Mystery Writers of America Presents
The Blue Religion
New Stories About Cops, Criminals, and the Chase
Edited by Michael Connelly
Reviewed by Michael A. Black
Anthologies offer a great way to check out an author’s work and see if you like it enough to read more of that person’s work. The latest anthology from the Mystery Writers of America, THE BLUE RELIGION, edited by Michael Connelly, offers nineteen stories about cops and the burden of carrying a badge. As Connelly explains in his introduction, his “observations of the blue religion both as a journalist and writer of fiction” have shown him “that most people who carry badges believe they are part of a misunderstood breed,” and he believes “they have a point.” Connelly goes on to cite Joseph Wambaugh, the greatest police writer of our time, as saying “the best story about the badge is not about how a cop works a case. It’s about how the case works the cop.”
Each of the nineteen stories in this volume offers something different. They range from the typical cozy to the hardboiled vignette. Editor Connelly’s “Father’s Day” leads the pack with a poignant glimpse of his police protagonist, Harry Bosch. Diana Hansen-Young contributes an excellent and moving tale set in late nineteenth century Hawaii with “Oaths, Ohana, and Everything.” The late Ed Hoch, master of the short story form, shows us why he was so great with “Friday Night Luck.” Another exceptional story is Paula Woods’ “Divine Droplets,” which picks up a secondary character from her novel series and gives us a glimpse of why cops despise lawyers. There’s even a compelling tale from across the pond with John Harvey’s “Sack O’ Woe.” The book is given its main credibility, however, with the best story of the lot by real-life cop and author, James O. Born in “The Drought.”
For the most part, the anthology contains some really good stories, although I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t add that some of them run a couple quarts low on plausibility and seem to rely on the totally unrealistic, soap opera-like portrayal of police officers that we often see on bad TV shows. It’s too bad with all the really good police writers that Connelly didn’t turn more to them for assembling this one. It would have given this book the verisimilitude the title suggests. Overall, though, there are enough good stories in THE BLUE RELIGION to overshadow the bad ones. As a person who’s spent his entire adult life in police work, I’m recommending this one.
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About the Reviewer:
Michael A. Black has been reading and writing practically his whole life. He wrote his first short story in sixth grade (detailed in his essay in the recent Writers' Digest anthology, How I Got Published). Black has eight books to his credit and over forty short stories. He's also been a police officer in Chicago's South Suburbs for the past twenty-nine years, which has given him a unique view of humanity and the world.
His most recent novels include A KILLING FROST, the first book in the Ron Shade series, and RANDOM VICTIM. Find him online at www.michaelablack.com.
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