Nine Sons: Collected Mysteries

A collection of Wendy Hornsby’s mystery stories that includes the title story. With restrained prose, it draws out memory and violence hidden beneath everyday life.

short mystery fictioncrimememoryurban life

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Work Information

Behind the calm voice remain lasting wounds and the shadow of crime.

Centered on the title story that received the Edgar Award for short fiction, the collection gathers stories about policing, family, and urban memory. It values the aftereffects of incidents more than showy tricks.

Review Summaries

Readers respond to the careful handling of background and structure. The calm narration and clearly drawn figures are often seen as the strengths that carry the weight of the subject.

Book Information

Publisher: Crippen & Landru Pub
Published: 2002-02-22
Language: 英語
Size: 22.61 x 15.24 x 1.27 cm
ISBN-13: 9781885941664
ISBN-10: 1885941668
Category: 洋書/Mystery & Thrillers/Mystery/Anthologies

GREAT STORIES BY AN EDGAR WINNER Wendy Hornsby does not write cozies, or tales about cat sleuths, or sanitized murder. Her tales explore the depths of the human psyche, and her family-crimes are decidedly uncozy. In the title story, which won the Mystery Writers of America Edgar for Best Short Story, a heart-wrenching mystery surrounds a family living on the Northern Plains during the Depression. "Ghost Caper" is probably the purest example of noir fiction by a modern mystery writer and it is not for those of delicate constitution. "High Heels in the Headliner" is about a police groupie whose adoration turns deadly. Wendy Hornsby's collected mysteries contains ten stories and one essay. Two of the stories, including one about former LAPD officer Mike Flint, are written especially for this volume. Two of the other tales are co-written with Hornsby's daughter, Alyson. The book includes a new introduction by the author, and a checklist of Wendy Hornsby's mystery novels and stories. Cover painting by Native American artist, Barbara Mitchell.

Reviews

A heart-wrenching story

The Edgar Allan Poe Award is presented by the Mystery Writers of America, for the most distinguished works in the mystery genre in the previous year.“Nine Sons” won an Edgar for the best short story in 1992, but I am wondering whether this work should be included in the mystery genre. It is true that a murder is committed in the story, but I am also wondering whether it should be called a murder. This murder is quite different from the ordinary murders depicted in ordinary mystery novels. I think that this book should be regarded just as a serious novel instead of a mystery novel. In fact, what strikes one most is not the twists and turns of the murder story but the circumstances in which a murder is committed or a murder must be committed. In fact, it can give one a very good picture of what the life of the people living on the Northern Plains was like during the Great Depression in America. Even though it is a very short story, both in the matter and in the manner, it is as admirable as “The Grapes of Wrath” by John Steinbeck. I can think of no other mystery novel in which such a serious social issue is dealt with. It’s a heart-wrenching story, and I feel that it has rooted itself firmly in my memory. Evidently this book is of the sort to leave a strong impression behind it.