THE NEW MYSTERY: THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CRIME WRITERS ESSENTIAL CRIME WRITING OF THE LATE 20TH CENTURY, edited by Jerome Charyn, is one of the finest short story anthologies I have read. It seems like everybody's here. If you don't like Joyce Carol Oates's novels, here's something short: "How I Contemplated the World from the Detroit House of Correction and Began My Life Over Again". It's about a spoiled white girl who goes slumming, gets beat up and sold into servitude. Just the idea makes me tingle all over. Raymond's Carver's "Cathedral" is also here. The man's a technician. He doesn't tell you anything you don't need to know. If you couldn't plow your way through L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, James Ellroy offers "Gravy Train". Definitely not politically correct. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is also included with his one-sentence, surreal story "The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship."
I have to say, though, that the real reason I recommend the anthology is because I first discovered Lawrence Block and Stuart Kaminsky in these riveting pages. Read Kaminsky's "The Man Who Hated Books" and eventually you'll find his Porfiry Rostnikov novels, the best serial going. The man knows more about modern Russia than Putin does. Block's "The Merciful Angel of Death" will lead you to his Matt Scudder novels. Matt's an ex-alcoholic, detective (without a license) in love with a high-class prostitute.