The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022 - Edited by Jess Walter and Steph Cha

I've always meant to pick up one of the annual mystery and suspense year end compilations. This year I finally did! (And now I know what I've been missing.) This is actually the 26th entry in the Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022 yearly collections. 

Jess Walter is the guest editor, who, with series editor Steph Cha were charged with choosing 'the twenty short stories that represent the best examples of the form published the previous year.' The process to try and narrow the field down to just twenty entries is detailed in the editor notes. I wouldn't want to be the one making those decisions.

There were entries from authors than I'm familiar with, such as Dennis Lehane and S.A. Paris. I know their style and knew I would enjoy their entries. (I did) There were many 'new to me' authors and I was excited to experience new voices. This format lends itself to new discoveries. Where was such a wide variety of styles, locales, length, protagonists and more! 

I'm always fascinated by this style of story telling. How to fit in characters, a protagonist, a beginning and an end into a limited time or space. It's nice to pick the story you have time for at lunch - and escape into a book for a short period of time, but with a sense of satisfaction.

I chose to listen to this book. A number of narrators were used for this compilation - Desean Terry, Lindsey Dorcus, Max Meyers, Frankie Corzo, Christopher Salazar and Chanté McCormick, Each and every one was excellent. The readers change their tone, cadence, accent, etc. to suit the stories being told. The speed of speaking was good and all spoke clearly. 

Hear for yourself - listen to an excerpt of  The Best American Mystery and Suspense.

Ripley's Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses

The Ripley's books have been a staple in our house for many, many years. My son discovered them as a youngster and he always received the newest book for Christmas. Twenty plus years later, he still enjoys them. And I have to admit, so does everyone else who visits. The latest is Ripley's Believe It or Not! Shatter Your Senses. Its out on the coffee table in the t.v. room and almost everyone picks it up to leaf through.

This 2017 edition brings 1,500 new - and yes, they're all true - stories to readers. You can browse by section -  Believe It, World, Beyond Belief, Animals, Pop Culture and People or you can browse like me. I just start flipping pages, stopping when something catches my eye. The five senses are targeted in this new entry. Short snippets give you a quick glance into something 'unbelievable', but the pictures will have you pausing to look and wonder at the 'unbelievable." The photos are in full color.

What caught my eye? You've heard of yarn bombing - what about an entire house covered? Air pollution in China is horrific. But citizens can buy a bag of fresh mountain air for a nominal fee. Heading to the beach in China? Make sure to wear your face-kini to protect your skin. I'll pass on visiting Sweetwater, Texas and their rattlesnake festival. *shivers* Or the Poison Garden in England. The most expensive cheese in the world? Made from donkeys in the Balkans. I got lost in popular culture - there are many, many unusual oddities. Dual sided cowboy boots. Celebrity portraits made from shredded currency. Could you fit 138 pencils in your mouth? And that's just a few entries! The cover is eye- catching (and 3D), as are the stories between the covers. Fair warning - some of the stories are definitely not meant for younger children. See below for some page excerpts.