Thou Shalt Not Kill – Anne Perry, ed.

Sometimes you have to mine the bargain bookshelf at the local bookstore to find a real gem. Here’s where I often find new authors to read. I find them in books that have been marked down to next-to-nothing (often because they are overprint copies). Another thing that I look for is anthologies—collections of stories. When dealing with mystery writers, these anthologies include several stories centered upon a theme. By reading stories in these anthologies, I often discover writers that I want to read more from. It also helps me to weed out authors that don’t interest me without having to read an entire novel to find out.

In today’s case, the theme is stories that are inspired by the Bible. The stories are set in ancient and modern times. There are familiar characters and new faces as well. It is interesting to note that Pharoah’s chief detective uses one of the plagues to help him solve a crime in ancient Egypt. As always, I’m impressed as Dan Rhodes figures out how someone has been crucified in a small town in Blacklin County.

Here we have a variety of tales for a variety of tastes. If you like Anne Perry or Simon Brett, Ralph McInerny or Bill Crider, you’ll find something you like in this collection of biblical mysteries.

—Benjamin Potter, March 2007