Wolf Woman Bay and Nine More of the Finest Crime and Mystery Novellas of the Year

Gorman and Greenberg (Stagecoach ) have chosen an outstanding selection of 2005's novellas for this sterling anthology. Two of the best are from Transgressions , edited by the late Ed McBain: his own strong 87th Precinct story “Merely Hate” and Sharyn McCrumb's “The Resurrection Man,” a brilliantly told mystery that would burnish any literary collection. From Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine come Joyce Carol Oates's “Honor Code,” a study of an adolescent girl's misery; Doug Allyn's bleak ”Wolf Woman Bay”; Clark Howard's twisted double-cross “Arizona Heat”; and Steve Hockensmith's “Gustav Amlingmeyer, Holmes of the Range,” a comic tale of the cowboy Sherlock and Watson of the old West. Dick Lochte's “Diamond Dog” and Carole Nelson Douglas's “Junior Partner in Crime” contribute dogs, cats and grins, while Jeremiah Healy's “Grieving Las Vegas” may surprise fans with its darkness. Finally, Brendan Dubois's “The Temptation of King David” adds a special hook to a biblical tale. (Oct.)