Lawrence Block is one of favorite mystery writers, and several of his books were made into films including the Liam Neeson film "A Walk Among the Tombstones." More recently the author has editing anthologies like this one that focuses on academia. The stories are varied and interesting but I didn't find any of particularly compelling reading.

This is a fairly gritty anthology of academia-related stories, which are varied in style, substance, and subject. Good overall quality, Some well known authors are included, and most stories are pretty compelling. Recommended for those seeking mostly dark tales.

Thanks very much for the ARC for review!!

This is a collection of 18 short stories by different authors (not including Lawrence Block, but does include Jill D. Block who I assume is Lawrence's wife). Authors include Ian Rankin, Peter Lovesey, and John Lescroart among others. They all take place in colleges. I usually find short stories not as good to read as full length novels, but some of these are very clever. Several were definitely dark!

One of my favorites was Alt-Ac by Warren Moore. A new PhD in medieval literature was having trouble finding a teaching job and found a clever way to open up a few positions. Another which I liked was Noise Cancellation. The protagonist was inspired by Mr. Rogers at his Dartmouth graduation. However, he stopped following Rogers' direction and ended up missing his goals - another clever ending. I also liked Goon #4 where the goon leaves his tough man job to go to college. He takes a class called JOUR 121, shows up early to check it out, and watches the teacher come in and spill her coffee. After helping her clean up, he finds the class is in radio broadcasts, befriends his teacher, and saves her from a stalker. I also enjoyed David Levien's story about Einstein at Princeton, Lovesey's story about Bertie at Oxford, and Lescroart's story about a wife having to deal with her husband's advisor.

I thank Netgalley and Subterranean Press for allowing me to read this book to review before publication.

So, another collection of short stories, this one tied together by a common theme of college/university: The Darkling Halls of Ivy, edited by Lawrence Block.

As with most collections, this is a mixed bag. The book starts off with several dark stories, many of which don’t have a pleasant resolution. But then the collection gets better as you get into the book, ending with several great additions.

The introduction is well worth reading as well – Mr. Block is getting crankier as he gets older, and one can tell he doesn’t give a hoot what people think about him anymore (not that he ever did). Unfortunately, he does not contribute a story to this collection, because it would have been fun to see what he would have come up with.

Then we start with the stories. A former student confronts a murder from his past. A professor denied tenure gets one more chance, but can she adapt to the current teaching mindset? A new (old) teacher causes a showdown between a perfect girl and her plagiarizer. A new teacher finds an alternative path for opening up job opportunities. A former soldier confronts Albert Einstein. A letter to a cousin sums up what the future universities might be preparing us for. A tenured Shakespeare professor unwilling to change gets drawn into The Tempest. A reporter tries to understand how a secret society got away with murder. Mr. Rodgers acts as the conscience of a teacher who harbors a secret about his research. A weird story about a scholarship program for monkeys. A Bertie Prince of Wales story from Peter Lovesey. A student who doesn’t fit in confronts hallucinations from a long-gone roommate. The have and the have nots play a power game that leads to murder. A stalker wants to get back into academia at any cost. A roommate isn’t the best friend she thinks she is. A wife pays the price with her husband’s mentor. A poor girl gets her revenge on the rich kids. And finally, in the best story of the bunch, a former soldier/goon takes his college classes too literally.

Three or four of the stories, written by the usual suspects (Rankin, Lovesey, etc.), are really outstanding, the majority are OK, and some of them are just depressing. As I've said, a mixed bag.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Subterranean Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

I couldn’t get into this at all. Different writers different stories yet not like Mashup from years ago which was great. I didn’t care for any of the character thank you netgalley and the publisher for this arc