On a Raven's Wing: New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe

The Mystery Writers of America also presents an anthology of 20 new short stories, ranging from the uninterestingly derivative to the truly memorable. Fortunately, the volume boasts more hits than misses, most impressively Dorothy Salisbury Davis's chilling “Emily's Time,” the tale of an intellectual's descent into isolation and madness with an appropriately ambiguous ending. The always reliable Peter Lovesey easily blends the real-life questions surrounding Poe's early death into “The Deadliest Tale of All.” Daniel Stashower, who's written the definitive study of the Mary Rogers murder case (The Beautiful Cigar Girl ) that inspired one of Poe's detective tales, creatively reinterprets the master in “Challenger,” a coming-of-age story set in Ohio. Other notable contributors include Thomas H. Cook, S.J. Rozan and the late Edward D. Hoch. (Jan.)