100 Malicious Little Mysteries

by Isaac Asimov (Editor), Joseph D. Olander, Edward Wellen (Contributor)

Charmingly insidious and satisfyingly devious, these 100 baffling little mysteries—selected by such prominent authors as Isaac Asimov—are just the thing to suit your most malevolent mood. These tales come from the pen of many well-known writers in the field, including Michael Gilbert, Edward Wellen, Edward D. Hack, Bill Bronzini, Lawrence Treat, and Francis Nevins, Jr. Whether it’s “The Unfriendly Neighbor,” or a “Class Reunion,” “A Recipe for Revenge,” or “An Exercise in Insurance,” these stories are sure to keep you up all night, puzzling over their possible solutions. Each one has its own particular and irresistible appeal: an unexpected twist, a delectable puzzle, a devastating revelation, or perhaps even a refreshing display of pernicious spite.

Six Words by Lew Gillis
The Little Things by Isaac Asimov
A Matter of Life and Death by Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg
Perfect Pigeon by Carroll Mayers
The Cop Who Hated Flowers by Henry Slesar
Trick or Treat by Judith Garner
Twice Around the Block by Lawrence Treat
An Easy Score by Al Nussbaum
The Good Lord Will Provide by Lawrence Treat and Charles M. Plotz
Boomerang by Harold Q. Masur
The Way It's Supposed to Be by Elsin Ann Graffam
Thank You Mr Thurston by Ed Dumonte
Funeral Music by Francis M. Nevins Jr.
Murder Will Out by Edward Wellen
An Insignificant Crime by Maxine O'Callaghan
The Stray Bullet by Gary Brandner
A Night Out with the Boys by Elsin Ann Graffam
Office Party by Mary Bradford
Come the Dawn by Michael Kurland
Acting Job by Richard Deming
The Last Smile by Henry Slesar
Grief Counselor by Julie Smith
The Best Place by A. F. Oreshnik
Dead End by Alvin S. Flick
Pure Rotten by John Lutz
Grounds for Divorce by James Holding
Inside Out by Barry N. Malzberg
The Bell
and The Box by Isak Romun
The Physician and the Opium Fiend by R. L. Stevens
Over the Borderline by Jeff Sweet
It Could Happen to You by John Lutz
Class Reunion by Charles Boeckman
The Way It Is Now by Elaine Slater
The Hot Rock by James McKimmey
A Puff of Orange Smoke by Lael J. Littke
The Chicken Player by Joe L. Hensley
Nothing but Bad News by Henry Slesar
The Quick and the Dead by Helen McCloy
An Exercise in Insurance by James Holding
The Old Heap by Alvin S. Fick
As the Wheel Turns by Jane Speed
Knit One Purl Two by Thomasina Weber
The Paternal Instinct by Al Nussbaum
What Kind Person Are You by Bill Pronzini and Barry N. Malzberg
Shatter Proof by Jack Ritchie
Out of Order by Carl Henry Rathjen
The Handy Man by Marion M. Markham
Nightmare by Elaine Slater
Recipe for Revenge by Jane Speed
Sweet Fever by Bill Pronzini
Two Postludes by Isak Romun
A Deal in Diamonds by Edward D. Hoch
The Last Day of Shooting by Dion Henderson
Blisters in May by Jack Ritchie
The Collector by Patricia M. Mathews
House Call by Elsin Ann Graffam
The Adventure of the Blind Alley by Edward Wellen
The Unfriendly Neighbor by Al Nussbaum
A Feline Felony by Lael J. Littke
Don't I Know You by Henry Slesar
Meet Mr Murder by Morris Hershman
Co-Incidence by Edward D. Hoch
Alma by Al Nussbaum
Grand Exit by Leo R. Ellis
Hunting Ground by A. F. Oreshnik
The Big Trip by Elsin Ann Graffam
Dutch by William F. Nolan
Loaded Quest by Thomasina Weber
Hand in Glove by James Holding
The Slantwise Scales of Justice by Phyllis Ann Karr
Child on a Journey by Fred S. Tobey
The Witches in the Closet by Anne Chamberlain
Setup by Jack Ritchie
A Very Rare Disease by Henry Slesar
Two Small Vials by Elsin Ann Graffam
Sweet Remembrance by Betty Ren Wright
A Dip in the Poole by Bill Pronzini
Doctor's Orders by John F. Suter
Mrs Twiller Takes a Trip by Lael J. Littke
Such a Lovely Day by Penelope Wallace
Matinee by Ruth Wissmann
Big Mouth by Robert Edmond Alter
The Weathered Board by Alvin S. Fick
Lot 721/XY258 by R. L. Stevens
Thirteen by Edward D. Hoch
Operative 375 by Gary Brandner
He'll Kill You by Richard Deming
Caveat Emptor by Kay Nolte Smith
The Facsimile Shop by Bill Pronzini and Jeffrey Wallman
A Corner of the Cellar by Michael Gilbert
Every Fifth Man by Edward D. Hoch
The Pro by Robert H. Curtis
Nobody That's Who and Pigeon by William F. Nolan
The Prisoner by Edward Wellen
The Sooey Pill by Elaine Slater
Back Up by Barry N. Malzberg
and Wide O-- by Elsin Ann Graffam.

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Horror, Collections, Crime

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Yi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is like “The Chicken Soup for the Mystery-lover Soul”. I wouldn’t say all 100 of them are great, most are pretty good and quite a few are just amazing. I wouldn’t say it’s a pure mystery collection. I can’t see the point of some “mysteries”. But it’s worth it to read it from cover to cover. There are Granny murderers, creepy kids, extremely clever and not-so-clever cons, and, of course, husbands killing wives and vice versa. My favorite is “Trick or Treat” by Judith Garner. It’s not exactly a mystery but very very eerie (which could be because it concerns a creepy kid and I don’t like kids). A few are oddly comical like “Pure Rotten” (John Lutz), “A Feline Felony” (Lael J. Littke) and “The Handy Man” (Marion M. Markham) to name a few. Some are just plain creepy like “Thank you, Mr. Thurston” (Ed Dumonte), “The Witches in the Closet” (Anne Chamberlain). While some are just for laugh, others are down right scary and almost all of them, I guarantee, thoroughly enjoyable.

[Cassie Magee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like short stories, especially mysteries. But since the book is over 20 years old, there were some pop culture references I didn’t get in some of the stories.

[Dharia Scarab · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice anthology of very short stories.


Since I don't normally write reviews unless I have something specific to say, here's the break down of how I rate my books...

1 star... This book was bad, so bad I may have given up and skipped to the end. I will avoid this author like the plague in the future.

2 stars... This book was not very good, and I won't be reading any more from the author.

3 stars... This book was ok, but I won't go out of my way to read more, But if I find another book by the author for under a dollar I'd pick it up.

4 stars... I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be on the look out to pick up more from the series/author.

5 stars... I loved this book! It has earned a permanent home in my collection and I'll be picking up the rest of the series and other books from the author ASAP.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to read something that I could put down at any moment, without remorse. This book did just that. 100 nice, little compact stories with enough twist and humor that it gets you thinking! I would highly recommend this to anyone who likes a thinking mystery, even if it's only a couple pages long. Personally, some of the shorter ones were my favorite!

[Mark Fallon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a fun collection of short stories - many with great twists at the end.

[Venu Kizhakkethil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read it one story at a time, in between reading novels. Took 6 months to complete, not because of lack of interest. As each story is different, cannot be read as chapters of a novel.

Excellent collection.

[Tatjana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was drawn to the entire series due to the strange compilation of largely unknown authors. I read the first: 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories, of which only a handful were really good. Now I've read this one, chiefly because I assumed (silly me) that it would be more concisely edited if Asimov was lending his name to it.
HA!
Clearly Asimov got a little check for writing an introduction, and that mostly sums up his involvement with the book.
I should start by saying, I don't care much for mainstream mysteries. On the other hand, I do roll with a plot, consciously not trying to figure out the ending. I'm not a haughty spoiler. I simply prefer reading other fiction.
Three stories were imaginative. The rest were ripped straight from NightStalker or noir movies from the forties. Some were inspired by the Christie style of writing. Those thoughts having been stated, the book was being worked on in 1980. Americans hadn't developed the taste for truly gruesome mystery/thrillers yet and the hard boiled detective fiction of the 50s and 60s had not been rediscovered. It was out of print and hard to find for a while. This was the season of disco and of punk. There was lots of material, with crime being so high, but few used it for their stories.
Reading the book is not unlike reading the final stories in a creative writing class. A few stand out as being either truly creative or incredibly well-written, even if the subject was predictable by our standards.
My biggest complaint is: the editor was asleep at the wheel. If you don't have someone poring over the pages looking for errors (what are interns for?), you are going to have multiple errors. This book does and it bothered me. It is not nearly as bad as some of the anthologies out at the moment (clearly no interns at all), but certainly bothersome to read.
It seems that if you really like mysteries, you will enjoy this anthology. If you are reading it for Asimov's hand, stop now and back away. You will be disappointed.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of the people who dislike Isaac Asimov cite his enormous ego as one of the repelling factors. Well, to me Asimov's ego is endearing because of how well he turns his hubris into self-mockery. He's a pretty impressive fellow, after all, and it's not bragging if it's true, right? Examples are found in every introduction of his I've ever read. In the introduction to this book he wrote that, as a portly sort of man, he is well aware that just as there is a time and a place for a sumptuous banquet, there is one for a quick and delicious snack. These stories are delicious. There is a rush one gets from a good short story that the best novel in the world cannot rival. In this compilation I remember in particular "The Last Smile" by Henry Slesar, which I found extremely intense and rather dark and, sidenote, excellent material for my 12th grade Book-it playwriting assignment which fact subsequently led to learning that in the Harvard library system this story can be found in the porn mag section.

[Octavia Cade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I spent some time earlier this year trying to write flash fiction, and was a dismal failure at it. (My best attempt ended up ballooning to 3700 words.) But I have to admit that I don't really read a lot of flash fiction, so my failure to write it should really have been no surprise. I lack the concision. Reading this collection of 100 tiny mysteries brought that home alright.

This was an enjoyable enough read, though I still prefer longer short stories I think. There's not quite enough meat for me to really get into a lot of these, for all I can appreciate that many of them are accomplished pieces of writing. There was, however - and this is due to the editors rather than the writers - a heavy emphasis on stories where husbands killed their wives (or, less often, wives their husbands). This made the collection as a whole rather repetitive. A greater variety of mysteries would have been nice - more stories along the lines of the collection's stand-out pieces, the sci-fi "The Sooey Pill" by Elaine Slater or the comedic "Pure Rotten" by John Lutz, for example.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 99 malicious little mysteries, since the publisher of my edition decided to leave out the last story, "Wide O-". I googled the story and thought it was very appropriate that was the story that was left out! :)

Isaac Asimov's preface, "Snacks" was completely apropos. It was the perfect book for when I only had a few minutes. I could pick it up, read an entire story and be done in minutes.

Overall, the stories were enjoyable and interesting, some of my favorites include "Sooey Pill", "The Prisoner", "A Puff of Orange Smoke" and "The Cop Who Loved Flowers" (which I'm pretty sure I had read in another anthology).

[Kirsten Simkiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a whole, the stories aren’t bad. However, as someone who was looking for actual mysteries, I was disappointed. Most of the stories are crime dramas where you pretty much know everything from the start and watch the main character commit the crime. I only really liked one of the stories, “The Slantwise Scales of Justice,” and even that I didn’t consider a mystery. All the others were generally unremarkable but not bad. Only about 10 of the stories actually felt like mysteries instead of crime dramas. For that reason, I’m giving this book 2 stars.

[Paperback Papa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been enjoying the short stories in this book for a few days. I haven't read them all, but the ones I've read have been excellent, with one or two exceptions. The stories are from the 50's, 60's, and 70's and from some of the best crime, noir, thriller writers of that era. Henry Slesar, the king of the shock ending and my favorite short story writer, has 5 stories here. The book also features stories by Edward D. Hoch, William F. Nolan, Richard Deming, and Bill Pronzini to name a few. If you like short, dark fiction with twist endings, you should enjoy this book.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few stories remarkable for their plots, like The Best Place by A. F. Oreshnik, Mrs. Twiller Takes a Trip by Lael J. Littke, and Co-Incidence by Edward D. Hoch (two cops discuss the capture of a white-collar criminal with a prison doctor, an elderly thief has a discussion with Satan, and murder by math). Sweet Remembrance by Betty Ren Wright I found notably enjoyable for the most satisfying ending of the collection (a janitor falls from the window of a elderly woman, but a police sergeant has a hard time considering her a suspect). And Funeral Music by Francis M. Nevins, Jr. was a brain-spinning demonstration on the art of the twist (a composer and his patron 'discuss' the musician's dead wives). While it wasn't one of my favorites (it took me two reads before I realized it was a satire on the absurdly cryptic clues seen in Sherlock Holmes stories), The Adventure of the Blind Alley by Edward Wellen did add a welcome bit of humor (a famous detective is struck down and a constable must quickly make sense of his last words).

But on the whole it's a collection of quick reads with repetitive themes. The stories where a murder or arrest is avoided and the potential victim turns out to be a famous serial killer might have been amusing on their own, but I'd read three of them in the first hundred pages and they do not improve with repetition. Other common plots are 'man tries to kill his wife but accidently kills his mistress/mistress accidently kills him/wife accidently kills mistress' and 'wife/husband decides to kill spouse with recalled canned food'. The canned food one, I have to admit, caught me off guard at how often they came up. It probably just seemed like a lot since I was bulldozing my way through the book, but it's such a specific idea that even three or four instances felt like many more.

The focus of the stories are usually murder, or sometimes an unexpected accident or confrontation. There are a couple of police procedurals, but I'd say only about a handful of stories have the bad guys caught and a very few more have the police involved at all. Being short stories, the climax is the murder not the capture. It was enjoyable in that sense, as we get into the villains heads to the point where we're usually on their side.

But pretty early on I started to get the feeling something strange was going on. Some of the stories didn't flow well, or were oddly written. It wasn't until pages 80 and 81 that I hit upon the problem, and my God what a huge problem it is.

When the character actor came to the phone, Fenner asked, "Did she make it?"
"Yeah," Blake said. "She's gone. I told you there was nothing to worry about."
"Good job," Fenner said with relief. "Drop by tomorrow and we'll draw up your contract."
"What sort of message is it?" Fenner asked dubiously.
"I told you it has to be delivered personally," the man said in a patient tone. "May I come up?"
(Richard Deming, 100 Malicious Little Mysteries (compilation), p.80-81)

See? When page 81 opens on "What sort of message [...]" there's an obvious chunk of story missing. Is it a whole page? Is it a paragraph? Is it just a missing time skip curlicue? Who knows! This might all just be the fault of the writer, since 'Blake's name was 'John' until that moment, but if it was Richard Deming's fault than the editor would still be to blame for letting that story into the collection.

But stupid, glaring mistakes kept popping up. It would have been one thing if the problem was with the spelling; I've seen books like that before and it's easy to accept the book as shoddy workmanship and still have it make sense. But the spelling is perfect and the occasional huge errors jump out at you and jar you back to reality. Worst of all, completely inexcusable, is leaving Elsin Ann Graffam's story Wide O- out completely. Hers was supposed to be story no.100, starting on page 431, but the book ends at 430. Because I hadn't realized the problem, I hadn't taken note of the other times up to then it felt like I was missing parts of the stories, but it was happening often enough that I wasn't looking forward to the next 350 pages.

I don't like to point fingers, but between the three editors one is famous writer Isaac Asimov, who I frankly doubt had any responsibilities beyond writing the introduction and 'selecting' which of his own stories would go in, one is Martin H. Greenberg, whose collections I know and love, and the third is Joseph D. Olander, whom I've never heard of. Sorry Joseph, but these errors dramatically impact both the stories and the collection as a whole, and someone's got to take the fall.


THE VERDICT? I absolutely don't recommend reading the stories all at once the way I did. If I'd taken them a few at a time, while I was cooking or on my lunch break, I think I would have enjoyed it much more since the stories wouldn't have gotten so repetitive. There were a few standouts, but only in specific aspects. Some had great plots, some had a perfect grasp of the classic twist, some had interesting characters, but apparently there's only so much you can do with plot in a short story.

The glaring mistakes are few but abrupt and may even ruin the pacing of a story, such as in the above example, but seem to stop after the first 150 pages or so. On the whole, it's a fine collection of time-killers but not something I'd suggest to sit down with for a long read.

[Brandon Leatherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since there are 100 different stories in this book, and it's taken me over 6 months to read it, I won't try and figure out which stories were better than other stories, because that task would take all night. Instead, I will tell you that Al Nussbaum, Edward D. Hoch, and William F. Nolan were my favorite contributors to this anthology. Also the anthology itself was well done and, although a little dated, it was fun to read.

[AmbroseKalifornia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic fun! Just what it says on the tin, 100 bite-sized bits of intrigue, surprise or horror. It's like a classy, high quality, guilt-free version of r/nosleep! Almost all of these were good, and quite a few were great. Even the ones that were bland or predictable at least tended to be very short, since they're all short! Recommended to everyone who enjoys reading for the simple pleasure of reading. Good stuff. I hope there's more!

[Gowri N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short tales of mystery and malice that deliver exactly what they promise. I've been dipping in and out of this book for the last month and each time, come out rubbing my hands in malicious glee. There's some murder, some mystery, some shocks, and some thoroughly satisfactory ends meted out to villains.

As with any anthology, there are also some stories that don't quite hit the mark and others that are predictable. But with a hundred stories to get through, I didn't mind a few duds.

[Vikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I kept track of the stories I enjoyed in this book, and unfortunately it only ended up being 17/100. Even the ones I liked only gave me mild enjoyment; lots of these stories had racist and sexist tones, so the time period they were written in was very apparent. I just don't particularly like to read about such things.

[Genny20 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some stories were pretty hit and miss. About 45 percent of the stories were pretty good bu not all of them. Some of them werent even really mysteries and more just like suspense, waiting for seomthing to happen. But not a real mystery.

[Donna Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't think any of them were malicious. Many of them didn't make any sense at all. And most of them weren't even that mysterious . . .

[Emily Garza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stray bullet, is my favorite mystery to read. I love how each one is different and more mysterious than the next. Great if you like short stories!

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of Fun

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun quick reading. Tiny twisty stories.

[Mellanie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were a couple of stories I didn't really get, but overall, this was like reading a bunch of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

[Brett Burkhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great short story collection. While a some stories have not aged very well, most are relatively timeless.

[Carol Waters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing spectacular here. It felt like reading the Grit Magazine three-minute mysteries.

[Robert Vanneste · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.0 - 3.5

[Vladislav · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rather uneven collection but a dozen or so absolutely delighful malicious little tales are well worth the read.

[Anita Sobreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very good. The taste of Asimov is very good.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was great to carry in my bag for those few minutes of down time here & there. The stories, for the most part, were very good, and were no more than 5 pages long.

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of the mystery/crime stories in this book are very short, the kind that you can read during a television commercial, on a short bus trip, waiting for transportation to arrive or during a bathroom visit. Being short, the context must be quickly set and lead logically to a conclusion, generally expressed in the last paragraph. There is no time to develop any deep expression of the characters, they are generally one-dimensional, the aspect of the crime that is being committed.
They are all fun and the “criminals” range from soldiers in service to their country to sweet looking but deadly old ladies. Lucifer even makes an appearance in what I consider to be the best story in the book, even he can be victimized. If you are looking for a light mental workout that can be spread out over many days, this book contains the right level of dosage.