Reviews

Sideways In Crime by Lou Anders

eastofthesunwestofthemoon's review against another edition

3.0

Like most story collections featuring multiple authors, some of these tales are gems and some are more average. Generally a decent collection, but I'm not a huge short story fan, so not my favorite. The best part of this type of book is finding authors I might like and seeing what novels they have out.

vulcanzaddy's review

lighthearted mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.0

There are stories still unread but, the few I have gotten through aren't much motivation to continue.

ubalstecha's review against another edition

5.0

I can't say enough nice things about this collection of alternate history mysteries. Alternate histories are fun, as it lets the author and reader speculate what would have happened if history had taken a left, instead of the right we know about. This collection sees Azteck empires in a modern North America or the Nazi's rising to power in the US, rather than Germany.

Adding the mystery coating to alternate history gives quite a dimension to the stories. Different styles of mysteries abound, so don't worry that it's all Philip Marlow. Several stories also cleverly integrate the role of detective/private eye into their mythos.

Editor Lou Anders has done a great job selecting contributions to the anthology. This is worth picking up.

kayswear's review

4.0

15 alternate history novelettes and short stories involving crime solving. Usually when the common thread is well defined and constraining some of the stories are plainly filler around one or two gems. As with any anthology there are highs and lows but these are all pretty good, very readable. Who knew that so many good stories in this vein exist?