The introduction to this book points out that it is a collection of short stories written over a period of years. As such, it was easy to see the growth and development of Muller as the quality of her stories continued to improve. In fact, after reading the first three or four stories, I doubt very much if I would have finished the book if I had not been given the hope that they would improve.
The first stories really ought not to have been included in this collection; they were very inferior to those that followed and gave me serious doubts about reading forward. They were replete with tired cliched settings, events and characters and included a lot of extraneous information that had no impact whatsoever on the story being told. Later stories committed none of these offences. The writing became tight, the cliches were gone and the datails and information all related to carrying the stories forward. In fact, the latter stories were altogether more engaging than those that came before.
What is especially impressive about the book was the range of the stories told: different time periods, different setttings, occasional westerns and suspence stories in addition to the detective, mystery stories that were the primary offering i this book. I think that if the first few stories had simply not been included, this book would have rated an additional star rating, but, as it stands, I couldn't bring myself to think any higher of the volume. ( )

The introduction to this book points out that it is a collection of short stories written over a period of years. As such, it was easy to see the growth and development of Muller as the quality of her stories continued to improve. In fact, after reading the first three or four stories, I doubt very much if I would have finished the book if I had not been given the hope that they would improve.
The first stories really ought not to have been included in this collection; they were very inferior to those that followed and gave me serious doubts about reading forward. They were replete with tired cliched settings, events and characters and included a lot of extraneous information that had no impact whatsoever on the story being told. Later stories committed none of these offences. The writing became tight, the cliches were gone and the datails and information all related to carrying the stories forward. In fact, the latter stories were altogether more engaging than those that came before.
What is especially impressive about the book was the range of the stories told: different time periods, different setttings, occasional westerns and suspence stories in addition to the detective, mystery stories that were the primary offering i this book. I think that if the first few stories had simply not been included, this book would have rated an additional star rating, but, as it stands, I couldn't bring myself to think any higher of the volume. ( )