The Mysterious West ***

*** The Mysterious West, edited by Tony Hillerman, 1995

Note the edited by. Hillerman didn't write this one. But I figure I trust his taste. After the first few, I began to wonder, but then it picked up. There are some first rate stories in here, a few second rate stories and one or two third-rate stories.

The term West is used loosely, as the MidWest gets a few shots in there. I haven't read most of these writers. Just seeing Stuart Kaminsky in the list sealed the deal for me, since he's a great writer. I've never picked up a book of his I regretted reading. I have a few Holmes pastiche books by Carole Nelson Douglas on the TBR shelf. Her selection in here didn't particularly stand out for me, but I'll still give them a whirl sometime this year.

It's a good nightstand book, as you have bite-sized chunks you can read and then crash.