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Publisher:
Signet |
Release
Date:
2004 |
ISBN:
0-451-21333-5 |
Awards:
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Format
Reviewed: Paperback |
Buy
it at Amazon |
Read
an Excerpt |
Genre:
Mystery / Anthology |
Reviewed:
2004 |
Reviewer:
Jeff Shelby |
Reviewer
Notes: |
Copyright
MyShelf.com |
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Murder and All That Jazz
Edited by Robert
J. Randisi
Short
story anthologies can sometimes be hit or miss. A few good ones,
a few so-so ones and a clunker or two. We read the ones we love,
skim the ones that don’t really grab us, and skip the ones
that just don’t appeal. So finding one that provides high
quality stories from the first page to the last can be a tough chore.
But
Murder and All That Jazz, produced by Robert Randisi, meets
the challenge and provides thirteen entertaining stories that marry
the themes of crime and jazz.
Some
of the biggest names in crime fiction have contributed stories featuring
their famous protagonists. Michael Connelly brings Detective Harry
Bosch to readers in “Christmas Even,” Laura Lippman
lets Tess Monaghan investigate in “The Shoeshine Man’s
Regrets,” and Les Roberts puts Milan Jacovich in the thick
of things in “Jazz Canary.” All three stories are sharp
and add a nice little extra dimension to characters that many readers
will be familiar with.
But
even the less familiar names provide good reading. Julie Smith’s
“Kid Trombone” evokes the smell, feel and atmosphere
of New Orleans. Craig Holden, John Lutz, Martin Meyers, Max Allen
Collins and Matthew V. Collins take us back to the twenties and
thirties in their stories. John Harvey, Bill Moody, Ed Gorman and
Randisi himself contribute fine tales to the work as well. And Peter
Robinson provides the creepiest and perhaps most entertaining story
in the anthology.
Randisi
has done a fantastic job of putting together this anthology, as
Murder and All That Jazz hits all the right notes.
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