Elizabeth George (ed), A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women

A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women

Elizabeth George (editor)

Harper Collins, Jul 2004, $24.95, 560 pp.

ISBN: 0060588217

This twenty-six short story collection pays homage to some of the great female mystery-thriller writers of the past century and showcases how brilliant women are at authoring crime tales. The anthology is set up in chronological order starting with the 1917 "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell and ending with a pair of works published in 2001. Most of the works occur in the second fifty years with most of those in the final quarter. Only two entries are pre WWII and, in addition, only two others comprise the first fifty years. Either Editor Elizabeth George is not familiar with the pioneers or women have come a long way in a quantity sense as the number of distaff authors has exponentially grown since the World War I/Great Depression eras.

The quality of the compilation is top-notch as Ms. George has provided a virtual who's who with some of their best shorts included in this book. Fans of stories that run the gamut of the mystery-thriller genres but share in common taking the reader to "A Moment on the Edge" (and in some cases over the edge) will appreciate this terrific deference to the ladies of crime.

Harriet Klausner