Twenty crime authors writing about these times when crime touches the most intimate and secure place for almost anyone - one's home. As with most anthologies, not all the stories shine but there were no stories that I decided not to finish. The interpretation of home is as varied as the authors in the anthology - and that keeps the stories from being repetitive. For some it is a place, for some it is a person and for some it is a feeling. The different styles also help.

Grand Garden by Naomi Hirahara opens the anthology with one of her signature tales of the Japanese American lives. When a family home is violated and you protect yourself, does it count as a self-defense if you are not white? The tale made me sad - both because I can believe it and because it shows an ugly side of the justice system which is probably still with us.

In The World's Oldest Living Detective by David Bart, an old detective proves that it does not matter what he calls a home today, he is still capable of taking care of himself - while looking for a missing pet. As the detective is also the narrator of the tale, we get to see him working out both issues at hand - which adds to the fun of the story (and of course possibly adds a dose of an unreliable narration to sort through) .

In Little House in the Big Woods by Sara Paretsky, old secrets and an old murder finally need to come to light - or so everyone assumes. I liked the pacing of this story more than the story itself - it was almost predictable but it was built in a way that made it somehow work.

Banana Island by Susan Breen introduces us to a woman whose job is to keep scammers on the line for as long as possible. Until she is in danger - and it turns out that nothing is as it seems. I did not see the twist coming - although once it was there it was obvious - which I always enjoy in stories.

Flip Top by Gary Phillips is another tale of an old murder coming back to haunt the living. It was clear where the story must go but it was fun following it there.

Oyster Creek by Neil S. Plakcy - a new love in the segregated South leads to a tragedy in an unexpected way.

In Stalking Adolf by Renee James a transgender woman will do anything to protect her daughter - even if the daughter is not very happy with her ex-Dad's life choices.

In Currents by Connie Johnson Hambley, a man uses an island as a sanctuary when not out doing his job, needs to decide if he wants to trust a woman or his knowledge about the ocean currents.

What They Knew by Gabino Iglesias - what would you do if you can ensure that your children have a future? Would you do the favor your boss asks you for even if you know you probably should not?

Hounted Home on the Range by A. P. Jamison - an 11 years old girl investigates a murder after a ghost talks to her.

Not Exit by Walter Mosley has a young man ending up in prison and needing help to break the cycle of abuse and imprisonment. The scary part is that the story reads as something that may happen - and all Tom Exit started with was an attempt to help someone else.

Missing on Kaua'i by Tori Eldridge - a family spat almost ends in a disaster - and even when it is all over, it takes awhile for people to stop blaming the ones they do not understand.

Calling Mr. Smith by Ellen Hart plays on the "Be careful what you wish for" cliche - in this case a grown up child coming back home talking too much in a dive bar about the abusive mother she grew up with. It pulls it off - even if it stayed within the story you expected it to be.

Forever Unconquered by G. Miki Hayden - if you are a criminal and you decide to take a woman as a hostage, maybe try to do some research on the woman first...

In Private Dancer by Jonathan Santlofer, a wealthy man falls in love (or lust maybe) with a dancer and is absolutely sure his wife does not know about it. Underestimating a woman is never a good idea...

The Relentless Flow of the Amazon by Jonathan Stone - what would you do if things start showing up at your house. It is early in the pandemic, you get everything delivered and then some not really legal things just show up. I really liked where this story went.

Live Pawns by Ovidia Yu - hating people is never good - even when you blame them for your son's imprisonment (the fact that your darling actually killed people is completely irrelevant as he did not mean THESE people - it was all a mistake). I was sure that I knew where the story went and then the author took a left turn into a very satisfying end of the story.

The Happy Birthday Song by Bonnie Hearn Hill starts as the story of a girl who lives in a "family" of thieves - and slowly turns into a story of finding your home. I hoped it will end the way it did.

Jack in the Box by Steve Liskow - a homeless veteran won't allow his companions to come to harm, even if they are cats. It takes awhile to sort out who is what in this story - he hears voices and the cats talk to him - and I almost did not finish it. It just went a bit too long, a bit to crazy.

Playing for Keeps by S. J. Rozan closes the anthology with a very short tale of a young Jewish girl who gets bullied but still persists in trying to win back her brother's marbles. Interspersed are her memories from escaping the Holocaust and the casual cruelty of the boys in the here and now gets highlighted by the horror of what she already survived.

Overall a decent anthology which will probably make you consider what you think when you hear the word 'home'. ( )

Crime Hits Home is a nice collection of crime related short stories exploring the most jarring type of crime imaginable, those that invade a victim’s most personal space: the home. Keep in mind that, as S. J. Rozan points out in her introduction to Crime Hits Home, “home” does not mean the same thing to everyone. Some people, Rozan says, are living in the home they want to spend the rest of their lives in, others hate where they are, and still others are desperate to return to the place they never should have left in the first place. But what all of these homes have in common is that we feel safest when we are there. So what happens when those safe spaces are violated in the worst ways imaginable?

Twenty authors, including Rozan, give their take on how that feels to the victim and what happens next. Mystery fans, of course, will recognize names like Sara Paretsky and Walter Mosley among the twenty, but some of the best stories in the book come from authors with whose work I am less familiar.

Among my favorites are “Oyster Creek,” a story by Neil S. Plakey in which a man comes home after his mother has been killed on the roadway in a tragic hit and run accident. After what he learns about the accident and who was behind the wheel, the young man faces a decision that there is no coming back from.

I enjoyed Ellen Hart’s “Calling Mr. Smith” because it is so easy to imagine what a movie director like Alfred Hitchcock could do with a plot like this one in which a woman mouths off in a bar one night that she would be better off without her elderly mother. Was the wrong person perhaps listening?

Then there’s G. Miki Hayden’s story, “Forever Unconquered,” about a Seminole Indian family whose home turf in swampy Florida is invaded by drug dealers who make the mistake of hijacking the wrong man’s airboat. Let’s just say that it’s not a mistake they are going to make twice.

What is my favorite story of them all is also the shortest in the book: S. J. Rozan’s “Playing for Keeps.” This is a deceptively simple story about a little girl who not only survived a German concentration camp but made sure that her younger brother did the same. Now, the children are living in the US where the girl is being mocked and bullied by a boy because of her accent and religion. If he only knew who he was picking on…

Bottom Line: The stories in Crime Hits Home, despite the theme common to them all, are very different from one another. They were, however, all chosen for the collection because of how clearly they address that theme: nothing is worse, and no one feels more cornered, than when a criminal dares invade a person’s home space, be that a physical home or a place you live in only in your mind. Bad things can happen to bad people when they push their intended victims too far — and in Crime Hits Home, those things do happen.

Review Copy provided by Publisher ( )