What does it mean to be a father? What does it mean to be a son? What does it mean to be a man? Gathered together in this anthology are sixteen short stories and a novella from some of the masters of crime fiction who answer these questions in myriad ways. These are worlds that are instantly recognisable and believable yet as widely apart as a deprived London housing estate and the trenches of the First World War, the claustrophobia of a late-night back room poker game or a rundown jazz joint in Manhattan and the slow but irrevocable decay of the small New England town. Again and again - but never two ways the same - the people who inhabit these stories are having to determine what is right, what will give them dignity, what will earn them self-respect. Authors are: Mark Billingham, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, Jeffery Deaver, John Harvey, Reginald Hill. Bill James, Dennis Lehane, Bill Moody, George Pelecanos, Peter Robinson, James Sallis, John Straley, Brian Thompson, Don Winslow, Daniel Woodrell, and a novella by Andrew Coburn.

Genre: Mystery