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shalini_gunnasan's review against another edition
4.0
No such thing as a perfect anthology, but this is a pretty strong collection. I'd rate the good stories as slightly above average to very good. I was happy to see Jonathan Maberry here, and he doesn't disappoint. The first story by Ilsa J. Bick set the tone and made for a strong start.
The bad ones were just awful, and I couldn't read beyond a page or two. These stories had a very particular style to them which won't appeal to everyone. One had too much purple prose and was irritatingly descriptive (with her husband's eye colors changing from page to page!) and another had teenage girls swooning over a hot lecturer as leads, and the writing was stilted and unnatural. It also had shove-in-your-face diversity, which is very lazy writing. If you include minorities in the background, with no speaking roles and explicitly mentioning their ethnicity, for no other reason than to show how cool and liberal YOUR character is, that's exploitation.
I usually like Neil Gaiman, but his treatment of Sherlock Holmes here I do not like. I cannot see Sherlock Holmes being so idiotic.
Charlaine Harris' story is one I have mixed feelings about. I like the plot, but I can't stand the melodrama and affectations. Yeccchh. How do people read an entire novel of that?!
Nevertheless, I do recommend this as the rest of the stories are engaging and fun.
The bad ones were just awful, and I couldn't read beyond a page or two. These stories had a very particular style to them which won't appeal to everyone. One had too much purple prose and was irritatingly descriptive (with her husband's eye colors changing from page to page!) and another had teenage girls swooning over a hot lecturer as leads, and the writing was stilted and unnatural. It also had shove-in-your-face diversity, which is very lazy writing. If you include minorities in the background, with no speaking roles and explicitly mentioning their ethnicity, for no other reason than to show how cool and liberal YOUR character is, that's exploitation.
I usually like Neil Gaiman, but his treatment of Sherlock Holmes here I do not like. I cannot see Sherlock Holmes being so idiotic.
Spoiler
He beats Death by creating a youth and immortality elixir from honey. Seriously? There's a reason people call it a curse, you know.Charlaine Harris' story is one I have mixed feelings about. I like the plot, but I can't stand the melodrama and affectations. Yeccchh. How do people read an entire novel of that?!
Nevertheless, I do recommend this as the rest of the stories are engaging and fun.
geekwayne's review against another edition
4.0
'Weird Detectives' is an anthology of short mystery stories of a paranormal nature. Either the case is supernatural or one of the investigators is.
Quite a few of the stories are tied in to larger series, but these act as teasers or introductions into those worlds. A lot of the stories are set in urban environments, but the settings can be quite varied. My favorite story is probably Bradley Denton's 'The Adakian Eagle,' maybe because it was a bit different from the rest, and it features an interesting character named Pop. On the more spooky side, I liked 'Signatures of the Dead' by Faith Hunter, in which a witch, a shapeshifter and a mortal hunt down a scary lair full of murderous vampires. There are a couple very different Sherlock Holmes stories, and a few where the detectives are vampires, or masters of the occult.
It's a well curated collection by Paula Guran, who has edited quite a few of these sort of collections. Since so many of the stories are from ongoing series, it doesn tend to feel like a sampler, but the nice thing about an anthology like this is that it has a broad selection. If you don't like a particular story, then the next one may have more appeal to you.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Diamond Book Distributors, Prime Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
Quite a few of the stories are tied in to larger series, but these act as teasers or introductions into those worlds. A lot of the stories are set in urban environments, but the settings can be quite varied. My favorite story is probably Bradley Denton's 'The Adakian Eagle,' maybe because it was a bit different from the rest, and it features an interesting character named Pop. On the more spooky side, I liked 'Signatures of the Dead' by Faith Hunter, in which a witch, a shapeshifter and a mortal hunt down a scary lair full of murderous vampires. There are a couple very different Sherlock Holmes stories, and a few where the detectives are vampires, or masters of the occult.
It's a well curated collection by Paula Guran, who has edited quite a few of these sort of collections. Since so many of the stories are from ongoing series, it doesn tend to feel like a sampler, but the nice thing about an anthology like this is that it has a broad selection. If you don't like a particular story, then the next one may have more appeal to you.
I received a review copy of this ebook from Diamond Book Distributors, Prime Books, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.
annecrisp's review against another edition
3.0
I read the few stories that interest me. Maybe I'll come back to it later.
nattyg's review against another edition
4.0
Not the best, not the worst. The authors I normally read, had read their ss in other anthologies. The authors that were new to me, very good. Found a few new to add to the list.
willac's review against another edition
4.0
"Weird Detectives" is an anthology of short paranormal mystery stories. As in most anthologies, some of the stories were great, while there were a few that I wasn't interested in. Also, many of the stories were reprints that have appeared in other anthologies, so if you're buying the book for a particular author's story, check and be sure you haven't already read it.
The standouts for me were:
The Key, by Ilsa J. Bick. A story about a detective trying to figure out who killed a little boy found by a jogger in the park. I loved this one. Full of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, demons and angels. I would love to read a whole novel about Jason Saunders, the detective. The story caused me to look for more by Ms. Black, which, for me, is one of the more important reasons for reading an anthology--to discover new authors.
Love Hurts, by Jim Butcher. A story set in Harry Dresden's (The Dresden Files) world. I've read most of The Dresden Files books, so am familiar with the world and the characters. I had read this story before, but it was worth reading again. Harry and Karrin Murphy investigate a case involving three couples, each of whom apparently killed themselves in a suicide pact. And Harry and Murphy almost get caught up in it themselves.
Protective Coloration, by Elizabeth Bear. Three college girls discover that their professor, Dr. Matthew Szczegielniak ("Dr. S.") has another life as a mage.
Star of David, by Patricia Briggs. Stella Christiansen runs an agency that places foster children. When one of those foster children is accused of wrecking his foster parents' home, Stella thinks there must be something else involved. To find out what, she enlists the help of her estranged father, a werewolf.
Signatures of the Dead, by Faith Hunter. Set in the world of Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skin walker, this story has Jane and her friend Molly Everhart Trueblood investigating the killing of a family, apparently by vampires. Also involved in the investigation are Molly's husband Evan and a sheriff's detective.
Imposters, by Sarah Monette. Two detectives with the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation look into a rash of suicides.
Deal Breaker, by Justin Gustainis. A story about a man who sold his soul to the Devil for a decade of good luck. The decade is coming to a close, and he comes to investigator Quincy Morris to find a way to get out of the deal.
Death by Dahlia, by Charlaine Harris. Another reprint, this time set in the Sookie Stackhouse "Southern Vampire" universe. A great story about what happens when vampires investigate one of their own. Sookie doesn't appear, but Dahlia has appeared in several of the Sookie books.
Like Part of the Family, by Jonathan Maberry. PI Sam Hunter is hired by a woman who claims that her husband has threatened to kill her. Hunter turns out to be more than he appeared at first glance.
See Me, by Tanya Huff. Tony Foster--the young wizard who first appeared in Huff's "Blood" series, and now in his own series, "Smoke"--and his boyfriend Lee get involved with a prostitute who has been at the scene of two deaths. Tony is one of the directors of a vampire detective television show, and Lee plays the detective on the show. Despite the fact that neither of them are detectives, the wizard and the actor contrive to solve the mystery.
I received this book from NetGalley in return for a review; I was not paid for this review, nor required to post a positive review.
The standouts for me were:
The Key, by Ilsa J. Bick. A story about a detective trying to figure out who killed a little boy found by a jogger in the park. I loved this one. Full of Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, demons and angels. I would love to read a whole novel about Jason Saunders, the detective. The story caused me to look for more by Ms. Black, which, for me, is one of the more important reasons for reading an anthology--to discover new authors.
Love Hurts, by Jim Butcher. A story set in Harry Dresden's (The Dresden Files) world. I've read most of The Dresden Files books, so am familiar with the world and the characters. I had read this story before, but it was worth reading again. Harry and Karrin Murphy investigate a case involving three couples, each of whom apparently killed themselves in a suicide pact. And Harry and Murphy almost get caught up in it themselves.
Protective Coloration, by Elizabeth Bear. Three college girls discover that their professor, Dr. Matthew Szczegielniak ("Dr. S.") has another life as a mage.
Star of David, by Patricia Briggs. Stella Christiansen runs an agency that places foster children. When one of those foster children is accused of wrecking his foster parents' home, Stella thinks there must be something else involved. To find out what, she enlists the help of her estranged father, a werewolf.
Signatures of the Dead, by Faith Hunter. Set in the world of Jane Yellowrock, a Cherokee skin walker, this story has Jane and her friend Molly Everhart Trueblood investigating the killing of a family, apparently by vampires. Also involved in the investigation are Molly's husband Evan and a sheriff's detective.
Imposters, by Sarah Monette. Two detectives with the Bureau of Paranormal Investigation look into a rash of suicides.
Deal Breaker, by Justin Gustainis. A story about a man who sold his soul to the Devil for a decade of good luck. The decade is coming to a close, and he comes to investigator Quincy Morris to find a way to get out of the deal.
Death by Dahlia, by Charlaine Harris. Another reprint, this time set in the Sookie Stackhouse "Southern Vampire" universe. A great story about what happens when vampires investigate one of their own. Sookie doesn't appear, but Dahlia has appeared in several of the Sookie books.
Like Part of the Family, by Jonathan Maberry. PI Sam Hunter is hired by a woman who claims that her husband has threatened to kill her. Hunter turns out to be more than he appeared at first glance.
See Me, by Tanya Huff. Tony Foster--the young wizard who first appeared in Huff's "Blood" series, and now in his own series, "Smoke"--and his boyfriend Lee get involved with a prostitute who has been at the scene of two deaths. Tony is one of the directors of a vampire detective television show, and Lee plays the detective on the show. Despite the fact that neither of them are detectives, the wizard and the actor contrive to solve the mystery.
I received this book from NetGalley in return for a review; I was not paid for this review, nor required to post a positive review.
book_realm_revisions's review against another edition
4.0
A delightful collection of odd cases and twisted endings
royanandadeep's review against another edition
4.0
Very well-designed collection. Some stories are a little meh, some are ordinary, but most of them are really good and worth the time. The Caitlin Kiernan one particularly is great, the Neil Gaiman one is so-so. Sarah Monette one is also pretty good. Suspense and magic all around. Some are a little too obscure for my taste.
lkeipp's review against another edition
4.0
Lots of good stories; will inspire you to go find other works by those authors.
oligneisti's review against another edition
3.0
Las þessa í von um að finna skemmtilega höfunda. Það tókst. Sarah Monette.
colej67's review against another edition
3.0
Most of the stories are just ok. The main value of this book is exposure to authors that seem worth checking out, because their writing was interesting but not quite fulfilling.