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Dangerous Women

by Otto Penzler

Otto Penzler, who compiled Dangerous Women, a list of stories by famous authors, has written an introduction explaining his choices and his selection of the authors who wrote them – citing Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes as part of his reasoning for claiming some of the fairer sex as 'dangerous.' Dangerous Women certainly includes some well-known author names - Michael Connelly, Nelson DeMille, J. A. Jance, Elmore Leonard, Ed McBain, Jeffery Deaver, Joyce Carol Oates and Anne Perry among them. The entire list is composed of seventeen authors. Each story, of course, features a woman or women as the central characters – and every one has a dark side.

All the stories in Dangerous Women are good, but the one which stands out among the rest is Jeffery Deaver's 'Born Bad'. It's well worth the price of the entire book just to read that single piece. 'Born Bad' has the surprising twist near the end of the story that you normally find only in a complete novel - besides being beautifully written. Not that all the other tales aren't written well - it's simply that Mr. Deaver's narrative is especially compelling.

For scary horror, be sure to read 'Mr. Gray's Folly' by John Connolly, and for deviousness, don't miss the first yarn in the book, 'Improvisation' by Ed McBain. Deviousness, horror, seduction, murder, lying, secretiveness, suicide and manipulation can all be found in this collection, and the stories I've named are simply my own favorites and my own taste. You may prefer something like 'Louly and Pretty Boy' by Elmore Leonard instead, for instance.

One thing in favor of a collection like Mr. Penzler's instead of a novel is the fact that you can read selectively, or read only one story at a time, then put it down. You don't get too involved with the characters, interesting as they might be; and in this age of crowded itineraries such a compilation might be preferred over a complete chronicle. Although I've no doubt that a similar grouping could easily be found using only men as the most dangerous, Otto Penzler's decision that the female of the species is more dangerous than the male certainly makes for a fascinating book!

Alan Paul Curtis

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