Publisher's Weekly
This third anthology from the Private Eye Writers of America (after The Eyes Have It and Mean Streets ), has a baker's dozen original stories from some very big names. Unfortunately, most of the work isn't from the authors' top drawers. Among the more presentable are Loren D Estleman's ``State of Grace,'' featuring sleazy Ralph Poteet (not Amos Walker) in a funny attack on religious hypocrisy; Arthur Lyons's ``Dead Copy,'' with medium-boiled Jacob Asch taking on the Mob and a bent newsman; and Bill Pronzini's ``Incident in a Neighborhood Tavern,'' a neat exercise for the Nameless Detective. The one female eye (Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone in ``Non Sung Smoke'') is interesting but far above her material. Working at less than their peak are Max Allan Collins, Michael Collins, Wayne D Dundee, Rob Kantner, Robert J Randisi, James M Reasoner and L J Washburn. John Lutz and Josh Pachter and their tec Alo Nudger should be embarrassed by ``DDS lo752 Libra.'' George C Chesbro (Mongo in ``Candala'') seems so far gone in psycho-babble he probably is beyond embarrassment. Richard S Prather's introduction is soft-boiled at best. Strictly for genre fans.