Book Review

By Derryll White

Koryta, Michael [ed.], 2021.  When A Stranger Comes To Town.

This volume is a Mystery Writers of America short story collection, edited by Michael Koryta.  Collections like this are great to read as they offer many voices, 18 in this one.  Some of the writers will be new to most readers, thereby giving a sense of potential new works to explore.

The short story is an excellent form for interviewing new authors.  S.A. Cosby’s ‘Solomon Wept’ builds to a surprise ending, enticing the reader to explore some of his other works.  The author notes in the back several award winners.  Even more well-known authors such as Alafaire Burke surprise with the short story form.  Her ‘Seat 2C’ recalls the anguish of the Covid-19 plague, punching it home with a well-developed unanticipated ending.

Short story critique always falls to personal choice in the end.  It is a tough form that even the masters sometimes falter on.  Michael Connelly is a superb novelist at the top of his form.  His ‘Avalon’ story is flawless in development but falters at the end.  The reader might expect more from such an accomplished writer.

Emilya Naymark is a name worth noting.  Her ‘Exit Now’ is a strong story with suspense, irony and compassion.  I liked Lisa Unger’s ‘A Six Letter Word for Neighbor’.  She says, “Life sucks and sometimes we have no choice but to slog through.”  Her story alone makes the compendium worthwhile.

Michael Koryta’s ‘P.F.A.’ puts the icing on the cake.  The story reeks of small-town Maine and the problems neighbours pose.  When a stranger comes to town the problem is quickly and irrevocably solved.

This is a strong collection and most mystery readers will find someone here they really like.

*******

Excerpts from the collection:

UNDERTAKERS – Undertakers always purvey the greatest pretense on the newly bereaved, as if bodily fluids aren’t being drained away in the basement and corpses aren’t pumped full of preservatives before being dressed like mannequins and put on display. – Elaine Togneri

THE OTHER – It was never simply the Other.

    It was, instead, how you reacted to the Other.  The Other being the stress of the moment.  The angry crowd that gathered spontaneously.  The incendiary situation.  The Other being what you caught yourself thinking.  The surprising emotions and reactions and versions of events that rushed at you.  What you said in the moment, what you chose not to.  The Other was yourself, and you had to discover it for yourself, by yourself …. – Johnathan Stone

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.

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