This sounds like a good book; it's going on my reading list.
It began as a marketing strategy. Otto Penzler, the renowned proprietor of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, wanted to keep his customers happy. And he wanted to keep them out of chain stores. So he began commissioning annual Christmas stories from popular crime writers and giving out free copies of these stories as thank-you gifts to the shop’s customers.
Then Mr. Penzler had an even niftier idea. (Santa! Are you listening?) He lined up some of the most famous mystery novelists around and asked them for 10-page riffs about their best-known characters. Those essays have been collected in “The Lineup,” an exciting omnibus volume that has widespread appeal and adds up to much, much more than the sum of its parts.
It's available through the
MWF Store here.