The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories

by Martin H. Greenberg (editor), Bill Pronzini (editor)

With its roots in the American private-detective fiction of the 1920s but traceable back as far as Sherlock Holmes, the private-eye story remains as popular as ever. Here are thirty of the finest short novels and stories from the hardboiled world of the private eye. The characters in this collection range from the tough, cynical, hard-drinking Philip Marlowe type to hard-hitting female sleuths and the one-armed intellectual Dan Fortune. This collection features old favorites and new contributions from masters of the genre, past and present, including Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Michael Collins, Ed McBain, William Campbell Gault, and many more.

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

600 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am so delighted to have finally finished The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories. I have been whittling away at this thing for far too long-much longer than a week-as I am extremely stubborn. And there are some good stories here: a Lew Archer tale from Ross Macdonald, for instance. There is a Lawrence Block story featuring Matthew Scudder, plus the compulsively readable Max Allen Collins. And some guy named Raymond Chandler. Well for every treat there seemed to be two stinkers. Editor Bill Pronzini managed to include a story by himself as well as a story by his spouse Marcia Muller. Surely this was a statistical coincidence. Plus, they’re not very good stories. A lot of these tales just were not stand outs. There is enough entertainment value here to garner a grudging three stars.

[Karan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great compilation of PI stories.. Apart from the famous Eyes such as Philip Marlowe and Lew Archer, discovered some great characters such as Arthur Lyons's Jacob Asch, and Ed McBain's Milt Davis.

All of the stories are uniformly hard boiled, so you will not find any optimism or colour in any of them. Just a bunch of graduates from the school of hard-knocks.

Lots of fun as long as one reads them a story at a time, otherwise the characters and the plots start to blend into each other.

[Jenn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dating as far back as Raymond Chandler, these stories were very well written and entertaining. Unlike most short story books, I only skipped over one story after not being able to get into it after the first few pages. Very noir.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Any anthology is going to have some hits and misses, but overall this is a good introduction to the American private eye genre. Especially, the hard-boiled/noir style of private detective which is where I think English speaking readers will find the largest difference between American private detectives and their British counterparts.

Among the bigger surprises for me was Chandler's Wrong Pigeon, as I was quite underwhelmed by The Big Sleep which I had previously read (and had me wondering what was the big deal about Chandler).

A significant disappointment was Richard Prather's Shell Scott story, which left me wondering why my parents enjoyed those books so much.

Stuart Kaminsky was a known factor for me because of his Rostinkov stories, and this was my first exposure to his Toby Peters. It was the usual solid Kaminsky writing.

Very solid and enjoyable were the Max Allan Collins Nate Heller and Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder tales. This book was published in 1988, just as the women detective series were beginning to take off. The Kinsey Millhone and Sharon McCone stories were good, but unlike Scudder and Heller I wasn't quite as drawn to the characters and therefore a little more on the fence when it comes to reading more of those writers.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A title-earning collection of short stories, "The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories" has 24 private detective mysteries written by 24 different authors spanning 500+ pages of smart, rough, funny, creepy, paranoid, hardboiled investigations and dark murders, conspiracies, thefts, fistfights, double-crosses, stakeouts, blackmail plots, lying clients, point-of-view detective deliberation, and surprising plot twists by Raymond Chandler, Michael Collins, Stephen Marlowe, Sue Grafton, Loren Estelman, Bill Pronzini, Lawrence Block and others.

"Trouble in Paradise," "So Dark for April," "Dead Flight," Grafton's "She Didn't Come Home," and "Skeleton Rattle your Moldy Leg" stand out.

Verdict: 24 single-evening reads, some are just okay but others are really good, most with a dark edge and classic gritty crime feel. A good collection to keep on the shelf and pick up at those times when you don't want to commit to a full-length PI novel.

Jeff's Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)
movie rating if made into a movie: some PG, PG-13, R

[Alison C · Rating 1 out of 5]

"The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories," edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg, is an anthology of short stories, previously published between about 1947 and 1988, featuring some of the best-known private eyes in fiction (Philip Marlowe, Lew Archer, Amos Walker, Kinsey Millhone, Sharon McCone). The story choices are meant to showcase the “hard-boiled” sub-genre, and do so quite well; however, the extreme sexism in especially the early stories (from the 1940s and ‘50s) quickly wore thin, to the point that I gave up reading. I might go back and pick up one story or another from time to time, but reading that much horridness back-to-back just defeated me. Blech.

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Can't tell if I'm losing my taste for this genre, or if this anthology is particularly mediocre; in either case, few of these stories captured my attention. I suppose any anthology with the word "mammoth" in the title is not going to prioritize literary achievement, but even accounting for that, the average quality of the stories in this book was poor. There were a few standouts, but most were completely forgettable even as I was in the act of reading them.

5s -
"Wanted - Dead and Alive" - Stephen Marlowe
4s -
"So Dark For April" - Howard Browne
"Surf" - Joseph Hansen
"Greektown" - Loren Estleman

Just read these four stories and skip the rest.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting anthology, with stories mostly set in early-to-mid 20th century, back when detective work involved more interviews, piecing together facts, less forensics, and no databases. The detectives themselves were varied in outlook, but 'hard-boiled' certainly fits the bill for the lot. In all, like many (perhaps most) anthologies, there were more enjoyable stores, some head-scratchers, and some I didn't like. But overall, this was a good collection, worth reading, and an enjoyable look back at how many of today's detective and crime tropes would have gotten started.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like a genre, I recommend these edited compilations because the people who LOVE the genre sift through the garbage and line up the gems. Not all of these were winners, but enough were that I gave this book to my dad when I finished.

[Peter Metcalfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a collection of the old style detectives with Ross McDonald a standout for me .

[Spiderorchid · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one-star rating is purely a reflection of my personal taste and not of the quality of the stories in general.

If you love the traditional "hardboiled" private eye stories, this is the perfect book for you. All the classics of the genre are featured and it gives a good overview over decades of PI fiction.
My problem with the genre is that it's so bleak and depressing. I realize that that is a trademark characteristic of the noir genre and that's why I recommend the collection to fans of the genre while not liking it myself at the same time. The writing is mostly solid but some stories really show their pulp-roots and are stunning in their use of tired clichées and sexism. Also, the style is often so similar that it becomes difficult to distinguish one detective from the other and the storylines kind of blend into each other after the first few stories.

The single stand-out for me is Joseph Hansen's "Surf" - actually, I'm not sure how it wound up in this collection. Of course, the protagonist is a private investigator, but both in tone and quality of the writing (which is beautiful and detailed), this story doesn't really fit. When I read the book for the first time, over ten years ago, he was the writer I chose to look up for further reading and he ended up being a favourite.

[Vít · Rating 4 out of 5]

Komu se líbí americká drsná škola, neměl by tenhle výběr vynechat, je to opravdu kvalita a pro fanoušky je to nutnost.
Jelikož ale u těchto mamutích výběrů hrozí předávkování, doporučuji tak max 2x denně kafíčko, cigárko a jednu povídku z této sbírky - o vedlejších účincích se poraďte se svým knihovníkem :-)

[Ronald Wilcox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of short stories starring private eyes, ranging from works by early detective masters such as Chandler and MacDonald as well as more recent authors Muller and Grafton. A delight to see the way private eye stories have evolved over the past century.

[Srinivas Veeraraghavan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hammett,Chandler,Macdonald,McBain,Block,Grafton,Gault,Hoch and more...

What the hell are you waiting for?!

[Suresh Vijendran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took you to a different era.
All the stories were very good

[Mario Šaravanja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uzbudljiva antologija detektivskih priča

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

some good, some great, some so-so
really liked the older PI stories from the 40s and 50s.