Deadly Anniversaries: Celebrating 75 Years of Mystery Writers of America

Anniversaries of all kinds are the source of mayhem for the 19 stories in this entertaining all-original anthology from MWA grand masters Muller and Pronzini (the Sabrina Carpenter series). Wedding anniversaries feature prominently, as in Max Allan Collins’s diverting “Amazing Grace,” in which a 50th anniversary cake becomes the catalyst for murder. Historical anniversaries, meanwhile, are central to Lee Child’s clever “Normal in Every Way,” in which knowledge of key dates from WWII enables a police file clerk to target a serial killer in 1950s San Francisco. Series characters also appear, notably the mother of S.J. Rozan’s Lydia Chin in “Chin Yong-Sun Sets the Date,” in which the mother foils an attempt to sabotage one wedding engagement and smooths the way for another. On a lighter note, a pair of redneck thieves in Julie Smith’s “Whodat Heist” pull off a big score on Superbowl Sunday only to be once again outmatched by their female partner. Other contributors include Jeffery Deaver, Laurie R. King, Peter Lovesey, and Margaret Maron. This is a must for mystery fans. (May)