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THE YEAR'S BEST MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE STORIES 1995 by Edward D.--Ed. Hoch

THE YEAR'S BEST MYSTERY AND SUSPENSE STORIES 1995

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Pub Date: Oct. 18th, 1995
Publisher: Walker

Fourteen stories, eight of which--the ones by Doug Allyn, Robert Barnard, Brenda Melton Burnham, Brendan DuBois, Wendy Hornsby, Bill Pronzini, Ian Rankin, and Justin Scott--unfortunately overlap with selections from Mystery Scene's rival anthology (see below). If the duplication limits you to one of the two volumes, the Mystery Scene collection is the better buy. Choosing the Hoch, though, gets you better selections by Ed Gorman and Marcia Muller, evocative stories by Clark Howard (a hard-luck prizefighter's last hurrah) and Batya Swift Yasgur (a remarkably assured testimonial by a child-abuse victim), and a more intelligent job of editing and introducing. A personal, discriminating selection, though eclipsed this year by its rival.