Synopses & Reviews
Although remembered mostly for her audacious bestseller, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein was a unique literary artist of the twentieth century who left a voluminous body of work, including novels, essays, poetry, and prose. Stymied—just once—by a case of writer's block, Stein forayed into the world of mystery fiction to rediscover her path to creativity. Combining elements of free association and interior monologue that earned her reputation as an avant-garde stylist, Stein drew from a summer's worth of mysterious events at her French country home for inspiration. Blood on the Dining-Room Floor is the brilliant result.A possible murder disrupts the peaceful setting when, in a nearby village, Madame Pernollet is found on the cement courtyard of her husband's hotel. Did she fall from a window above . . . or was she pushed? Was there someone who wanted the preoccupied woman out of the way? In a departure from the typical whodunit, with nary a detective to lead the way, Stein lays out a series of crimes and clues, enticing readers to come up with their own verdict on the baffling events of one "unnatural summer."Dover (2008) unabridged republication of the edition originally published by Banyan Press, New York, in 1948, and reprinted by Creative Arts Book Company, Berkeley, California, in 1982. A new Introduction by John Herbert Gill, and a revised version of his original Bibliographical Note, appear in the Dover edition.
Synopsis
Shortly after the publication of her bestseller, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Stein found herself stymied by writer's block. A series of local crimes inspired this attempt to revive her artistry, a droll detective novel in which the central mystery involves rediscovering the path to creativity.
Synopsis
A series of local crimes inspired this attempt by the author to relieve her writer's block. A droll detective novel, its central mystery involves rediscovering the path to creativity.
Table of Contents
Introduction to the Dover Edition
Blood on the Dining-Room Floor
Afterword
A Waterfall and A Piano
Is Dead
Bibliographical Note
About the Editor