Book Review: 'The Rich And The Dead'

It was Balzac who said, “Behind every great fortune is a crime.” In the new collection of short stories, “The Rich and the Dead,” published by Grand Central Publishing, there are plenty of crimes, 20 to be exact, and more than a few fortunes.

The book is edited by noted crime writer Nelson DeMille, and published under the auspices of the Mystery Writers of America.

Many of us, myself included, don’t gravitate toward short mysteries. We require a novel-length page turner that will keep us enthralled for a few hours. Yet it would be a mistake for the mystery lover to ignore these shorts, even though they do require a shift in perspective, adjustment to a new cast of characters and a distinctive style. Remember that the greatest mystery writers excelled in the short form, beginning with Edgar Allen Poe, through the Sherlock Holmes stories of Arthur Conan Doyle, and including Dashiell Hammett’s “Continental Op” stories.

From what I understand of the process of selection, there are some writers who are invited to submit stories; Mr. DeMille himself has a story in the collection. His story involves insurance fraud and the attempted murder of a writer’s agent. Is this wish fulfillment on his part? Other stories are culled from more than 200 submissions, with the finalists chosen by Mr. DeMille.

Other notables in “The Rich and the Dead” include Lee Child, with a brief narrative about a murder gone terribly wrong at the last moment and Michael Connelly, with a story featuring his well-known LAPD detective Harry (Harry stands for Hieronymus, a fact that could give you an insight into the moral underworld of his Los Angeles) Bosch conducting an interview with a witness, the wife of a Bernie Madoff-type Ponzi schemer. Another Madoff type appears in Twist Phelan’s “HAPPINE$$.”

Other writers relatively well known in the genre include Ted Bell, S.J. Rozan, Frank Cook, Roberta Isleib, David Morrell, Harley Jane Kozak and Jonathan Santlofer, among others.

There is a neat little story by Carolyn Mullen, “Poetic Justice,” which has a delightful surprise ending, the only one that made me say “son of a gun” at its conclusion. It provides a unique twist on a well-known poet, whom we’ve all read in high school. It is Ms. Mullen’s first published piece.

The general attitude toward the rich is best summed up by the unnamed narrator in Mr. Phelan’s story.

“I have nothing against the very rich. As a matter of fact, I’ve made a study of them. Having money does something funny to people, and having a lot of money does something even funnier. It sounds great to be able to buy whatever you want, no worries. But it puts you on a treadmill of wanting more, more, more. You spend so much time wanting and getting, you don’t have any time left to be a person.”

In spite of the fact that the book’s theme has to do with the rich and the super-rich and the ways they acquire, keep, or lose their fortunes, there is little in the way of character study or stylistic grace. All the pieces are plot driven and depend on the element of surprise.

If you’re looking for literature, you’re not going to find it. But “The Rich and the Dead” offers entertainment aplenty, to be taken in small doses. It’s an excellent book to keep on your night table, to dip into before you wander off to sleep.

Or if you hobnob with the lavishly affluent and have murder in your heart, “The Rich and the Dead” allows you to commit it vicariously.