When a Stranger Comes to Town
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
ANTHONY AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST ANTHOLOGY
Including NYT bestselling author Michael Connelly’s story “Avalon,” soon to be adapted for television by David E. Kelley.
"The very best of what crime fiction should deliver." -New York Journal of Books
The latest Mystery Writers of America story collection, featuring surprising, page-turning twists on the genre from some of the top bestsellers and award winners in crime fiction
It’s been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there’s something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water.
No matter how or where they appear, strangers are walking mysteries, complete unknowns in once-familiar territories who disrupt our lives with unease and wonder. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers such as Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz and Joe Hill.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A Tolstoy quote about a stranger coming to town is the spark for the 19 selections in this exceptional Mystery Writers of America anthology. Steve Hamilton's "A Different Kind of Healing" imagines that one such stranger is Charlotte, a nurse who's moved to New York, attracted by the incentives the Big Apple's offered to deal with a nursing shortage. As the Covid-19 pandemic looms, she's drawn to a rape victim who appears in the ER, because of a dark incident in Charlotte's past, which leads her to seek the eponymous means of relief. Hamilton has rarely been better in the short-story format. Koryta also stands out with "P.F.A.," an acronym for People from Away used by Janice Jardine, a mean-spirited busybody who lives in a small Maine town, to refer to non-natives. Jardine must deal with a newcomer from Florida who refuses to defer to her wishes. Jonathan Stone distinguishes himself in "Russkies," in which secrets and guilt linger from more than a half-century in the past. Other contributors include S.A. Cosby, Alafair Burke, Michael Connelly, and Lori Roy. This is the best kind of anthology, consistently excellent and inventive.
