Passport to Crime

 Passport to Crime: The Finest Mystery Stories from International Crime Writers (2006) by Janet Hutchings (ed)

A selection of international mystery stories featured in the Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine section "Passport to Crime," beginning in 2003. The stories cover a wide range from the homages to Poe and Queen to professional criminals to serial killers to domestic crime. And, as with all anthologies, there is a wide range of quality--well, the writing overall is excellent. But, as far as meeting the qualifications for mystery, not all manage that. As far as I can tell "Eighteenth Summer," "The Precision of the Agent of Death," and "L." are not mysteries at all. And "L." is a very dissatisfying story altogether. The best of the bunch are "Who's Afraid of Ed Garpo," "Moonglow," "The Call of the Lorelei," and "An Urban Legend Puzzle." "Table Talk, 1882" and "There Are No Pockets in Our Graveclothes" are close behind while the rest are merely okay. ★★★

"Who's Afraid of Ed Garpo?" by Fred Kassak [France]: An interesting twist on Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." (two bus crash; one plane crash)

"Silk Road" by Beatrix Kramlovsky [Germany]: A young man thinks he's found a way to get rid of his hated father--which will leave him and his mother alone for good. Of course, nothing is a simple as it seems.

"Table Talk, 1882" by Boris Akunin [Russia]: Erast Fandorin solves the mystery of the missing princess without leaving the dinner table where the story was told to him. (one natural; one stabbed)

"Fisherman's Friend" by Ingrid Noll [Germany]: Two women find a way to get rid of their annoying husbands through an inadvertent swap. (one choked to death; one drowned)

"Eighteenth Summer" by Mitsuhara Yuri [Japan]: A young woman plots revenge on her married lover, but when she meets his son her plans go awry.

"The Red Mercedes" by Theo Capel [Netherlands]: You never know what might happen when you try to scam a bank over a car loan. (one heart attack; one shot)

"Moonglow" by Kjersti Scheen [Norway]: All Herman wants is to find out who stole his record collection. Who knew such a simple quest could lead to murder? (one poison; one shot)

"Victor Scarpazo, or The End of the Pursuit" by Marco Denevi [Spain]: The mystery of the missing art enthusiast--a plot worthy of The Twilight Zone or perhaps The Night Gallery.

"The Wind" by Carmen Iarrera [Italy]: A woman discovers that the reason her husband has been behaving so out of character is because he's been having an affair. Perhaps the windiest cliff in Italy wasn't the best place to tell her...

"Guilty" by Luis Adrian Betancourt [Spain]: A man gets a chance for a retrial--after serving time for a murder he confessed to and didn't commit. While he waits for a new hearing, he heads home hoping for a brief reunion with his family....(two shot; one natural) 

"DeKok & the Hammer Blow" by A. C. Baantjer [Netherlands]: A woman kills her abusive husband before her son has the chance to do so. (one hit on head)

"There are no Pockets in Our Graveclothes" by Beril Falk [Sweden]: An elderly woman decides that her family doesn't deserve the uncut diamond left by her husband. So, when she knows that she will soon be following her husband to the grave, she finds a way to keep the diamond from the heirs. (one natural)

"Winning the Game" by Rubem Fonesca [Brazil]: The only way to win the game against the rich is to have a bigger yacht. But how can you win if you can't afford a boat?

"The Call of the Lorelei" by Paul Halter [France]: Hans Georg, a German, has become engaged to a French girl--and none of his family approve. They tell him the story of the Lorelei who lure boats to destruction and men to their death. And when he's drowned in a pond one snowy night--with only his footprints in the otherwise unbroken snow, it appears that he was unable to resist the siren's call. (one drowned; one shot; two natural)

"Heroic Proportions" by Daliso Chaponda [Malawi]: A tyrant is assassinated and several of his rivals clamor for the credit. A cop with no political ties is asked to determine who really shot the dictator in the bathroom with the revolver... (one shot) 

"Wedding in Voerde" by Gunter Gerlach [Germany]: A couple of criminals just released from prison seek out an accomplice who has hidden the loot. They're suddenly moved by the entrepreneurial spirit. 

"Ramon Acuna's Time" by Isaac Aisemberg [Spain]: Ramon Acuna decides to go straight--and succeeds for about six months. Then temptation beckons and he can't resist a little bank fraud. He thinks his luck is in...but a time of reckoning may be at hand. (one hit on head)

"A Deadly Joke" by Richard Macker [Norway]: Two men go on their annual vacation together and one plays a pretty nasty joke on the other. So, when his prank victim tells him that the stranger they've taken in on a bitterly cold night is really a recently escaped killer, he naturally thinks the man is just getting his own back. (one fell from height; one shot)

"Full Moon" by Mischa Bach [Germany]: A German town is terrorized by a serial killer who has been dubbed the Werewolf (he seems to kill with the full moon). A new journalist in town is assigned the story and has an extraordinary experience that will lead her to the killer. (two stabbed)

"Bloody Hot" by Rene Appel [Netherlands]: A woman suspects her husband and friend are having an affair. She struggles with wanting to kill one of them. And then the wrong person dies... (one car accident).

"The Precision of the Agent of Death" by Isaka Kotaro [Japan]: A real agent of death (yes, one of Death's minions) must decide if it's time for a miserable young woman to die.... [NOT really a mystery in any sense of the word....]

"L." by Georgi Gospodinov [Bulgaria]: A well-known writer is expected to submit a mystery short story for a contest...but what if the story is true? [again, NOT really a mystery--and a pretty dissatisfying story overall]

"With a Little Help from Your Friends" by Jutta Motz [Germany]: When Nonna Anna comes to live with her grandchildren and announces that she plans to live until she is ninety, their friends decide to help out the burdened young people. (one natural; one poisoned)

"Zero Tolerance" by Dominque Manotti [France]: What happens when a police officer discovers that a man has a habit of beating people up...sometimes with deadly results? [two beaten to death] 

"German Summer" by Frauke Schuster [Germany]: A man who bullies a new immigrant couple seems to get what's coming to him. 

"An Urban Legend Puzzle" by Norizuki Rintaro [Japan]: A second-year university student is killed after a drinking party and an Ellery Queen style detective and his chief inspector father have to determine which of his fellow students did it. (one stabbed)

First line (1st story): When my first cousin's son (my first cousin, a.k.a. the third-rate actor who got himself killed along with his wife, a third-rate actress, when they were both on the road in a third-rate play and riding in a third-rate bus that crashed) asked me if I could help him find a job and a place to live in Paris, I happily offered him (at a modest rent that I didn't feel the need to declare on my taxes) the sixth-floor maid's room turned studette in the building I owned, in which my wife and I lived on the third floor.

Last line (last story): And her best friend, Ms. C, would not have been so burdened by her guilt that she went insane.