It's not easy to collect, in a single volume, the finest mystery and suspense fiction the world has to offer, but The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories: Second Annual Collection rises to that challenge, inviting you to discover what Kirkus Reviews dubs " . . . the year's anthology of choice."

In his Second Annual collection, Ed Gorman once again brings together the year's most powerful fiction by such outstanding authors as Lawrence Block, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Ed McBain, Joyce Carol Oates, Ian Rankin, and Donald E. Westlake. The volume also abounds with fresh new stories by newer authors, from U. S. publications, and also from sources on other shores, including England, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Contents:

* The Year in Mystery and Crime Fiction: 2000 by Jon L. Breen
* A 2000 Yearbook of Mystery and Crime by Edward D. Hoch
* World Mystery Report: Great Britain by Maxim Jakubowski
* World Mystery Report: Australia by David Honeybone & Lucy Sussex
* World Mystery Report: Canada by Edo van Belkom
* World Mystery Report: Germany by Thomas Wöertche
* The 2000 Short Story Edgar Awards by Camille Minichino
* The Year 2000 in Mystery Fandom by George A. Easter
* Spinning by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
* The Summer People by Brendan DuBois
* Afraid of the Dark by Nancy Pickard
* For All the Saints by Gillian Linscott
* Let's Get Lost [Matt Scudder] by Lawrence Block
* Under Suspicion by Clark Howard
* Childhood by S.J. Rozan
* Art & Craft [John Dortmunder] by Donald E. Westlake
* The Allotment by Peter Crowther
* Twelve of the Little Buggers by Mat Coward
* Missing in Action [Frank Bascombe Special Constable] by Peter Robinson
* The Haggard Society by Edward D. Hoch
* Scorpion's Kiss by Stuart M. Kaminsky
* Noble Causes by Bob Mendes
* The Sleeping Detective [Ivan Monk] by Gary Phillips
* A Night in the Manchester Store by Stanley Cohen
* What Mr. McGregor Saw by Dorothy Cannell
* Delta Double-Deal by Noreen Ayres
* Three Nil by Mat Coward
* The Man in the Civil Suit by Jan Burke
* Black and White Memories by Robert J. Randisi
* Nothing to Lose by Robert Barnard
* Widower's Walk [Hack Bohannon] by Joseph Hansen
* Character Flaw [Robbie Stanton] by Christine Matthews
* Golden Gate Bridge - A View from Below by Jürgen Ehlers
* Boo by Richard Laymon
* Veterans by John Lutz
* The Abbey Ghosts by Jan Burke
* The Country of the Blind by Doug Allyn
* Happiness by Joyce Carol Oates
* The Confession by Ian Rankin
* The Perfectionist by Peter Lovesey
* The Wall Too High [Michael Vlado] by Edward D. Hoch
* The Silence by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
* The Big Bite [Nameless private eye] by Bill Pronzini
* The Gathering of the Klan [Milan Jacovich] by Les Roberts
* When the Black Shadows Die by Clark Howard
* Rebirth (Cain and Abel) by Miguel Agustí
* Helena and the Babies by Denise Mina
* Old Soldiers by Brendan DuBois
* The Victim by Ed McBain
* The Poet of Pulp: How Ed McBain Made the Precinct House a Respectable Place by Pete Hamill