The Best American Crime Writing: The Year's Best True Crime Reporting

by Otto Penzler and Thomas H. Cook

Book Overview

A riveting new anthology series a year's worth of the most powerful, the most startling, the smartest and most astute, in short, the best crime journalism. Scouring hundreds of publications, guest... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375713026
• ISBN13: 9780375713026
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Delivers as Promised

As the title says, enclosed in the pages of this book is the best American Crime Writing of the year. The stories cover a wide range of criminals, their crimes and the individuals victimized. By including different authors, the styles of each contrast nicely as each weaves his or her own tale. Each story and storyteller is unique. I have read the 2002 and the 2003 edition and this book lives up to its predecessors' lofty standards.

"Writing So Good, It's Almost Criminal..."

Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition, $14.00 US, is an anthology of twenty crime stories gathered by Otto Penzler and Thomas H. Cook. These yarns were originally published in magazines -- such as Atlanta, Details, GQ, and The New Yorker -- that were sold in 2003. Some are similar in topic, but each story is extremely unique as told from the vantage point of its author. Some big name writers happened to appear in this issue, such as James Ellroy, Jon Krakauer, and Scott Turow, but I prefer the original tack of "lesser known authors" that the Editors pursued in previous issues. This edition also includes an introduction by Joseph Wambaugh, whom discusses the need for tort reform to protect crime writers from frivolous lawsuits in a concise six page case -- but it seems that with these buzz words, he's really trying to score points with politicians in this, an election year. My favorite story in this collection is "Ciudad de la Muerte," a feature that first appeared in Texas Monthly, and that was written by Cecilia Balli. "Ciudad de la Muerte," is both chilling and riveting -- a story of the disappearance of more than three hundred women from Juarez, Mexico, over the last eleven years. But more specifically -- it narrows in on an incident whereby eight bodies were found in canals and irrigation ditches of a cotton field in 2001, and the aftermath of that specific grisly discovery. It's a particularly strong piece, because the writer examines her own fears as she explores the city of Juarez, the shady justice system of Mexico, and the final fate of these women. I'm curious about one thing though, and it's not really clear from the writing, or at least to me. One of the girls that disappeared in that November was named Esmerelda Monnreal, and on page 18 the storyteller reveals that Esmerelda had an older sister named Cecilia also, that had moved to Colorado with her husband. Is this in fact the same Cecilia that authored the story? Or is she simply sympathizing with the victim, because of coincidental names? I could use some clarification on that question. Based on the quality of her work, I'm very eager to read the finished book that Balli is deriving from this piece. This story may also spur you to do further reading on the subject, and spur you to support political action on the matter. Try Googling "Juarez" AND "Disappeared," and reading everything. You may want to write a letter to your Representative or Senator, after perusing these pages, to exhort them to involve the FBI in an investigation of these murders, which should not be allowed to go unsolved, because these women certainly deserve some kind of Justice. My second "most liked" parable of the group is "Who Is The Boy In The Box?," a twenty-four page recounting of a forty-six year old mystery, penned by Sabrina Rubin Erdely, that first appeared in Philadelphia magazine. And it's a sad story. It's about a little boy that was found in a cardboard box, in a dump, off a path, beaten