New Crimes 3 is a dubious collection of short stories, one that is wildly uneven in quality. This bleak appraisal is surprising, given that it includes a few prominent figures in the genre. Nevertheless, no more than a few stories are worthy of note. Most of the stories bear 1991 copywrite dates (one wonders if the authors wrote them earlier but were unable to publish them). The most notable exception, in date and quality, is a fine offering from John D. MacDonald, published in Black Mask in 1950.

While any collection of short stories will have “hits” and “misses”, the latter predominate in this collection. I rate stories on a five- star scale for my own benefit, and in no collection before or since have I felt compelled to award so many “ones” and “zeroes”. One major disappointment was Robert B. Parker’s 1982 Surrogate – one of just 2 short stories ever written by him, and one that did not deserve to be printed anywhere (see my review here: https://www.librarything.com/work/74081/reviews/187889104). Another is a “nameless detective” story from Bill Pronzini, a story item not up to his normal standards. And then there are the “zeroes”. Notable among them is a 1957 essay by John Dickson Carr on food and drink in the stories of Sherlock Holmes. (Its status as an unpublished item may be what attracted it to the editor, since it does not even qualify as a story). At the other extreme, I found a few stories to be of good quality: W. R. Philbrick: “Boogie Dean Men,” Gary Lovisi’s “Dry Run,” and the aforementioned story by John D. MacDonald, “Jukebox Jungle”. Overall, as noted in a Kirkus review, bookstore owner “[Maxim] Jakubowski seems to specialize in stories nobody else wants- -publishers or readers.” https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/maxim-ed-jakubowski/new-crimes-3/

Here’s the list of 21 stories and their authors, along with my rankings:

Norman Partridge: Last Kiss -- 3*
Julian Rathbone: Baz -- 0*
William Schoell: Hijack -- 1*
Jack Adrian: The Absolute and Utter Impossibility of the Facts in the Case of the Vanishing Henning Vok (a.k.a. The Amazing Blitzen (r.n. Ralph Cole) -- 0*
Gabrielle Kraft: Blast from the Past -- 1*
Margaret Lewis: Natural Powers -- 0*
W. R. Philbrick: Boogie Dead Men -- 4*
Bill Pronzini: Souls Burning -- 1*
Gary Lovisi: Dry Run -- 4*
Del Marston: Death in the Ditch -- 1*
P.C. Doherty: The Monk’s Tale -- 1*
Mark Schorr: What Goes Around…
Molly Brown: Star -- 2*
Cay Van Ash: The Persian Apothecary -- 1*
Mark Timlin: Too Late Blues -- 2*
Robert Lopresti: Until I Do -- 1*
Mike Ripley: Lord Peter and the Butter Boy -- 0*
Steve Rasnik Tem: Squeezer -- 1*
Robert B. Parker: Surrogate – 1*
John D. MacDonald: Jukebox Jungle -- 4*
John Dickson Carr: Another Glass, Watson! -- 0* ( )