I really enjoyed this paperback tome of "deathly books, murderous booksellers and lethal literature". Bring me all the bibliomysteries (this book so aptly names such stories)!I was originally looking for Death Sentences: Stories of Deathly Books, Murderous Booksellers and Lethal Literature edited by Otto Penzler & introduced by Ian Rankin. That volume has 15 short stories. Somehow this was listed as a paperback edition of that book and as I couldn't get a digital copy, I bought this paperback. It's very near but has 20 stories with some overlap with the 15 stories in the original edition. This is a 2019 UK-published revised edition and clocks in at 821 pages so I decided to dip in and out over time. I enjoyed most and as always with anthologies, the overall feel varies by the reader. I did find authors new to me who I will seek out to read for longer works and that's always good.Also, I have to give points on the cover art. For any who follows my reviews, you know I am an avid reader of the reissues of the British Library Crime Classics and my eye is automatically drawn to the overlay square with the title and neat art. There are other publishers using the same style for mysteries (some old, some new but all classic crime themed) and I admit to snapping up those titles when tempted. So too this book isn't BL but I was captivated by the cover with Compartment C, Car 293, 1938 (oil on canvas) by Edward Hopper. I just love it and I'm glad to have it on my bookcase.I had detailed comments for each story but that made the review far longer than I wanted to type so here are my favourites:An Acceptable Sacrifice- Jeffery Deaver - a story of two agents, an American and Mexican working to eliminate a drug baron (or is he?) who happens to be an avid collector of books. I had serious anxiety over the 22,000-volume library being torched in the operation. A very good short story.Great quotes from this story:"There was a huge U.S automobile manufacturer here in Hermosillo and Cuchillo had made much of his fortune by supplying parts to the company. It would employ another 400 local workers. Though he benefitted from their foolishness, he couldn't understand the Americans' sending manufacturing away from their country. He would never do that. Business- no, all of life- was about loyalty.""You can kill drug barons and their henchmen with impunity; 20,000 destroyed classics were not acceptable sacrifices. That was the sort of mar from which careers do not recover."The Book Thing by Laura Lippman - Poses questions about physical versus digital books. Tess helps an Indie bookshop owner whose book inventory keeps shrinking. A lovely story that made me think about my own book collection (analog & digital) and about how books are shared, discovered, loved, collected (and sometimes ignored- the worst possibility). Three cheers for William and Baltimore's The Book Thing (a real-world place).It's in the Book by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins - Good story. Hammer is tasked by police and gangsters to retrieve the ledger of a recently deceased organized crime Don. It's my first read of Spillane's Mike Hammer (my father was a fan & I now see why).The Log Sonata of the Dead by Andrew Taylor -based on the point that character, Adam, once used a slice of bacon as a bookmark (worse on a borrowed book) I hoped he should be dead by story's end. Great story with a great twist. the protagonist is patsy as a young man & again as an older one. a story of research lost love and playing the fool. good story.Great quote from the story: "He was careless about his possessions, she said, just as he was careless about people."Caxton Book Depository & Lending Library by John Connolly - A library like a TARDIS (bigger inside than outside) with originals and manuscripts where characters come to live after coming to life & the library chooses its librarians. Fantastic story. I loved it so much I actually read passages aloud to my husband and mother-in-law (she's always interested in what I'm reading and we often chat about books) during a family weekend getaway. They loved the passages.The Book Case by Nelson DeMille - A great story of a detective who arrives on the scene of a bookseller at The Dead End book shop, felled by a bookcase in his office. Accident or murder? Such fun puzzling out and I liked the narrator's voice. It was nice to find out this character is the lead in a book series, so I've added those books to my TBR.Remaindered by Peter Lovesy - bookseller Robert Ripple is dead. Taken out by a bad heart and a large box of hard-backed original Christies. Tanya Tripp the bookshop assistant handles his last affairs and reluctantly the bookshop. There was a lot more going on at the bookshop than at first glance. Very well done.Mystery, Inc. by Joyce Carol Oates - two stories with the theme of hunter and prey. Really enjoyed the first one about the bookstore. The second was well written but being inside the mind of a child predator put me off too much.Stories I really enjoyed but have mislaid my notes on atm:The Sequel by R.L. StineThe Little Men by Megan AbbottEvery Seven Years by Denise MinaThe Travelling Companion by Ian RankinSeven Years by Peter RobinsonReconciliation Day by Christoper FowlerHoodoo Harry by Joe R. LonsdaleRemainder of stories in this edition (not much enjoyed by me):Pronghorns of the Third Reich by C.J. BoxThe Book of Virtue by Ken BruenThe Scroll by Anne PerryThe Compendium of Srem by F. Paul WilsonCitadel by Stephen HunterRecommended.