Birds of Prey: New Crime Stories, edited by Harlan Coben and C. J. Box, is a mighty good read. Published by The Mysterious Press, I had hoped that the C. J. Box story taking wing here would feature his signature character, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett. Alas, that idea flew off towards the sun and was lost from view.
After a pun filled introduction by
Harlan Coben that clearly rubbed off on this reader, the anthology opens strongly
with “The Coffin Bearer” by Tess Gerritsen. Readers are taken to the coast of
Maine as Maggie returns to her isolated island cabin. Seagulls are far out at
sea and kicking up quite a bedlam so Maggie detours to investigate the ruckus.
She spots a lobster buoy in the mist that belongs to a local. Minutes later she
soon finds his eerily quiet boat. She finds signs that something has happened,
but there is no sign of the missing lobster man. The last thing she wanted when
she rented out the isolated place for the weeks to come was be a part of
anything. That included any interest in her by the locals and the authorities.
Now she is of considerable interest and that is another issue.
This short story was one of my favorites
in the read. Several more personal favorites, in order of appearance, are
below.
The person is known as “Owl.” He did
some things back in the day for the miliary. At one time, that work included
time working for the Armed Forces Medical Examiner. That means the Owl has top
secret clearance. That clearance, and the skills he has, are needed in “Owl” by
Kathy Reichs. Not only is a woman missing, her occupation, and where she went
missing, are all part of a situation. There are also other troubling aspects as
well.
Getting the car at the police auto
auction was not the greatest idea Paul ever had. Maybe it was. In “The Falcon”
by Robert Dugoni, Paul had the idea, and several guys chipped in on the
project. Then the consequences started happening.
This short story struck a chord with me.
When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, my dad would tell three or four
stories about guys he knew that did this sort of thing. All these decades
later, I’m fuzzy on the details, but am crystal clear that dad was convinced it
was always a really bad idea.
It was supposed to be a fun gig in “Watchers”
by Allison Brennan. Monitor a pair of eagles and their babies in a nest located
in the towering cliffs along the Verde River in Arizona. Lily Nolan loves the
work and the experience as she takes picture after picture of the eaglets and
their parents. Her approved access to the closed breeding ground in the
Prescott National Forest has allowed her to take incredible pictures. She also
saw something that she should have never seen. Now, Lily, and her fellow watcher,
Kevin, are in real trouble.
The final tale in the anthology,
Hawkshaw Hunting by Kelly Armstrong, takes readers to the Yukon Territory of
Canada. There lies a very small and very isolated town that is the refuge of criminals
that really want to get away and have the money to pay for off the grid
isolation. As the story begins, our narrator works as a detective for Rockton. Her
husband, Eric Dalton, is the sheriff. They and their Newfoundland dog, Storm,
are at the Whitehorse Airport awaiting the arrival of Max Whitlock. A
white-collar criminal, he paid a lot of money to spend the next two years hiding
in their small town that survives by charging serious fees to killers and other
criminals that have a need to get away and an ability to pay for it. Like the opening
story, setting and atmosphere are characters in their own right in this tale
where the complications start with his arrival.
While I only highlighted five short
stories in the read that were my personal favorites, all eleven tales are good
ones. Each tale is introduced by the author who explains why they chose a
certain bird, the research involved, and/or other background details that enhanced
the reading experience for each short story.
Simply put, Birds of Prey: New
Crime Tales is chock full of solidly good crime fiction. Commissioned
by the International Thriller Writers, editors Harlan Coben and C.J. Box did a fantastic
job with the book. The read is very much worth your time.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/49Geb78
My digital ARC came from the publisher, The
Mysterious Press, through NetGalley, with no expectation of a positive review.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
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