From Booklist
Well known for her Inspector Lynley series, George here collects short mysteries by women, bracketing the 26 entries with two tales about the death of abusive husbands, written more than 80 years apart. Between them springs an entertaining assortment of locked-room murders, theatrical whodunits, white-collar-crime and detective stories, and psychological puzzlers, each headed by revealing author notes. Agatha Christie, praised by George in the volume's enlightening introduction, isn't represented, but her contemporaries in the "Golden Age of Mystery in Great Britain" are: Ngaio Marsh, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham. Dorothy Davis, Charlotte Armstrong, Minette Walters, and Ruth Rendell are here as well, and sleuths Sharon McCone, Jemima Shore, and V. I. Warshawski, each one now a star of her own long-running detective series, make appearances. Here, too, are writers not associated primarily with the genre, including Joyce Carol Oates and Nadine Gordimer, whose tragic tale about the consequences of an interracial affair in South Africa is both mystery and political fiction. From start to finish, a first-rate anthology. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Booklist
"From start to finish, a first-rate anthology."


Publishers Weekly
"Sterling examples of both British stories a la Agatha Christie and distinctively American tales."


Bookreporter.com
"A huge feast of female-authored short crime stories....you’ll find everything from cozies to outright terror."


Denver Post
"A solid selection...the stories themselves speak for the part women have played in the development of the modern mystery."


Library Journal
"Lively, informative introduction....The chronological arrangement gives the reader a feel for the evolution of crime fiction over the past century."



"An absolutely first-rate anthology...a thoughtful and intelligent paean to crime fiction."


Book Description
Whether the story is a murder mystery, a tale of suspense, a psychological study of the characters affected by a devastating event, a courtroom drama, a police procedural ... the question remains the same. Why crime? Why exists this fascination with crime and why, above all, exists this fascination with crime on the part of female writers?
-- Elizabeth George

In A Moment on the Edge, bestselling author Elizabeth George has selected a stunning collection of twenty-six crime stories from some of the best practitioners of the genre, who also happen to be some of the most successful women writers of our time.

These shocking and compulsively readable stories are arranged chronologically, starting with the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell (1917). Also included are stories by Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, and New Golden Age author Sara Paretsky, as well as selections by writers outside the genre, such as Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Antonia Fraser, and Joyce Carol Oates.

Collectively these stories illustrate how crimefiction -- especially that written by women about women -- has changed in the last hundred years. As Elizabeth George notes in her introduction, "All of these authors share in common a desire to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The edge equates to the crime committed. How the characters deal with the edge is the story."

This is a must-have anthology for aficionados of crime fiction.


About the Author
Elizabeth George is the New York Times and international bestselling author of thirteen novels of psychological suspense set in England, and is the recipient of literary awards from France, Germany, and the United States. She lives in Huntington Beach, California, and in London.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
In A Moment on the Edge, accomplished and internationally renowned contemporary mystery writer Elizabeth George has collected 26 short mystery/suspense stories that span nearly a century of crime writing, by some of the most respected and compelling women writers of the modern era. Her stated goal is to illustrate the many and varied reasons why women write about crime, assault, and murder, as well as to demonstrate how well they do it.

This compelling collection is arranged chronologically, from the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" written by Susan Glaspell in the early part of the 20th century to Minette Walters's "English Spring -- American Fall," which was completed as the century drew to a close. Between those two temporal extremes, you'll find stories by Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, and other masters from the British Commonwealth's Golden Age of Mystery, as well as tales by such modern mystery greats as Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton.

You'll also find captivating works by writers generally published outside the mystery genre, including Shirley Jackson, Antonia Fraser, and Joyce Carol Oates. As you read this incredible collection, one thing soon becomes crystal clear: Women writers are as fascinated by those who break society's rules as are the rest of us. And, along the way, Elizabeth George proves her editorial point -- that mystery writers, whether male or female, find the most enduring fame by exploring the unthinkable and the unguessable. That's why it's no mystery that the women writers showcased in A Moment on the Edge are among those whose works will endure longest in the memories and hearts of readers, present and future. Sue Stone

FROM THE PUBLISHER

In A Moment on the Edge, bestselling author Elizabeth George has selected a stunning collection of twenty-six crime stories from some of the best practitioners of the genre, who also happen to be some of the most successful women writers of our time. These shocking and compulsively readable stories are arranged chronologically, starting with the classic "A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell (1917). Also included are stories by Golden Age mystery writers Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh, and New Golden Age author Sara Paretsky, as well as selections by writers outside the genre, such as Shirley Jackson, Nadine Gordimer, Antonia Fraser, and Joyce Carol Oates. Collectively these stories illustrate how crime fiction -- especially that written by women about women -- has changed in the last hundred years. As Elizabeth George notes in her introduction, "All of these authors share in common a desire to explore mankind in a moment on the edge. The edge equates to the crime committed. How the characters deal with the edge is the story." This is a must-have anthology for aficionados of crime fiction.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

"Crime is mankind on the edge... stepping out of the norm," Elizabeth George writes in the introduction to her anthology A Moment on the Edge, a wide-ranging collection of crime stories by 20th-century British and American women. Perennial favorites (Dorothy L. Sayers, Marcia Muller) mingle with more mainstream writers (Joyce Carol Oates, Nadine Gordimer). Arranged chronologically, the volume includes sterling examples of both British stories a la Agatha Christie and distinctively American tales, such as Susan Glaspell's stark story of frontier misery, "A Jury of Her Peers," which heads the collection. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal