The deadly bride, and 21 of the year's finest crime and mystery stories /

This collection lives up to its billing as the year's finest crime and mystery stories (22 of them, to be exact). With stories ranging from the macabre to the merrily murderous, there's something here to please all fans of mystery short fiction. There are no weak links here, but Jefferey Deaver's Born Bad, which features a right-angle twist near the end, stands out as particularly memorable, and Sharan Newman's Deadly Bride, which lends the book its title, is a snappy historical mystery that reminds us what that subgenre is all about. --David Pitt Copyright 2006 Booklist

Covering both 2005 and 2006, the latest "finest" anthology from Gorman and Greenberg (after 2005's The Adventure of the Missing Detective) gathers 22 largely mainstream crime and mystery stories. In addition, Jon Breen presents a useful roundup of significant publications and awards; Edward D. Hoch's necrology reminds us of the loss of many fine authors in the past two years; and Sarah Weinman continues to track developments in online publishing. Highlights include Wendy Hornsby's "Dust Up," about a bike-riding birdwatcher who takes on a car full of robbers; Simon Brett's "Cain Was Innocent," a humorous take on man's first murder; and Jeremiah Healy's "A Matter of Honor," in which John Francis Cuddy gets a lesson from a Finnish beauty. Other notable contributions to this entertaining compendium come from James W. Hall, J.A. Jance, Anne Perry and Jeffery Deaver. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Five of this year's crop are first-rate, one is truly superb--and the rest? Well, never mind those. In the mordantly witty "Jury Duty," the best story in Gorman and Greenberg's annual collection, Kristine Kathryn Rusch's protagonist is a murderer who is also a juror in someone else's murder trial. The prosecutor is smart and ambitious, the murderer/juror is smart and cranky, and the duel between them is a gem. In "Highest, Best Use," J.A. Jance serves up an American Miss Marple, cantankerous, feisty and likable. F. Paul Wilson's "Interlude at Duane's" concerns a hit man transformed into a hero in a slam-bang actioner with not a word wasted. Vengeance über alles is the theme of David Morrell's twisty "The Abelard Sanction," in which spies hunt spies in the ultimate safe house. Hard guys get squished in Wendy Hornsby's delicious biter-bit yarn, and in Jeremiah Healy's deft "A Matter of Honor" it turns out that the Icelandic spin on the concept is outlandishly lethal. As for the rest, including the title story, by Sharan Newman, none are clunkers, but all are basically forgettable. Still, six out of 21 isn't bad. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.