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Short stories, to my mind, are very like hors d'oeuvres. There isn't enough of any one of them to make a meal. When I finish one, I want another one just as good. By the time I've had enough to satisfy my hunger, I've spoiled my dinner, and I don't want any more for quite a little while. CRIMINAL APPETITES is a feast of dim sum. Fourteen samples from some of the best mystery writers currently in print, 14 little tastes of what they do best. Prior to picking up CRIMINAL APPETITES, I had read only four of the 14 authors chosen by editor Jeffrey Marks for this anthology (Nancy Pickard, Tamar Myers, Anne Perry, and Jeffrey Marks) . I had heard of several of the others (Joanne Pence, Denise Dietz, Camilla Crespi, and Toni Kelner), but there are several writers new to me in this collection (Tim Hemlin, Kris Neri, Robert Perry, Amy Myers, William Peck, and Janet Laurence). I find short story anthologies to be a mixed blessing in this regard: I always find writers I'd like to read more of, which is a good thing. I invariably add titles to my list of 'books to be read', which may or may not be considered a good thing, depending on my budget and how long I can reasonably expect to live. CRIMINAL APPETITES is no exception in this regard; I not only added writers to my list, I also bumped several up much closer to the head of the line. It has been said that short stories are harder to write than novels, because the writer has to include everything that makes a novel work, but do it in a much smaller space. These writers do a masterful job. Without giving away any endings, I will say that I didn't figure out the who or the why in the stories where those were the questions to be answered. I believed in the characters, although I didn't like them all -- some, I am sure, one is not supposed to like. Even in the one story which was my least favorite (Daisy and the Mince Pies), the plotting was excellent; I have seldom enjoyed books where the characters are anthropomorphized animals whose speech is now understandable to the reader. Anne Perry isn't as cutesy with it as some authors, for which I am grateful. One of my favorites is Toni L P Kelner's Blame It on the Brownies. This resonates with me for purely personal reasons, although I've never had the exact experience recounted by the various characters. If this were a novel, it would surely be chick lit, in that the cast is a group of old friends, all female, who are rehashing (pun intended) an incident from their youth. All the recipes sound good. Some of them are complicated enough that I will probably never attempt them, which is much more a reflection on my current laziness in the kitchen than on any skill actually required by the cook. If you can make a pie crust, there isn't anything in CRIMINAL APPETITES beyond your competence. The Baked Potato Salad following Tamar Myers' When Harry Met Salad is one I know I'll be trying later this year. Editor Jeffrey Marks has done quite a nice job selecting for variety. No two stories remotely resemble each other, although the unifying thread is obvious. All in all, I recommend CRIMINAL APPETITES for those of you looking for some good short stories, some interesting recipes, and/or an introduction to some authors you may not have encountered previously.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, March 2004
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