The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction

by Ed Gorman

What you are about to read is a tribute to all the writers who taught a whole generation of crime fiction authors not only the tricks of writing but a few tricks about living as well. Here gathered... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887390390
• ISBN13: 9780887390395
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Black Lizard Books
• Length: 335 Pages
• Weight: 0.94 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Decent Crime Anthology

"The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction," edited by Ed Gorman, is a decent collection of hard-boiled crime short stories. Published in 1987 and containing 20 stories, it is heavily weighted toward the ten year period prior to its publication. There are also a handful of stories from the 1950s and 60s, but none older than that. Two of the best entries, "The Used" by Loren Estleman and "A Cold Foggy Day" by Bill Pronzini, kick things off. (Note that neither of these stories contain either Amos Walker or the "Nameless" Detective). After that strong start, things get more uneven. For example, the Jim Thompson story that's included, "The World, Then the Fireworks," is not one of his beeter efforts and doesn't make much sense. Another story is about a rattlesnake attack and seems to have little to do with crime fiction.Nevertheless, this is still a worthwhile collection. Each story is preceeded by a short blurb about the author and the story itself (a MUST with these kinds of collections). At just over 330 pages, it is a fine read for those who like their fiction hard-boiled.