The Best of Sisters In Crime Review
The Best of Sisters In Crimeedited by Marilyn Wallace
Berkley Prime Crime, Dec., 1997
Hardcover, 319 pages.
ISBN: 0425160602.
Ordering information: Amazon.com
The first Sisters in Crime anthology appeared in 1989 to rave reviews. A collection of short stories by female mystery and crime writers, The Best of Sisters in Crime has maintained its high standards of literary excellence under the editorial helm of Macavity Award winner and Anthony Award Nominee Marilyn Wallace. This latest anthology is no exception. The authors read like a Who's Who in the mystery world: Dorothy Cannell, Mary Higgins Clark, Diane Mott Davidson, Elizabeth George, Sue Grafton, Joyce Carol Oates, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, Carolyn Wheat and many more. The stories run the gamut from spooky and suspenseful such as Nancy Pickard's "Afraid All the Time", the tale of a woman who moves to the country from the city and "Voices in the Coalbin" by Mary Higgins Clark, the tale of a woman haunted by singing voices from her childhood to the proper English mystery as told by Elizabeth George in "The Evidence Exposed". Female private eyes are also represented by V.I. Warshawski in "The Maltese Cat" by Sarah Paretsky and Sharon McCrumb's intriguing tale, "A Poison That Leaves No Trace" starring PI Kinsey Millhone. The writers of all the stories in the book have been short-listed for a major mystery literary prize.
Ingenious, chilling, amusing and entertaining, this anthology is an excellent sampling of some of today's best female mystery and crime writers. A must for any mystery-lover's collection.
--Claire E. White
Return to the March 1998 issue of The IWJ.
More from Writers Write