Kliatt: Stabenow, Dana, ed. Wild crimes

STABENOW, Dana, ed. Wild crimes. Penguin, Signet. 289p. c2004. 0-451-21286-X. $6.99. SA

Eleven new mysteries begin with Michael Armstrong's "Following the Quarters." Why would someone stuff coins into newspaper-dispensing machines at 2AM? In "The Man Who Thought He Was a Deer," Margaret Coel pits one hunter against another, but with an ironic twist. Mike Doogan explores the murder of a worker at a secret government facility in "Gambling on Death." "The Bog," by Loren Estleman, holds more than one deadly secret. Laurie King finds mystery in "The Salt Pond" in New Guinea in the early 1980s, where murder and justice are the same thing. Something is killing hermits in "These Crowded Woods" by Skye Moody, and the something isn't human. Isidore Pete, born in 1921, relates old Eskimo stories to schoolchildren in "Bad-Hearted" by Brad Reynolds.

A minister named Gull is gulling the gullible in "Bird of Paradise" by S.J. Rozan, but he is foiled by Jeremiah 5:27. It's a cop against bootleggers in an Arctic December in "The Quiet Cold" by James Sarafin. Editor Dana Stabenow contributes "Wreck Rights" about a dangerous curve and coincidental crashes on an Alaskan highway. The collection ends with "My Heart Went Boom" by John Straley, a story of sirens, police cars, and an elementary school production of A Midsummer-Night's Dream. This collection is recommended to mature mystery fans because of obscenities and gore. Janet Julian, Grafton, MA

S--Recommended for senior high school students.

A--Recommended for advanced students and adults. This code will help librarians and teachers working in high schools where there are honors and advanced placement students. This also will help extend KLIATT's usefulness in public libraries.