Thomas F. (hardtack) - , reviewed on 5/13/2022 + 2664 more book reviews

As many of the reviewers of this book state, anthologies usually have a mix of excellent, good and so-so stories. I can agree with that. My favorite here might be "Anything in the Dark" by Edward Hoch, as it "finally explains" the death of Captain Meriweather Lewis.

My least favorite was "The Soldier and His Dead Companion" by Nicholas DiChario, as it seemed to have no purpose here or even in the story itself.

Two others which I classify as "So-So" were "Bertie and the Boat Race" by Peter Lovesey. His "Peter Diamond" series is masterful and I cringe when I realize I have only a few of those books left to read. But his short series on the Prince of Wales wasn't, and this short story is related to that series. As with the "Bertie" novels, this story seems to spend more time with "Bertie" figuring out how to take sexual advantage of a young lady than solving a mystery. The other was "The Mamur Zapt and the Kodaker's Eye" by Micheal Pearce. That story left me in confusion about the ending, as well as part of the investigation.

Aside from the three I was disappointed in, the other 18 stories were very entertaining. And the first in the book, "Death of a Place-Seeker" by Lynda Robinson had me digging through my TBR stacks to find the first novel in her series which this story is related to.

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