Super Quick Mysteries

This was a fun book, reminiscent of the One Minute Mysteries or Encyclopedia Brown books, but for adults. The individual cases were easily read in one sitting (sometimes two or three cases, though I wouldn't recommend reading a dozen in a row like I did - it becomes a bit fatiguing. There were two “detectives” in these stories, one a reporter for the local newspaper and the other a sandwich shop clerk. I'm not sure I enjoyed having two detectives in one book, especially when their case distribution wasn't even. I liked the characterization of the reporter - trying to be a good journalist when he has a sensationalist editor - but the sandwich shop clerk character was a bit overdone. Also odd was that the finale case, which was at least two or three times as long as the other cases (in other words not “super quick”), had completely different characters. Although it could have done with a bit more editing it was an enjoyable read and I'd pick up another book like this from Mr. Stanek again.