Lee Child has written only his 2nd short story. It will be published in an anthology called Like a Charm, coming out February 5, 2004 in the UK from Century and May 2004 in the US from Morrow. Karin Slaughter is the editor and, in addition to Lee, will include stories by Kelley Armstrong, Mark Billingham, John Connolly, Emma Donoghue, Jerrilyn Farmer, John Harvey, Jane Haddam, Lynda La Plante, Laura Lippman, Denise Mina, Fidelis Morgan, Peter Robinson, Karin Slaughter and Peter Moore Smith.

In Lee's words, it's "a decent little story, set in London, not featuring Jack Reacher. The protagonist is an un-named London copper, there's a hooker called Kelly Key, a madman called Mason Mason, a great little twist, and a slight overall blackly-comic Joe Orton feel. The way the book is going to read is less like a short-story anthology than a noir novel with chapters written by different people. "

Ordinarily I'm not a big fan of short stories, but this sounds as if it could be interesting. I might take a peek at Lee's and Laura's contributions. I'm still opposed to the whole "each chapter by a different author" concept, though. It never works.