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Hardcover: 560 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (July 1, 2004)
ISBN: 0060588217

Whether the story is a murder mystery, a tale of suspense, a psychological study of the characters affected by a devastating event, a courtroom drama, a police procedural ... the question remains the same. Why crime? Why exists this fascination with crime and why, above all, exists this fascination with crime on the part of female writers?
-- Elizabeth George

In A MOMENT ON THE EDGE, bestselling author Elizabeth George has selected a stunning collection of twenty-six crime stories from some of the best practitioners of the genre, who also happen to be some of the most successful women writers of our time.

These shocking and compulsively readable stories are arranged chronologically, starting with the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell (1917). Also included are stories by Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, and New Golden Age author Sara Paretsky, as well as selections by writers outside the genre, such as Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Antonia Fraser, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Collectively these stories illustrate how crimefiction -- especially that written by women about women -- has changed in the last hundred years. As Elizabeth George notes in her introduction, "All of these authors share in common a desire to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The edge equates to the crime committed. How the characters deal with the edge is the story."

This is a must-have anthology for aficionados of crime fiction.

“Elizabeth George reigns as queen of the mystery genre.” 
--Entertainment Weekly

“A master of the English mystery.”
--The New York Times

“Ms. George can do it all, with style to spare.” 
--The Wall Street Journal

“It’s tough to resist George’s storytelling, once hooked.” 
--USA Today

“George is a master...she upholds the English tradition beautifully.” 
--Chicago Tribune

“George explores her characters’ dreams and fears with a penetrating grace that makes reading her books a joy.”
--The Washington Post Book World

“A fascinating list of subjects...wrenching stories...George conveys them all with exceptional grace.” 
--People

" Well known for her Inspector Lynley series, George here collects short mysteries by women, bracketing the 26 entries with two tales about the death of abusive husbands, written more than 80 years apart. Between them springs an entertaining assortment of locked-room murders, theatrical whodunits, white-collar-crime and detective stories, and psychological puzzlers, each headed by revealing author notes. Agatha Christie, praised by George in the volume’s enlightening introduction, isn’t represented, but her contemporaries in the 3 Golden Age of Mystery in Great Britain are: Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayres, and Margery Allingham. Dorothy Davis, Charlotte Armstrong, Minette Walters, and Ruth Rendell are here as well, and sleuths Sharon McCone, Jemima Shore, and V. I. Warshawski, each one now a star of her own long-running detective series, make appearances. Here, too, are writers not associated primarily with the genre, including Joyce Carol Oates and Nadine Gordimer, whose tragic tale about the consequences of an interracial affair in South Africa is both mystery and political fiction. From start to finish, a first-rate anthology. "
--Booklist

"Elizabeth George, whose books about detective Thomas Lynley make her a regular on best-seller lists, doesn't think her work is any less worthy because it carries the tag "crime novel." "Crime writing does not have to be considered genre writing," George writes in the introduction to "A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women" (HarperCollins, 560 pages, $24.95), a collection of 23 short stories that have, at their heart, a crime. After all, "Hamlet," she notes, is set into motion by fratricide. Included in this collection are most of the usual suspects -- Dorothy L. Sayers, Ruth Rendell, Sara Paretsky -- but also others who might not immediately spring to mind when talking of crime writers -- Joyce Carol Oates and Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer, for instance."
--Chicago Tribune
To read the full review, click here.

"All kinds of mysteries and sleuths are represented here. Some are amateur sleuths and some are professionals. Even the hard-boiled lady private eye is here. Most, if not all, of the crimes they deal with are murders. There is a new mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, though it is not told from Dr. Watson's point of view. There is also a new take on the case of Jack the Ripper. Some of the stories have sleuths that are featured in a series of books and short stories. Some, however, feature amateurs that only appear in this one story. All are great reading."
-- MyShelf.Com
To read the full review, click here.

"An absolutely first-rate anthology and great value for the money is "A Moment on the Edge" (HarperCollins, 540 pages, $24.95), edited by the distinguished mystery writer Elizabeth George. Subtitled "100 Years of Crime Stories by Women" (though only 84 years are covered), it reprints several familiar tales, including one of the dozen greatest mystery stories of all time, Susan Glaspell's often-anthologized 'A Jury of Her Peers.'"
-- The New York Sun
To read the full review, click here.

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