The Best American Crime Writing 2006

by Mark Bowden (Editor), Otto Penzler (Series Editor), Thomas H. Cook (Series Editor)

A sterling collection of the year's most shocking, compelling, and gripping writing about real-life crime, the 2006 edition of The Best American Crime Writing offers fascinating vicarious journeys into a world of felons and their felonious acts. This thrilling compendium includes:


Jeffrey Toobin's eye-opening exposé in The New Yorker about a famous prosecutor who may have put the wrong man on death row


Skip Hollandsworth's amazing but true tale of an old cowboy bank robber who turned out to be a "classic good-hearted Texas woman"


Jimmy Breslin's stellar piece about the end of the Mob as we know it

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Short Stories, Anthologies, Ebooks, Essays

352 pages, Paperback

First published September 5, 2006

About the author

Mark Bowden is an American journalist and writer. He is a former national correspondent and longtime contributor to The Atlantic. Bowden is best known for his book Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War (1999) about the 1993 U.S. military raid in Mogadishu, which was later adapted into a motion picture of the same name that received two Academy Awards.
Bowden is also known for the books Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw (2001), about the efforts to take down Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, and Hue 1968, an account of the Battle of Huế.

Reviews

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fine read from this series! All kinds of crimes, some of them extremely odd, or frustrating, or just incomprehensible. Each chapter -- formerly an article from a periodical -- does a good job of discussing the case in question. Some of the cases have whole books written about them, but the articles here are all good, satisfying reads in themselves.

[Tomasz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can't say if this is really THE best American crime writing, but there's certainly a lot of fine crime writing in there. Some of the stories are astonishing, some - genuinely disturbing. A very good selection, that's for sure.

[Jane Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most stories are interesting, but 2009 edition is better.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great book full of interesting and diverse stories. Highly recommend to anyone with even a passing interest in true crime.

[Randy Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Wide-Ranging Collection Of Fascinating True Crime Stories

This is a feast of delights for the true crime fan. Here you will find well-written and deeply researched stories on corrupt cops, high-end prostitutes, feuding neighbors, corrupt soldiers, pedophile teachers, a bank robber, an evil doctor, an unlucky lottery winner, a corrupt prosecutor, and more. If you like true crime, I highly recommend this book and the entire series.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a long while to read this book because it really kind of bored me. The writing was fine, but I guess I have watched and read so many true crime shows, books and articles that I felt I had already read it.

This is a really good author. He has written a lot of great books. This one just didn’t do much for me.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredible collection of true crime journalism. It's utterly fascinating what crimes are committed and how powerful some of these long form articles are that uncover them. From the New Yorker to Texas Monthly, this is a best of the best in crime reporting and journalism.

[Dipra Lahiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

First class reporting all through, investigated in depth and written in fluent narrative. One minor quibble is that some stories that deal with past convictions are repetitive.

[Marianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good collection of stories.

[Rica · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these anthologies.

[Pete Iseppi · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many interesting stories in this book, however, all you really need to do to get stories like these on a daily basis is watch the T.V. news. What a world.

[Lizabeth Tucker · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection of magazine and newspaper articles on various crimes and criminals is edited by Mark Bowden. The series is edited by Otto Penzler and Thomas H. Cook and would be found in the True Crime section of your library and/or book store. These articles were published for the first time in 2006.

As a true crime buff, I was acquainted with many of the cases written about. Some examples include:

A murdering/raping Roman Catholic priest who was protected by both the church and the district attorney in the victim's town. He has since left the church, but it still being protected despite everyone knowing that he is guilty of at least one murder and a minimum of two rapes.

A woman who suddenly decided to rob banks while dressed as a man.

A lottery winner whose bad decisions invites others to take advantage of him.

Two New York City detectives who hired out as hitmen for the mob.

If you like true crime, but don't have the time to delve into a full sized book or simply want to know a little about a lot of crimes, this might be the book for you. Every story also includes a coda in which you may learn about what happened after the article was written, or the reactions of the people involved in the story. I enjoyed this collection enough to think about looking for other years in the past.

[Phayvanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love collections, because I have short attention span, but crime writers really cater to short attention span audiences, which is one of the reasons the Best American Crime Writing is one of my favorite annuals collections.

Not only are the stories themselves intriguing, like the aging bank robbing woman, but the writing is really tight and keeps me reading. These would easily have made it into the Best American Short Stories collections for their great writing--if only the stories weren't true.

This year's edition is already out, so I'll have to read that one, too.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You’re reading this book about horrible / bizarre crimes, and you think it can’t get any more horrible / bizarre, but then you turn to the next chapter, and there it is. Take Jason Itzler, please. He’s the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest escort-agency owner” charging $2,000 an hour (two hour minimum) for his “escorts”. And if you think that is staggering, think about his fee of $250,000 per hour (four hour minimum) for Paris Hilton. All of the chapters in this book are (unfortunately) true.

[Krista · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love anthologies. It's like someone finds the best of the best just for me to read. True crime investigative articles have always infatuated me, which is probably connected to my long career in journalism. This collection was especially fantastic because several of the selections were about Tucson or Phoenix.

[Tes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had thought that this would be murder mystery material but it turns out that these are true stories & the awards are for the writing not the subject matter. I was going to stop reading when I discovered this but then I had to find out what happened & so I had to read each unbelievable story.

[Jonathan Worlde · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started reading these anthologies in 2006 and read every one I could get my hands on, incredible stories. Unfortunatley the publishers didn't bring out collections for 2011 or 2012 so I've just gone back in time and read the 2006 and 2004 editions.

[Noreen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best story in the 2006 collection is Dr Evil by S. C. Gwynne page 161. Dr Eric Heston Scheffey. Buyer beware. If you're having spine surgery get a second and third opinion even if you have to pay for it.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not going to lie, most of the crime stories in this collection were very good, but the 2 mafia stories I skipped..and wish I had skipped the story by Paige Williams, she doesn't belong in this collection at all

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

best one yet, in my opinion

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of course it's excellent! I'm in it! ; )

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Killer (yes, pun intended) variety of stories about people you don't want to date, marry, divorce, move next door to or cut off on the highway. Seriously.

[Joe Noir · Rating 3 out of 5]

All the volumes in this series are good. Non-fiction crime from a variety of sources, and covering a multitude of sins.

[Jamison Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting as always, but lacking the usual couple of essays that really blow me a way and linger.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it! I'm also inside of it! See the story "Sex Thief." Yes, I wrote that!

[Matt Nix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of really interesting stories in this collection.

[junia]

Too creepy