caliber Award (France), Grand Prix Award (France), Premio Bancarella Award (Italy), and the Pepe Carvalho award (Spain) .

Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael is one of the producers and writers of the TV show, “Bosch,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Michael lives with his family in Los Angeles and Tampa, Florida.

Reviews

[Yigal Zur]

so so. some stories very good and sone of them were sort of forced writing - like they to deliver a story. this never help to creat a good one.

[Erica]

My biggest complaint was that not too many of the stories seemed to be actual mysteries. In the intro, Connelly lays out that he has a broad definition of what constitutes a mystery story - yet I was still surprised at how loose the criteria really were. While all of the stories center on a crime, only a few have a mystery feel to them. Overall it felt more like a collection of crime drama stories. It is worth a read for the few gems...or if you like crime stories and are not set on reading mysteries.

[David Highton]

Like most short story collections, some great, some good, some not so

[Martin]

I picked this up based on Connelly's role as editor. Superior selection of stories. I especially enjoyed the story revolving around the first Sherlock Holmes play.

[Jenni V.]

I have a few words about each story but overall, I enjoyed this book.

The Jukebox King: I didn't completely understand this but it could be user error since I read it in spurts while working.

Aardvark to Aztec: Meh. I'm not off to a great start here, is it me?

The Pickpocket: Not really a mystery per se but still a good story.

After You've Gone: It made me super uncomfortable which I guess meant it was a good story.

Hostages: good.

Death on Denial: fine.

The Jeweler: lots of details but no full-fledged story.

Thug: Signification and the (De) Construction of Self: the idea was good but the execution wasn't. The footnotes were longer than the actual story.

War Can Be Murder: too many people for a short story and heavy-handed on homosexuality.

Richard's Children: good proper mystery with a twist end. I wondered if this group really exists?

When the Women Come Out to Dance: be careful what you wish for.

The Confession: I glossed right over the clue. Good but unrealistic story.

Lavender: it felt long but I didn't mind.

The Skull: open-ended so I can't say for sure but I did think he was shady.

The Dead Their Eyes Implore Us: fine.

Sockdolager: entertaining.

The Adventure of the Agitated Actress: it had a whole lot of bluster for nothing.

Home Sweet Home: really vivid and good.

Controlled Burn: didn't understand ending.

That One Autumn: not really a mystery but good just as a story.

Find all my reviews at: https://readingatrandom.blogspot.com

[Rachel]

3 stars -- some stories were definitely better than others but most were just... 'eh'

[LG]

I liked the first story.
Less interested in the others.

[Nomad nimrod]

Bit disappointed with this collection.

[Charlotte]

There were a few good ones here, but at least three quarters of the stories were too grungy and violent for me. (You'd think my expectations would be better calibrated for reading crime fiction, but apparently not. I'll figure it out one of these days.) I did like Michael Connelly's introduction (why didn't he contribute a story, though?) and the author blurbs at the end. I enjoyed The Pickpocket, The Confession, The Adventure of the Agitated Actress, and That One Autumn. It will perhaps not be shocking that these are the least murder-y pieces in the collection. The rest were too much for me. Time to take a break from this genre.

[Karissa]

As a lover of mystery, I expected to love this book. And while I enjoyed many of the stories in it, the editor uses such a loose definition of “mystery” that I have to agree with some of the authors: their work just doesn’t seem to fit! All that being said, the pieces are enjoyable because none of them feel like they are taking themselves too seriously, the writing isn’t sloppy, and being short stories they all end soon enough. A light read that you can easily make it through in a weekend.

[Bradford D]

This collection of short stories selected by Connelly is a mixed bag (typical for these type of collections). There are only a couple of bad ones (strangely by the most well-known authors). Most are readable, and the ones by Cook, Crumley, Dexter, McKee, Pelacanos, Tinti and Wood are worth the price of the book even without the others.

[Sherry]

Since Michael Connolly is one of My favorite authors, I was curious as to what kind of stories he would choose. Not only was there not one bad story in the lot, he managed to expand the definition of " mystery" stories. I was very pleased with this book.

[Kristi Clemow]

I hated this book. Not because the writing was bad - the authors are good writers. But because the stories were awful. Most of them weren't the mystery stories that I like - and were full of explicit, vulgar stuff that just isn't my thing. Not even going to summarize them they were that bad.

[Greynomad]

good

[Richard Embrey]

entertaining

[Becky]

Great!

[Susan]

A good way to sample a variety of authors and styles.

[Greg]

Doing a bit of genre-related research, I recently revisited BAMS 2002 and 2003. As might be expected, both anthologies are mixed bags. The best of these crime/mystery stories offer a refreshing contrast to the stories of, say, Annie Proulx or Donald Ray Pollack — they portray toughness and despair without fetishistic fascination. The worst of these stories flatten into predictable exercises in genre, their characters flattened for the sake of plot, form, structure.

The star of both these anthologies may be Scott Wolven, who seized my attention with two fine, minimal stories of rural impermanence. His 2005 collection, Controlled Burn, is now on my to-read list.

[Andre]

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 (Michael Connelly, 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.

[Carol]

There were a number of terrific genre bending, disturbing, lyrical and entertaining stories in this collection. I'm a fan of Michael Connelly and it was interesting to see what he liked. The best part of BAMS and BASS series are the comments by the authors at the end of each anthology. I like knowing what the inspiration was and how the work fits in with the rest of the author's work.

[Tuxlie]

Mystery maven Michael Connelly has assembled a standout collection of suspense fiction that is sure to please every discerning fan of the genre.

[Georgene]

A great collection of mystery short stories written by various authors, some of whom I have heard of or read and some that I had not. An interesting collection1