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Death's Excellent Vacation is the second Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner co-edited paranormal anthology after Many Bloody Returns, with the unifying theme of supernatural creatures on vacation. The roster again is strong: Harris, Kelner, Sarah Smith, Daniel Stashower, A. Lee Martinez, Jeanne Stein, others. The Harris contribution is a Sookie Stackhouse story.
The vacation theme produces a particularly satisfying batch of stories. Sarah Smith's contribution is a clean piece of historical paranormal. The A. Lee Martinez story has the comic register his standalones have made his signature. The Daniel Stashower piece is one of the volume's strongest, in a quietly satisfying noir register.
Four stars. Recommended to readers of paranormal short fiction. The Harris-Kelner series of anthologies is among the most consistent of the late-2000s paranormal moment.
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