Match Up is an anthology of eleven short stories written by twenty-two authors. Lee Child edited, wrote the forward and also contributed to one of the stories. All the authors are published (no novices here) and most are well-known. But not all are experienced in writing short stories, or in collaborating with other authors. Each story is prefaced by some commentary about how the collaboration worked, and there is an author biography for each one at the end.

It’s an interesting concept, to match up eleven male/female authors and get them to create a story that brings together characters for whom they are each well known. Thus we have Ty Hauck investigating with Harper Connelly in a story which, sadly, sees Tolliver Lang take a back seat. Jeffrey Tolliver teams up with Joe Pritchard and Lincoln Perry, Tempe Brennan gets a much-needed hand from Jack Reacher, Cotton Malone finds himself in 18th Century Scotland meeting a certain Jamie Fraser, and so on. Some are straight up crime fiction, but there are a few with paranormal elements, and there’s plenty of humour.

For die-hard fans of the authors featured, this will be a little extra dose of their favourite characters; for readers unfamiliar with the authors, this provides a taste of the author’s work, maybe giving them an idea of what the fuss is about. They are all short stories, so not much time investment is needed, most are excellent and some even add a little to the character’s back story. Quite enjoyable.