The stories in The Prosecution Rests
share a common theme: all revolve around courtrooms, trials and justice meted out to criminals, sometimes formally and sometimes informally. Editor Linda Fairstein, herself a prosecutor for 25 years in Manhattan, pulls together some of the most interesting crime novelists in the genre
for this volume from the Mystery Writers of America, an organization for both
beginning and established mystery writers. The focus of the organization is to
promote both the crime-writing genre and those novelists who choose it as their focus. This compilation meets both goals.
The twenty-one stories included
here are varied and interesting, with subjects ranging from murders, insurance fraud
and robbery to adultery and other crimes. The protagonists are prosecutors, defense attorneys, police investigators and judges. Some of the stories are fairly straightforward, while others incorporate a twist that surprises the reader. The list of authors reads like a
who's-who of mystery writing - Linda Fairstein, James Grippando, Phyllis Cohen, Jo Dereske, Charlie Drees, Eileen Dunbaugh, Kate Gallison, Joel Goldman, Diana Hansen-Young, Edward Hoch, Paul Levine, Leigh Lundin, Michele Martinez, Anita Page, Barbara Parker, Twist Phelan, John Putre, S.J. Rozan, Morley Swingle, Joseph Wallace and Angela Zeman. The authors chosen include in their ranks Edgar winners, past Presidents of the Mystery Writers association and Sisters
in Crime writing award-winners. They also include writers new to the genre.
Readers who enjoy crime and mystery writing and short fiction fans will find stories that intrigue, amaze and surprise them.
The variety of writing styles assures that readers will find stories to match their
particular tastes. This collection affords the opportunity to revisit established authors' work and the chance to discover new authors in the field whose work
you may want to follow in the future. The Prosecution Rests gives the reader a chance to sample quality crime writing at its best.