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 and dead in Northeast
Philly's Fox Chase neighborhood. It's also about the man who ended up performing the fingerprinting and footprinting at the morgue that day,
Bill Kelly. The case never left the young policeman's mind. He was 29 at the time the child was found, and consequently developed a lifelong dedication to the case. His most fervent wish was to simply give the boy a name, because somebody must have loved the boy at some point, right? He couldn't imagine anyone harming a child like that, or that the child would be buried in a potter's field, no name on the stone. Police were baffled by
"the boy in the box," because every lead fizzled. Other people took interest too --
Remington Bristow, an ME's investigator. The
Vidocq Society, a detective,
Sam Weinstein. Someone in another Medical Examiner's office,
Joe McGillen. In 1998, after the boy was exhumed for modern DNA testing, he was reburied in Ivy Hill Cemetery, in
Mt. Airy, PA. The case was featured on
America's Most Wanted in 1999, spawning dozens of leads. Someone then came forward with knowledge of the murder, and the facts checked out, and the story is plausible, although the woman did suffer from some psychiatric problems, and some minor lingering doubt remains. She said her mother killed the boy, the boy was purchased as an infant, that he was raised in their basement, and he was mute when he died.
Bill Kelly had taken to calling the child
Sean over the years, a good Irish name. But the woman that had finally come forward in 2000 gave
Bill one small thing. In November of 2003, as he turned to leave from the grave,
Bill touched the headstone and said
"Good-bye, Jonathan, I'll see you again soon..."
And I suppose my third favorite gem from this volume would be
"Stephanie," a chronicle of the unsolved 1965 murder of
Stephanie Lynn Gorman, a
Los Angeles schoolgirl, as told by
James Ellroy, that first appeared in GQ magazine. It's fair to say that
Ellroy, who has a gift for writing about the past, is infatuated with his subject here -- and that his writing is eloquent and rhapsodic as usual.
Ellroy didn't know the girl, but he's just slightly older, by a year, and he lived within five miles of the girl. The story starts while he's reviewing the murder book. Crime scene: a corner house, Hillsboro and Sawyer, West L.A.
Detective Bureau/Homicide Division/LAPD
DR#65-538-991 [Murder/187 PC]
Victim: Stephanie Lynn Gorman/White Female/Age 16
DOB: 06-11-1949 - DOD: 08-05-1965
Ellroy clinically eyes the crime scene, breaks down the timeline, develops the suspects, pencils in the detectives, chases some leads.
Dragnet type stuff. They sprint through 5,000 names. They turns up 201 rap sheets. They arrest a few possibilities -- but they're sprung. Of course he isn't really there, he's just
imagining that he's there. A reconstruction. Powerful stuff. Ellroy's friend
Rick Jackson tells him about Stephanie, late of Hamilton High. He's LAPD Homicide. It's the year 2000. Stephanie's sister attends a party. She's fiftyish, requests an update. Rick makes calls,
Detective Dave Lambkin picks it up, sends unknown prints from the 1965 crime scene to the modern FBI,
gets a print match. I'll leave the rest to you. Interestingly enough, you can still map some of the locations mentioned in the story
"Stephanie" on
MS Streets & Trips.
For the purpose of this review, and in favor of leaving you some stories to discover on your own, I've decided to summarize only three of these non-fiction tales. Almost all of the other items in this anthology, such as
A Miscarriage Of Justice, For The Love Of God, Not Guilty By Reason Of Afghanistan and
Unfortunate Con are just as good, in terms of quality. There was only one story that I skimmed, and one that I couldn't bring myself to finish. I read the remaining eighteen, sometimes more than once. The trio of story lines I've decided to outline for you here are simply the most interesting in my opinion.
Penzler and
Cook did a fairly good job of selecting stories, but I really would like to see them select from a much greater pool of sources. I think the ideal mix would be three fifths magazine stories, two fifths long-form newspaper articles. And perhaps they should also consider including pieces that were published exclusively on the Internet. Currently they only survey magazine articles, which seems unfair, since so many newspapers also provide excellent crime writing. And having four stories in this issue from
GQ? That seems like
over representation to me. Ditto having some of the same authors appearing year after year, please, no
Robert Draper in 2005. There are many great writers of crime fiction, so the Editors should really give more scribes a chance. And one last note for Base Art Co. who designed the back cover -- white on yellow was a horrid idea -- the story titles on the reverse were
nearly illegible.
And If you, my constant reader, seek out
Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition based on the recommendation here, you'll probably also want to pick up
Best American Crime Writing: 2003 Edition and
Best American Crime Writing from 2002, the first in this series. Or you may also want to pursue six of the books I've hyperlinked below, which are by the authors that
Cook. and
Penzler chose to feature in this edition. If you'd like to send stories for possible inclusion in this series, submissions should be directed to
Otto Penzler, c/o
The Mysterious Bookshop, 129 West 56th Street, New York, NY 10019.
If any of the great authors that have contributed to this series happen to read this, may I please encourage you to write a story about
Victoria Snelgrove, entitled
"Non-Lethal Weapons?"
(170/241)
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The Book:
Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition,
A Vintage Original Trade Paperback
ISBN:
0375713026
Pages:
514 Pages
Rating:
5 Stars
Twenty Stories:
A Miscarriage of Justice
Chief Bratton Takes On LA
Ciudad De La Muerte
Code Of Dishonor
CSC: Crime Scene Cleanup
For The Love Of God
Lord Of The Drug Ring
Megan's Law And Me
Night Of The Bullies
Not Guilty By Reason Of Afghanistan
Possessed
Stephanie
The Dark Art Of Interrogation
The Old Man And The Gun
The Professor And The Porn
To Kill Or Not To Kill
Unfortunate Con
Watching The Detectives
Who Is The Boy In The Box?
Who Shot Mohammed Al-Dura?
If You Like Best American Crime Writing: 2004 Edition, You Might Enjoy:
Best American Crime Writing: 2003 Edition
Best American Crime Writing
a.k.a. Sheila Weinstein
Are Cops Racist?
Crimes Against Nature
Destination: Morgue!
Down by the River
Killing Pablo
Son of a Grifter
Visit the Publisher's Website:
www.vintagebooks.com
Recommended
Yes
France
Germany
United Kingdom
Australia
USA
