Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories

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	• The Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories Carroll & Graf, 2004 - 600 pages average customer review:based on 5 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Another collection

I am giving this collection a neutral three star rating. It is yet another collection of short stories featuring one story each by a number of authors, in this case 24 authors. I really do not know how the editors select the stories for these collections. Perhaps they place all the available stories in a large bin, and draw them out at random. Contrary to the statement on the cover, it is NOT the "best in hardboiled fiction." It does not represent the best work of the featured authors and, indeed is not always their best short story (at least some have award winning short stories which were not included).

So, I give it three stars because it includes samples of work by a large number of authors, some better known than others. Some short stories are hard to find unless you find them in collections. But I will not give it more than three stars because it does not represent the best work of authors, and may mislead readers on the quality of their novels.

If you are a fan of the authors, and want to obtain their short stories, it is something worth buying. If you are looking for quality reading material, I would give it a pass and buy some of the outstanding novels by the authors.

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Must have anthology

Any book labeled The Mammoth Book of... risks sounding like a fifth grade primer. But if you love the distinctively American tradition of the private eye, this is it -- THE must-have volume. My copy is growing dogeared -- these is truly an amazing collection. My personal favorite is A Reason To Die, a Dan Fortune story so potent and poetic it drove me to write the late Michael Collins, who responded with some friendly insights about the story's origins. If Reason isn't enough, well, reason, you've got Philip Marlowe, Lew Archer, Amos Walker, Joe Puma, Kinsey Millhone, Sharon McCone, Matt Scudder -- it goes on and on. If any book can be called definitive about a genre, it's this one. Love to see someone, someday, do a second volume or a revised edition bringing things up-to-date with the top '90s and 21st Century eyes.

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Mammoth Book of Private Eye Stories

Enjoyed these stories immensely, some of the best PI writers in the business especially Block, Grafton, Pronzini and Muller. Only a couple of clunkers which do not mar this excellent collection

Very entertaining!

This collection of detective-stories provides a great overview. The stories cover decades of fiction-writing, from the classic "Wrong Pigeon" by Raymond Chandler to modern writers of the private eye genre. There are sad and funny stories and all of them contain a lot of suspense.

The real jewel in this collection is Joseph Hansen's "Surf", featuring investigator Dave Brandstetter, hero of Hansen's "Brandstetter"-series.

If you like crime- and detective-stories you'll enjoy this book. Recommended!

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25-50-25

After reading this collection, I would say that 25% of the stories were great, 50% were entertaining enough, and 25% could be skipped and I wouldn't feel like I missed anything. I guess that is sort of to be expected when reading a collection. Anyway, the nice thing about this book is that it has something for everyone. There's a lot of variety here.

I gave the book a 4, but it is more like a 3.5. There were A LOT of grammatical errors, and for ME to spot them it must be bad. I'm certainly no grammar Nazi, but I spotted at least 20. That's pretty bad considering that there were 2 editors (And, Pronzini and his wife are both featured writers in the book!). Totally sloppy editing. Lay off the scotch guys.

But, overall, the book is worth the money. My advice: Read those stories which compel you to turn the page...there are a few stinkers which you can definitely skip.

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With its roots in the American private-detective fiction of the 1920s but traceable back as far as Sherlock Holmes, the private-eye story remains as popular as ever. Here are thirty of the finest short novels and stories from the hardboiled world of the private eye. The characters in this collection range from the tough, cynical, hard-drinking Philip Marlowe type to hard-hitting female sleuths and the one-armed intellectual Dan Fortune. This collection features old favorites and new contributions from masters of the genre, past and present, including Ross Macdonald, Raymond Chandler, Sue Grafton, Marcia Muller, Michael Collins, Ed McBain, William Campbell Gault, and many more.

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