Mean Time — Jerry Sykes

An essential collection of sixteen original stories by some of today's leading crime writers. By turns funny, sad, cruel, and uplifting, these stories explore how the turn of the millennium impacts on the life of the individual. Ed Gorman's ""Black Sheep,"" a chilling reminder of how the past can sometimes catch up with you, proves him to be one of today's magnificent storytellers of the genre. American Dennis Lehane's ""The Names of the Missing"" offers us a very funny and brilliantly structured story and shows that the praise he has garnered for such novels as A Drink Before the War (Shamus Award winner) and Gone Baby Gone is well deserved. Scotsman Ian Rankin's ""Unknown Pleasures"" provides compelling evidence of why this double-Short Story Dagger and Gold Dagger Winner is so popular. Jason Starr's satisfyingly bleak slice of New York life, ""Over the Edge,"" shows that the success for his Cold Caller was no fluke. And John Harvey offers up a special treat, a new Charlie Resnick story, ""My Little Suede Shoes."" Contributors: Colin Bateman, Nicholas Blincoe, David Bowker, Molly Brown, Paul Charles, Richard T. Chizmar, Peter Crowther, Simon Conway, John Foster, Ed Gorman, John Harvey, Lauren Henderson, Maxim Jakubowski, Dennis Lehane, Ian Rankin, Jason Starr, and Jerry Sykes.