Reviews

Once Upon a Crime by Gillian Roberts, Anne Wingate, Various, Gary A. Braunbeck, William L. DeAndrea, Les Roberts, Jane Haddam, Elizabeth Engstrom, Simon Clark, Edward D. Hoch, Audrey Peterson, John Lutz, Bill Crider, Simon Brett, Brendan DuBois, Doug Allyn, Sharyn McCrumb, Jon L. Breen, Peter Crowther, Janet Dawson, Mat Coward, Ed Gorman, John Helfers, Joan Hess, Kristine Kathryn Rusch

abby_312's review

I didn’t like the modernization of the first story or the narrator so I just moved on

ladyrosepixie's review

dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0

theybedax's review

5.0

This is an absolutely amazing book, one you will find yourself reading over and over again. What makes it so brilliant is that it is cram packed with short stories of modern day fairy tales. Little sick twists on the already grimm fairy tales. I would recommend this to any and all adult readers.

psalmcat's review

4.0

Pretty good concept: short stories based on fairy tales by crime fiction authors. Some of them were pretty funny, some were weird, some were spooky. And there were a lot of Mafia ones (yuck).

kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review

3.0

There are some pleasent surprises in this little collection. There are also some duds. Thankfully, however, the gems make up for the dudes. There does seem to be a preponderence of mob stories.

The stories range from funny to touching. Now of them all really sad. Standouts include-

"After Happily Ever" by Gillian Roberts which would have a place in any Datlow/Windling collection. Think you know the story of Cinderella, think again.

"Heptagon" by Joan Hess - Snow White meets a shrink.

"Now Fetch Me an Axe" by Simon Clark - a retelling of the Princess and the Frog fetching a famous mystery writer who is not [a:Agatha Christie|123715|Agatha Christie|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1190633574p2/123715.jpg] and who crave a good roast.

"Rapunzel's Revenge" by Brendon DuBois - a male Rapunzel no less.

"The Brave Little Costume Designer" by Les Roberts- wonderful adaption of "The Brave Little Tailor". Best adaption I've seen.

"Love and Justice" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - despite its setting the most true to life story.

The best story is "Gerda's Sense of Snow" by Sharyn McCrumb - a retelling of the Snow Queen, using the slang defination of the word snow.

wyvernfriend's review

4.0

This is a very mixed bag of stories, all clever and all interesting. These take a twist on the stories of fairy tale, taking a more crime oriented look at these stories. Many of them are clever and interesting but some of them are a litle laboured, trying to twist the story a little too much to fit the fairy tale. However it kept me interested and amused throughout.