Dead Man's Hand: Crime Fiction at the Poker Table »

Otto Penzler is the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. He was publisher of The Armchair Detective, the founder of the Mysterious Press and the Armchair Detective Library, and created the publishing firm Otto Penzler Books. He is a recipient of an Edgar Award for The Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection and the Ellery Queen Award by the Mystery Writers of America for his many contributions to the field. He is the editor of The Vampire Archives and The Black Lizard Big Book of Pulps, which was a New York Times bestseller.

If ever a subject begged to be associated with crime it is gambling, writes Otto Penzler in his introduction to this collection of short stories set at the poker table and beyond. In Walter Mosley’s Mister In-Between, a bagman is sent to collect from a rigged poker game, but soon begins to wonder who the real mark is. In One Dollar Jackpot, Michael Connelly’s detective Harry Bosch finds himself looking for tells when facing off against a professional poker player in the interrogation room. And a young woman learns how to bluff the hard way in Hardly Knew Her, by Laura Lippman. In these and others stories, aces of the mystery-writing world—including Joyce Carol Oates, Alexander McCall Smith, Jeffery Deaver, John Lescroart, and others—combine to form a winning hand.

Publishers Weekly

Despite some excellent individual efforts from a Who's Who of crime writers, this uneven anthology of poker-related stories never truly capitalizes on the game's innate drama. Any mystery lover will enjoy Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks story, "The Eastvale Ladies' Poker Circle," though poker is merely a backdrop in this and too many of the stories. Michael Connelly fans will appreciate Harry Bosch bluffing out a murder suspect in "One-Dollar Jackpot," while a rigged poker game on a cruise ship has dire consequences in Alexander McCall Smith's haunting "In the Eyes of Children." Poker does occupy center stage in Jeffery Deaver's "Bump," where a former TV star tries to increase his popularity by appearing in a made-for-TV poker tournament, but the poker details are suspect. Professional poker player Howard Lederer's introduction reminds the reader of the enormous effect poker has had on American culture, but this anthology never really mines the game's explosive popularity. (Nov.)

CONTENTS

Contents

Foreword  Otto Penzler  ix

Introduction  Howard Lederer  xiii

Mr. In-Between  Walter Mosley  1

Bump  Jeffery Deaver  24

In the Eyes of Children  Alexander McCall Smith  68

One-Dollar Jackpot  Michael Connelly  77

Strip Poker  Joyce Carol Oates  116

The Stake  Sam Hill  141

Pitch Black  Christopher Coake  158

Deal Me In  Parnell Hall  201

Poker and Shooter  Sue DeNymme  230

The Monks of the Abbey Victoria  Rupert Holmes  251

The Eastvale Ladies’ Poker Circle  Peter Robinson  275

The Uncertainty Principle  Eric Van Lustbader  307

Hardly Knew Her  Laura Lippman  327

A Friendly Little Game  John Lescroart  343

Missing the Morning Bus  Lorenzo Carcaterra  366