CRIMES OF THE HEART

There are mystery anthologies for scary Halloween, and who knows how many for cheery Christmas, so why not Valentine's Day as well? These 14 brand-new stories — 13 of them by women — not only take advantage of that well-known association between sweethearts and heart wounds, but by and large revel in lavishly beribboned plot twists. Dorothy Cannell's historical romance is a story deftly nested inside another story; Susan Dunlap's serial-robbery tale is fit into an ingenious frame; Joan Hess's all-too-dutiful son cracks not once but twice; Margaret Maron produces two solutions to the case of the stolen engagement ring; and even the shorter tales by Barbara D'Amato and Marilyn Wallace find room for unexpected kinks (D'Amato finishes off her cop-quarrel anecdote with a mini-anecdote as a chaser). For the rest, Lia Matera's portrait of long-suffering second-wifehood is appropriately somber, Jeffery Deaver presents his equally grim elopement from a movingly effective point of view, Nancy Pickard pairs her lovelorn wife with her husband's lover's husband, and editor Hart (Scandal in Fair Haven, p. 738) gives her sleuth Henrie O's rehash of a murder-suicide a high gloss. The standout, though, is Sharyn McCrumb's fable of a dating service whose service is really personal — a story that manages to be funny, creepy, shocking, and wholly original all at once. P.M. Carlson, D.R. Meredith, and Audrey Peterson round out the high-profile list. A bargain in paperback — and just the thing to have handy while you're cooling your heels waiting for your valentine.