The Lineup: The World's Greatest Crime Writers Tell the Inside Story of Their Greatest Detectives Book

What an absolute delight! Twenty-two of our best English speaking mystery writers accepted Penzler's invitation to pen a short piece on his/her most celebrated detective. Do read Penzler's intro to find out why. Some of my favorites made the list but there are others I haven't read. Some of the latter made the cut with me based on their submissions, others didn't. The only entry I thought about skipping entirely turned out to be one of the most interesting--Rambo, no less. The joy of this collection is that each author chose his or her unique approach to the subject. Some told us exactly how they came up with their detective; others carefully obscured it in a flurry of words. Most entries were interesting; some induced sleep. The way that they told their tales was every bit as revealing as the tales themselves. At the risk of being a spoiler, I was astounded at how many of these fictional detectives write their own stories and direct the authors to set them down exactly as revealed. Clearly, there needs to be a Volume 2. I'll send my recommendations to Penzler ASAP.