Book Review: The Mysterious Bookshop Presents 2024

About:

This is a collection of mystery short stories that were published in the previous year and were chosen as the best mystery short stories of 2024. This audio is more than 15 hours of mysteries sure to bring joy to any crime fiction reader.

Who Is This Book For?

This is a great book for anyone who enjoys reading crime fiction, mystery, suspense, and detective stories. Anthony Horowitz selects and introduces the best mysteries from last year from over 3,000 stories. This anthology is a selection of the best 20 stories.

These stories come from: 

• The Strand Magazine
• Dark Yonder
• Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
• The Bellevue Literary Review
• and more

Authors include: 

Favorite Quotes:

“Many people erroneously regard a mystery as a detective story. Though important, detective stories are only a subgenre of the much bigger literary category of mystery fiction. Generally referred to in the U.K. as crime fiction. Which I define as any work of fiction in which a crime or threat of a crime is central to the theme or the plot,” Otto Penzler, Forward.

“It’s my belief, that crime novels have come to offer something that is sorely missing in real life and that as human beings we fundamentally need and that something is: Justice. Closure. Truth.” Anthony Horowitz, Introduction.

What I Enjoyed

I enjoyed getting to experience so many fantastic mystery writers work. The introduction by Anthony Horowitz was great. This was a great selection of crime fiction, mysteries that really did a good job of diversifying the genre to include more than just detectives.

My Favorite Short Mystery Stories:

These are not in order, except for the first one. 

• “The Backwoods” by Shells Legoloullon (track 014 on the audiobook) – My Top Pick!!!!! 
• “El Paso Heat” by Peter W.J. Hayes (Track 013 on the audiobook) 
• “Down the Fire Road” by Doug Crandell (tracks 007 and 008 on the audiobook)
• “Last Day at the Jack Rabbit” by John M. Floyd (track 011 on the audiobook)

What I Didn’t Enjoy

It was difficult to find any criticism for this book. Since there are many authors of varying writing styles and mysteries it was a challenge to give the entire collection a single rating. Overall, I think the stories chosen were well-written and engaging.

Coming from a cozy mystery fan, I was hoping for more cozy style crime fiction. Most of the short stories were intense, action-packed, and fast pace. This isn’t a negative for most mystery readers just those who exclusively read cozy mysteries.

My Rating:

4.5 Stars Rounded up to 5

Narration: 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Short Story Selection: 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Share on Pinterest!I enjoyed listening to the audio book for this book review, The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2024.

Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for providing this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.  #TheMysteriousBookshopPresentstheBestMysteryStoriesoftheYear2024 #NetGalley 

If you enjoy cozy mystery be sure to check the September 2024 Cozy Mystery New Releases book list. If you enjoy mystery novels consider signing up for my newsletter beneath this article. Each month, I send out an email notifying you of new cozy mysteries releases, book reviews like this one, and book recommendations.

I’m looking forward to reviewing some of these books and sharing my recommendation with you. Thank you for reading! I love connecting with mystery readers.

Are you on Goodreads? Let’s be Good Reads friends! If you enjoyed this list, be sure to check out my profile for more cozy mystery recommendations and reviews. If you enjoyed this book review, I have many more on my blog.

Best,

Anita