Good collection of one perspective of criminal investigations ( )

The success of forensic shows on television led directly to At the Scene of the Crime, an original anthology edited by Dana Stabenow, in which a baker's dozen of well-known mystery writers turn to forensic science for the inspiration of their stories. Some consider the forensic team to be entirely useless, as in Loren D. Estleman's "Smart Aleck," but most have the forensic folks as the heroes of their tales. A few ("Rust" by N.J. Ayres, "A Trace of a Trace" by Brendan DuBois) are quite poetic and philosophical in nature; others ("Articulation of Murder" by Michael A. Black) feature scientific hunters one wouldn't expect (Black's features a forensic dentist!). As always with such anthologies, some stories work better than others, but the ones I most liked (by Jeanne C. Stein, Laura Hyzy, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, the aforementioned Michael A. Black and Brendan DuBois, and Maynard F. Thomson) might not be the ones another reader prefers. Unfortunately, I felt the weakest story in the anthology was the last, editor Dana Stabenow's own contribution, but that may just be because I've never liked her style. Obviously, millions of readers differ on that! If you're a fan of forensic television shows or of good short mystery fiction, this could well be for you; recommended. ( )