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The Best American Mystery Stories 2020

By: C. J. Box, Otto Penzler
Narrated by: Dan John Miller, Sarah Mollo-Christensen, Christopher Ryan Grant, Ben Jaeger-Thomas, Robin Miles, Robert Fass, Jonathan Davis, Peter Ganim, Andi Arndt, Macleod Andrews, Alan Sklar, Robert Petkoff, Angelo Di Loreto
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Publisher's summary

A collection of the year’s best mystery short fiction selected by New York Times best-selling and Edgar Award-winning author C. J. Box.

C. J. Box, #1 New York Times best-selling author of the hugely popular Joe Pickett series, selects the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year in this annual “treat for crime-fiction fans” (Library Journal).

©2020 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers
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What listeners say about The Best American Mystery Stories 2020

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

just OK

May be a good listen if none of your favorite authors have new books out. Some are very good and interesting others were not for me

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

enjoyable anthology

nice collection of short stories. They are great for when you need something for a brief listening period.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Everything is fair in the end

Riveting and enjoyable stories- with a wide range of ideation. We didn’t even remember seeing Nebraska. This was my second listen, my husband’s first. Six stars!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great stuff

So enjoyed the writing of these talented others. Vivid characters and plot development. A great find. Will look for more in series.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good night time listening if you’re trying to fall asleep

There are a few good stories mixed in with a handful of boring ones. Yup!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting Mix of Mystery

As a departure from my normal full novel read, I picked up this series of mystery short stories by a number of different authors and narrators. For the most part, the stories are interesting and just long enough to capture your attention. As with most types of anthology series, the result is somewhat of a mixed bag depending upon the listeners expectations. My interest lies more in the murder/whodunit genre which this series does very little in this vein. What the listener gets here is predominantly character studies of those involved in crime and unusual scenarios. Overall, an interesting read, but not at the top of my list for recommendations.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Somewhat disappointing

While most of the stories were interesting, none of them were captivating and the endings were anticlimactic. In addition, the narrators were decent with the exception of the second to last story. It was so bad I had to fast forward through what might have been a good story. As we all know, a narrator will make or break a story.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

I found only a few of the stories excellent and this collection was not as good as the later 2023 collection. The stories were of a "tough rough" style that is not my favorite.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

About half were not worth listening to

These divide into good and awful very easily. Several readers were staccato and impossible to listen to

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful stories and narrations

I have become a big fan of listening to short stories after trying this compilation.

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1 person found this helpful