The Best British Mysteries

[Cameron Trost]

This isn't a bad anthology of short stories, but it's hardly a particularly good one either. The title is a little misleading; it should have been called "Fairly Decent British Crime and Mystery 2003", but I guess the publisher (wisely) decided to simplify and exaggerate a little. I keep reminding myself to be wary of "best of" anthologies, but I grab one every now and again in the hope of proving myself wrong. One day, I will, surely. The stories in the collection were originally published in 2002 or 2003, not in 2005, which is the year this anthology was published. Not an issue. What I disliked most was that there were only a handful of good mysteries. Most of the stories were more broadly crime. What's the difference? Well, in a mystery, you have to solve the puzzle with the protagonist. That's the key. One of the stories was a ghost story, which is bizarre for a mystery anthology, and no, it's not "Murder by Ghost", a well-written but predictable Victorian mystery that could have been developed into an excellent and complicated puzzle.

Now, down to the stories I especially enjoyed:
Tell Me Who to Kill, Ian Rankin (mystery)
School Gate Mums, Muriel Gray (excellent suspense and my pick of the anthology)
No One Can Hear You Scream, Michael Jecks (the best traditional mystery story here)
Caveat Emptor, Rosemary Rowe (clever Roman Britain mystery)
Shadow on the Water, Peter Robinson (a beautifully written tale of suspense)
The Double Crossing, Colin Dexter (not a Morse tale, as claimed in the blurb, but a good mystery nonetheless)

My advice, track down these authors' collections or find their work in other anthologies.