International Thriller Writers (ITW) supports itself by publishing anthologies. This year’s book is edited by Lee Child. Matchup teams up some of the most recognizable names in the writing business. Each author, a male and a female, brings one of their characters to the crime story. And, every one of the stories is entertaining.

Child points out that many of the teams had not met before. In each of the introductions, he tells about the authors, the characters in the story, and provides a little background as to how they wrote the story. Val McDermid and Peter James’ story, “Footloose”, features a killer who is obsessed with the victims’ feet. And, the authors managed to insert quite a number of feet puns into that one. Child and Kathy Reichs teamed up for a case featuring Dr. Temperance Brennan and Jack Reacher. In “Faking a Murderer”, Reacher’s just passing through town when he hears a story on the radio that makes him turn around. He has a story that will help Brennan save her career.

Readers can travel back in time with Steve Berry’s Cotton Malone, to a Scotland where he meets Diana Gabaldon’s Jamie Fraser. Karin Slaughter and Michael Koryta bring together some of their police characters in one of my favorite stories, “Short Story”. And, editor Lee Child will give attentive readers a hint as to how Koryta pays off a bet with Alafair Burke

As a fan of crime fiction short stories, it’s a pleasure to see these characters in uncommon situations, forced to team up with an unlikely ally. If you’re a fan of some of the biggest names in the thriller field, and their characters, Matchup is a fun choice.

Matchup edited by Lee Child. Simon & Schuster. 2017. ISBN 9781501141591 (hardcover), 445p.

*****
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