DEATH BY DICKENS

DEATH BY DICKENS
Edited by Anne Perry
288 pages
ISBN: 0-425-19420-5
Berkley Prime Crime
March 2004
$23.95

If you could select a group of authors and have each of them write a segment of a story as if they were Charles Dickens, what would the result be like? The answer is DEATH BY DICKENS. Anne Perry selected ten authors, besides herself, and each one wrote an original Dickens story to complete this anthology with many of the most famous stories and characters being revisited with a twist or perhaps a different conclusion to the famous original. The reader only needs to be acquainted with the works to enjoy this collection.

The authors included are Lillian Stewart Carl, Bill Crider, P.N. Elrod, Martin Edwards, Carolyn Wheat, Marcia Talley, Carole Nelson Douglas, Peter Tremayne, Brendan DuBois, Gillian Linscott, and of course, Anne Perry.

In A Stake of Holly this revisit to Scrooge brings a more realistic aspect of ghosts in that Scrooge wants to find out their identity and why they are ghosts. Particularly chilling is Mr. Pickwick vs. the Body Snatchers. Bill Crider’s aspect of realism with the problem of body snatching makes for a tale of relief when this short story is ended as the reader then is allowed to rest, as well as the characters. Comically written is Carole Nelson Douglas’ Scrogged: A Cyber Christmas Carol. With a current version of the Scrooge tale with strong ties to the Exon scandal makes this tale delightful with Ben Scroggs, earlier known as Scrooge, being an Exon accountant. The Passing Shadow by Peter Tremayne is haunting as to the personal literary relationships within Dickens’ family.

Whether revisiting the well-known characters of Dickens or the time period, DEATH BY DICKENS is a wonderful anthology compilation. This is the second anthology the Anne Perry has edited and published. This unusual collection should be read by everyone who is even slightly acquainted with Dickens.