Bingo – Reader’s Choice (replacing Sports Ball)
My brother sometimes calls me Crankelina. In the privacy of my accepting family, I am known to occasionally exhibit pouty annoyance. And so it was with Daggers Drawn, a mystery anthology edited by Max Jakubowski. Some stories are riddled with typos. The mysteries are flaccid. Many characters are poorly sketched. I am a bit sorry I wasted my Reader’s Choice square on this unnotable collection.
I could end the review there, I suppose, but I have a word minimum to hit. To be fair, there are some okay stories.There’s a decent story about an art caper that had charming characters, some wit, and a very anticlimactic ending. There’s another story about a long-ago murder with sufficient dread and a good finish. A story of sex and betrayal. And another about a sociopathic little boy. I guess there were more adequate than bad stories.
I’m a big fan of mystery anthologies and sometimes you get one that has more duds than not. Putting aside my Crankelina alter ego, I suppose this wasn’t as bad as I’m making it out to be. But it was pretty dull, and that’s worth pouting about.