Murder on the Run

The members of The Adams Round Table present an exciting collection of crime stories from such renowned writers as Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, Warren Murphy, Justin Scott, Peter Straub, and other notable authors.

The Adams Round Table, founded in 1982 by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Chastain, is a group of writers who meet once a month at a restaurant to share their writing experiences. In its fourth anthology (Missing in Manhattan), there are a few sparkling gems and a lot of costume jewelry. Stanley Cohen's "Homeless, Hungry, Please Help" chronicles a man who takes pity on a homeless couple whose ensuing behavior demonstrates anything but gratitude. Fans of Mary Higgins Clark will lap up her Wily and Alvirah entry, "Lady Sleuth, Lady Sleuth, Run Away Home!" in which the detecting duo return to their old Queens apartment building to flush out a killer. On the middling side, Joyce Harrington's "Eunice and Wally" is a somewhat predictable tale related by a poor white woman in prison for the murder of her husband. Whitley Strieber's "Desperate Dan" follows the frenzied nighttime flight of a wealthy man into the streets of 19th-century New York to avoid the embarrassment of arrest. Even with its few disappointments, the collection is entertaining, although it's not in the top ranks of the many mystery anthologies on bookstore shelves these days.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Eleven more stories by the self-styled successors to the Algonquin Round Table who seem to defray the costs of their monthly dinners by periodic anthologies (Justice in Manhattan, 1994, etc.). The theme this timemurderers on the runis construed pretty loosely: Murder on the Road might have been a better title for Lawrence Block's mid-grade Keller story or Peter Straub's overlong tale of a traveling assassin. Most of the stories, from Dorothy Salisbury Davis's sketch of a hit-and-run perp to Mickey Friedman's lazy Caribbean saga of an innocent who sails into the middle of a killing field to Mary Higgins Clark's latest about Willy and Alvirah, are typical rather than distinctive; even the most offbeatStanley Cohen's cautionary, Kind Ladyish fable of why you shouldn't take the homeless to lunch and Whitley Strieber's portrait of a turn-of-the-century gentleman trying to maintain his gentility despite his antisocial activitiesseem incomplete, as if they were preliminary studies rather than final products. Joyce Harrington, Judith Kelman, Warren Murphy, and Justin Scott complete the party. An all-star lineup that, sadly, offers no more excitement than the average All-Star game. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

It's hard not to recommend mystery anthologies because, for many libraries, they are an efficient way to provide readers with a variety of styles and authors without spending big bucks. This anthology is a carefully chosen, thoroughly entertaining collection of 11 stories from members of the Adams Round Table, writers whose names may not always appear on best-seller lists but who display a wealth of talent nonetheless. Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, and Whitley Strieber are the best known of the lot, and their stories are quite fine, especially Strieber's clever and sad "Desperate Dan." Sample the delights of Block's "Keller's Choice," where the ethics of a contract killer nearly get in the way of his ability to carry out his job. Or try Warren Murphy's heart-wrenching "Another Day, Another Dollar," in which a black assembly-line worker single-mindedly solves her brother's murder. A fine acquisition for mystery collections. Emily Melton

These all-new stories, written by members of the Adams Round Table, have no common theme but will nonetheless appeal to mystery short-story lovers. Authors include Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, and Peter Straub.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.