Unfortunately I was unable to download this audio book before it was archived. I was extremely excited to read it and will be putting it on my tbr. Once I am able to get a copy I will fulfill my part. Until then I sadly am unable to review this title.

The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 is a collection of 20 short stories with a list at the end recognizing ten additional authors of outstanding short mystery stories. One reason I was especially interested in this book is Lee Child, a favorite author, was prominently displayed on the cover as the book's editor, along with Otto Penzler, the series editor.

This book did not disappoint. Not only were stories included by authors I had previously read, I read stories by authors new to me. A brief summary of each author's works and awards appear before their short story.

Although the stories obviously are short, every one was uniquely satisfying. I found this was a good book to to have when I had a brief amount of time, such as waiting for an appointment. Reading a couple of the short stories was the perfect transition between novels, I am already ordering a few mystery collections from previous years.

The best thing about anthologies with no specific theme is that you get you to read a wide variety of things. However, that also means you probably won't like everything you read.

Overall this was fine. I enjoyed a few stories a lot though most were just okay and quite a few were not my cup of tea at all.

great short stories with a variety of mysteries that keep you enthralled! I really enjoyed the mix on my shorter car rides!

The best mystery stories from 2021.
This is a collection of mystery stories that have been edited by one of the masters, Lee Child.
A eclectic lot, but nothing to disappoint.
Features some of the greats such as Stephen King and Sue Grafton.
Great collection and greatly narrated.
Thank you to the authors, publishers and NetGalley in allowing me to listen to in return for a review.

As always, a short story collection, especially one gathering a wide range of writers and themes, is hard to review. Some stories I enjoyed, some I actively disliked, some left me a bit cold. The big names in the collection didn’t offer stories as dazzling as I’d thought. I was a bit disappointed by Sara Paretsky’s story “Love and other crimes”, which was not memorable. I was disappointed by the Sherlock Holmes story for which I had high expectations (“The Adventures of the home office Baby”). I was a bit thrown off kilter by the Stephen King’s story, “The Fifth Step”, which is masterfully written and nail-biting (as usual), but which to me doesn’t really fit into the mystery genre, it’s more into the horror genre. Same with the Joyce Caroll Oates’ story, “Parole Hearing”, which is a variation on the Charlie Manson’s horrific 1969 murders.

But a lot of other stories were just great discoveries from authors I had never heard about, and whose names I will track down! (That’s one of the great benefits of this sort of collections, in my opinion). Here are my favorites:

“The Gift” by Alison Gaylin; about a missing little girl whose rich and famous parents resort to a medium to help in the search.
“The 6th Decoy” by Paul Kemprecos; about a quirky PI on Cape Cod
“Requiem for a Homecoming” by David Morrell, about a 20 year old murder in a college town
“Heatwave”, with a PI who is given the seemingly easy case of a missing teenager
“Edda at the End of the World” by Joseph S. Walker, a sort of Thelma and Louise story (no spoiler)
“The Path I Took” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, whose narrator reflects on his time studying in Ireland
“If you want something done right” by Sue Grafton, about a very, very organized wife who plans for her husband’s murder
Certainly I will get my hands on a full length mystery with Aristotle Socarides in the near future (Paul Kemprecos). For the other authors (except Sue Grafton of course), a little more research is required. Any name you’ve read?

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for review consideration.

The Best Mystery Stories Of The Year 2021 by Lee Child & Otto Penzler is a classic collection of 20 Anthology Stories. Written by some award winning authors, the stories are some of the best mystery stories of this year. Although, all the stories are not of same level entertainer. My favorites are Requiem For A Homecoming by David Morrell, The Fifth Step by Stephen King, If You Want Something Done Right by Sue Grafton and The Locked Cabin by Martin Edwards. Also, there is a bonus story by Ambrose Bierce.

I would give 4 stars to the book. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an opportunity to read and review the book.

The authors range from top selling to unknown, yet the stories each intrigue and make you think. While the entire mystery is unraveled in each mini mystery, it leaves you wishing the story could continue on! Diving into the next story takes a little time because you get stuck in the thoughts of the current mini mystery and can’t let it go. Fun, quick stories when only a little time is available for reading.

Bound To Appeal….
An audio selection of twenty short stories from the past year as selected by Lee Child with, series editor, Otto Penzler. As ever, a mixed bag but certainly very enjoyable with something bound to appeal to most lovers of mystery and of the short story format in this bumper audio collection. Narration is well performed and well nuanced throughout.

I, unfortunately, had issues downloading some of my audiobooks so I was unable to listen to this 1. I'm so upset about it because I was really looking forward to it!
I have managed to read some of the stories and they were great.!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* The stories in this were more hit or miss for me, some i really liked, some i didnt care at all for but the last few were the best.

Ok this was not for me.

I received this book as an audiobook and I’m not sure if it was the narrator (male) or what but I found the stories that I’ve listened to to be a bit boring. I did not finish all stories, because the ones I listened to couldn’t hold my attention.

It does say in the beginning that some of the stories aren’t necessarily “The Who done it?” But the why did they do it. And I think that is why they weren’t for me. I like guessing The Who til the very end.

This book has some amazing authors in it! So it was just my personal preference.

4.5 stars. This is a great collection of short stories in the mystery genre by a group of authors that include Stephen King, Sue Grafton, James Lee Burke, David Morell to make a few.

I enjoyed quite a lot of them. Some could’ve been longer, I wanted them to be longer. Others were just right. All were fun to listen to. Because they’re all short stories, I was taking my time with them, doing 2 or 3 at a time. It felt right that way. I know I have favorites but the format doesn’t lend itself to the titles. Ah well.

Thank you so much HighBridge Audio for the advance copy of this book. And to NetGalley too. Such a good listen.

Under the auspices of New York City's legendary mystery fiction specialty bookstore, The Mysterious Bookshop, and aided by Edgar Award–winning anthologist Otto Penzler, international bestseller Lee Child has selected the twenty most suspenseful, most confounding, and most mysterious short stories from the past year, collected now in one entertaining volume.

I’ve read or listened to other anthologies edited by Lee Child and not only was delighted in the stories but found new authors to buy and enjoy.

This collection was another gem in the crown of The Mysterious Bookshop.

Of course, any story by Stephen King will entertain, but I love how he has embraced his ability to write mystery, not just horror.

There were many writers here that I had heard of but never invested the tie and money into reading, but this choice sampling of talent has changed that very quickly. I think my TBR pile is about to get a bit higher.

Sue Grafton, yes even I’m surprised I’ve never read her.
David Morell- Requiem; I read Morell years ago and loved him. Not sure when I stopped but this reminded me of what an awesome talent he has.
 Allison Gaylee - The Gift, Doug Allyn- Thirty and out, and Joseph S. Walker- Edda at the End of the World all topped my favorite list.

I listened to this on Audio and the narrators were excellent. They matched what I expected the voices to be.
Thanks to @NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the chance to listen to this amazing collection in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Nice collection of stories. Some I really liked and others not so much. Great to read all different styles of writers. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook

A great collection of mysteries edited by Lee Child and Otto Penzler. I found the stories for the most part to lean toward the traditional and noir variety, which is great because I enjoy those, but I would have enjoyed a few more modern ones sprinkled in as well. If you’re less into traditional Mystery with a capital M, this book may not be for you. I particularly loved the stories by Stephen King and Sue Grafton. There were some gems from other authors I had not read before as well. I would probably have preferred if the female narrator read the entire book, but still enjoyed the narration overall. The male narrator’s readings sort of amplified the old-timey feel of some of the stories. So definitely a more traditional, private-eye and (mostly, not all) somewhat traditional male-driven set of stories. With this caveat, however, I found it a well-written, fun and well-curated collection.

Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for the chance to listen to and review this book.

A collection of very different mystery stories all in one volume. Unfortunately I'm not sure I'm a fan of mysteries in a shorter format. Most of the tales I could not spot the mystery at all and unfortunately I did not connect well with the male narrator who read the bulk of the stories.

My favourite stories were Stephen King's "The Fifth Step", Sue Grafton's "If You Want Something Done Right...", Joseph Walker's "Etta at the End of the World" and the bonus story by Ambrose Bierce "My Favorite Murder".

The audiobook was worth of the listen for these gems alone but I'm sure that there is something there for everyone

I wasn't enjoying this book as much as I expected to like it. I didn't feel that the stories were diverse enough and there wasn't enough female authors mentioned. I also found most of the stories to be a bit boring, fell flat or ended too soon.

I like the narrator as a narrator, but not as an actor. I didn't enjoy his reading and I skipped one story altogether because I couldn't make myself listen to his British accent. I felt that the female reader was much better.

This is quite the collection of mystery and thriller shorts! The one and only Lee Child is the guest editor for the edition, with quite an impressive introduction, describing the basics of mysteries and short stories.

This collection includes 20 top-notch stories that made the cut out of hundreds, thousands? There are some well known authors, such as Stephen King, and other less known but no less significant who have stories in here.

I love the introduction each author gets prior to their story starting. As someone learning more about writing, it helps paint the picture of the authors and their background, and how that influences their writing sand story telling.

I also appreciate, as Lee Child wrote in the introduction, the definition of mysteries in this collection is a bit wider than I'm used to, though this is certainly open my eyes to what can and should be considered a "mystery".

Thank you for putting together such a great collection of stories!

This was a great collection of short stories read by a couple of terrific narrators. I appreciated the story by Stephen King though the stories by Sue Grafton, Doug Allyn, and Jim Allan were probably my favorites. I was curious to see how a set of shorty mysteries would work, normally I read a whole novel and by the end, I am wrapped up in a few theories on the ending. Here, they came at me so fast that there was nothing to do but sit back and enjoy. Sometimes the only mystery I could grasp was "what is the mystery?" before it was over and the next was spinning up. I really enjoyed this format.