The Mysterious West: A Collection of Suspenseful Stories

by Tony Hillerman

Book Overview

Edited by Tony Hillerman, the Southwest's foremost suspense writer, this first-ever collection of mystery stories set in the West contains 20 original entries by such luminary mystery writers as... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060177853
• ISBN13: 9780060177850
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 392 Pages
• Weight: 1.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Mysterious West

This is an anthology of short stories by authors other than Tony Hillerman written in 1994. I generally only read science fiction anthologies, but it was pretty spooky that the very first story was set in an area I just drove 500 miles to check out as a place to live. Timber Cove is breathtakingly beautiful, but very isolated (and controlled by the coastal commission among others).

Each tale is like a piece of gormet canip

THE MYSTERIOUS WEST Edited by Tony HillermanThis is an ecclectic collection of short stories in settings that rage the American West by a wonderful variety of writers. They are all new, never before published, stories.Each story is a "mystery" of some sort. I found them all to be quite facinating, even if most are not about cats. One story is most decidedly about a cat, Midnight Louie.Louie has his own series of novels. The short story in this anthology is a good example of Midnight Louie's other adventures.If you or your purrrson like mysteries and stories of susspense, deceit and excitement, this is a great book to have. The stories are completey engrossing, easy to read and a treat! Take the book along when you have to wait for your next medical, dental or other appointment. Each tale is like a piece of gormet canip--a pleasure that almost doesn't last long enough.A book for adult readers, but without sleaze, or the need for parental discression!Twist, a prrroud member of CLAW, and the CLAW Bookstore Committee

Interesting change of pace for Hillerman.

I've been reading a lot of novels lately. 600-pagers. So when I found this collections of short stories, I gave it a try. I love the West; I love short stories; why not a change of pace. Hillerman has collected stories set in the West, not western stories. At first I bridled: Hillerman without Navajos? But once I got into the first story, I was hooked. This is the only collection I have ever read whose stories are ALL good, and there are a lot of stories in the book. I liked the characters, the locations, the stories, and the surprise that most of the stories were by women. I hadn't expected that. A favorite? That would be tough. How about three: "Nooses Give" by Dana Stabenow--ridding the Tundra of bootleggers; "A Woman's Place" by D. R. Meredith--Highwater, Texas never saw no lady judge before!; and "With Flowers in Her Hair" by M. D. Lake--you CAN go back, but it may not be very nice there. What did I hate about the book? Closing the back cover.

Good introduction to many different authors

This is one of the better anthologies of mystery stories that I have read. The Western theme works well to tie it all together, though for some authors it is apparent only from the location of the story. I enjoyed the short submissions from authors whose full length works I have already read - including D.R. Meredith, J.A. Jance and Karen Kijewski. The most notable reason to get this collection is to be exposed to authors you may not normally choose. A couple I found here and had to investigate further were Dana Stabenow (writes about an Eskimo female investigator - excellent stories) and Linda Grant - who I have only read in other short story collections