Mystery! edited by Chantelle Aimée Osman
The Origins Game Fair in Columbus is something we like to do every year, but this year we didn't make it due to my new job. I did have a friend who was nice enough to pick up this year's anthology - with the Mystery theme, I didn't want to miss is. He also got several of the writers to autograph it.
Mystery!, like most anthologies, is a bit uneven. Some stories were excellent, some fine, and one didn't fit at all. There were 14 stories in all, but I'll only mention a few that struck me.
"The Abomination of Fensmere" by Lucy A. Snyder was the first story in the collection, but it felt more horror with a Lovecraftian bent than mystery. I don't think it was the best way to start.
Timothy Zahn's "(Ms.) Taken Identity" was good, both the mystery plot and the world he created where doppels are people who can look like anyone they want, until they're dead, then they...