The Best American Mystery Stories of 2011 edited by Harlan Coben and Otto Penzler is the 15th edition of this very popular anthology. I look forward to it every year, so I gave a little fist pump when I was able to snag an advance reader’s copy from the publisher. As usual, this is an excellent collection of stories by new-to-me authors and some old favorites. Read the rest of my review at http://popcornreads.com/?p=2125 ( )

The Best American Mystery Stories are an annual anthology that publishes a selection of tales published in magazines an anthologies during the year. Each year a guest editor is chosen who determines from a list of about 50 submissions, their favourite 20 stories to be included. Harlan Coben is this years editor and as a fan of his books I was interested to read his choices.
The Best American Mystery Stories 2011 has great variety and I was more than impressed with the overall quality. Of the twenty short stories there were only two I didn’t much care for. For me the stand out’s included Clean Slate by Lawrence Block is the story of a woman damaged by her childhood who has found a way to take revenge, Flying Solo by Ed Gorman involves two elderly men dying of cancer leaving a better world behind them and Chin Yong Yun Takes a Case by SJ Rozan is a case of amateur detection in Chinatown by a minor character in Rozan’s Lydia Chin series.
Many of the stories are quite dark and violent as to be expected when the story centers around crime. Some mysteries are solved, others are open ended leaving you to wonder. In others just who is the victim isn’t clear. My interest in several authors work was piqued by this collection, others I was already a fan of.
I really enjoyed reading the Contributors Notes where the author provides some background to the development of their story. It’s an inside look into inspiration that is rarely seen.

The Best American Mystery Series 2011 is a terrific read and I hope to get my hands on a few of the previous years issues. If you are a crime/mystery fan then you will surely appreciate this outstanding anthology, it’s a must read. ( )