The 20 new stories in this year’s Mystery Writers of America’s annual anthology focus on financial vicissitudes.
Editor DeMille, a perennial resident on the bestseller lists, is less deft at finding surefire short-story winners, with only two standouts. One of them, seasoned pro Lee Child, turns the tables on a coke dealer with a defective Bic. The other, newcomer K. Catalona, drolly presents a literary agent and his spunky geriatric helper who co-opt a client’s manuscript. As for the rest: Angela Zeman takes a society journalist to task; Elaine Togneri establishes a photojournalist in his career; Ted Bell nails a tabloid reporter for stealing; and S.J. Rozan goes one better and offs a tabloid blackmailer between poker hands. A Ponzi scheme fails to enliven a surprisingly dull appearance by Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. Tim Chapman makes a mom resort to murder. Twist Phelan shows how a father and grandfather’s get-rich dreams go awry. DeMille plots insurance fraud in the Hamptons; Carolyn Mullen plots murder for revenge in a mill town. Daniel Hale places diamonds in a Texas cabin; David Morrell sets up a fake murder attempt at Lincoln Center; Joseph Goodrich assuages poverty and loneliness in a Paris cemetery; Roberta Islieb puckishly demeans the tourist potential of Key West. Peter Blauner topples a faded Hollywood star; David DeLee’s on-the-skids rap star gains street cred. Frank Cook’s scientific breakthrough leads to dementia, and Jonathan Santlofer’s deals with the Old Masters. Not helped by DeMille’s lackluster introduction or the generally pedestrian handling of the volume’s uninspiring theme.
Pub Date: May 2, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-445-55587-6
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2011
After a slow-moving start, the action accelerates during the war sections, but Steel’s tin ear and simplistic prose, even...
Manhattan heiress, wrongfully shunned as an adulteress, becomes a medic in the Great War, then a Paris physician, confounding all her detractors, in this cliché-riddled, exposition-bound umpteenth from Steel (Rogue, 2008, etc.).
Annabelle Worthington, born to a prominent banking family, enjoys an idyllic childhood, until the fateful night when her father and brother go down with the Titanic. Annabelle’s mother, Consuelo, worries that the yearlong mourning period might scuttle 19-year-old Annabelle’s marriage chances. So Consuelo and confirmed bachelor Josiah, age 38, agree that he will marry Annabelle. After a lavish wedding at the Worthington’s Newport estate, Annabelle, who’s fond of Josiah, doesn’t question his wedding night reluctance to consummate their marriage. But when abstinence drags on for two years, amid Consuelo’s anxious queries about grandchildren, Josiah admits that he’s homosexual. When the divorce, citing trumped-up charges of adultery, hits the tabloids, her New York friends, including the miserably married Hortie, ostracize Annabelle. Her mother has died, and now Annabelle, sole heir to her family fortune, can pursue her lifelong interest in medicine. She heads for France to aid the war effort in a field hospital, and after beginning medical school in Nice as the only female student, serves as a medic and ambulance driver. Raped by a drunken British officer, viscount Winshire, she’s horrified to find herself pregnant. The viscount is killed, and Annabelle gives birth to a beautiful daughter, whom she names Consuelo. At war’s end, Annabelle opens a practice in Paris. Smitten, handsome surgeon Antoine welcomes her and Consuelo II to his family, then viciously turns on Annabelle when she reveals her past. But Lady Winshire, the rapist’s mother, is enthralled with her grandchild, whom she legitimizes. She urges Annabelle to ignore the scandalmongers. Now fortified by two family fortunes, mother and daughter head back to New York to reclaim their place in society.
After a slow-moving start, the action accelerates during the war sections, but Steel’s tin ear and simplistic prose, even more than the predictable plot, make for a leaden tale.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-385-34026-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2008
A sentimental tale overwhelmed by busy illustrations and rampant pedantry. A gifted quiltmaker who makes outstanding quilts never sells her wares, but gives them away to the poor. A greedy king so loves presents that he has two birthdays a year, and commands everyone in the kingdom to give him gifts. Everyone brings presents till the castle overflows; the king, still unhappy, locates the quiltmaker and directs her to make him a quilt. When she refuses he tries to feed her to a hungry bear, then to leave her on a tiny island, but each time the quiltmaker’s kindness results in her rescue. At last, the king agrees to a bargain; he will give away his many things, and the quiltmaker will sew him a quilt. He is soon poor, but happier than he’s ever been, and she fulfills her end of the bargain; they remain partners forever after, with her sewing the quilts and him giving them away. The illustrations are elaborate, filled with clues to quilt names. A note points to the 250 different quilt names hidden in the picture on the inside of the book jacket. (Picture book. 6-10)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-57025-199-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
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