Synopses & Reviews
Homicide is the ultimate crime and unraveling a murder mystery is one of readings great pleasures. This Anglo-American collection of 24 classic mystery and murder stories brings together the best of the genre featuring stories by such celebrated authors as Agatha Christie, A. Conan Doyle, Dorothy Sayers, Ruth Rendell, Ellery Queen, Roald Dahl, John Updike, Donald E. Westlake, C. S. Forester, and many others. Some of the stories focus on the intricate plotting that leads to murder while others deal more with the aftermath of the crime. The motives are variedhate, jealousy, revenge, money, greed, or even the thrill of the act. In Roald Dahls classic Lamb to the Slaughter,” a jealous wife kills her unfaithful husband with a leg of lamb and then cooks him up for dinner before the dectectives arrive. Readers will revel in all the twists and turns and imaginative and surprising endings.
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"Rich collection of crime stories . . . not a single clunker in the bunch." Booklist
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"This wonderful anthology should provide many hours of enjoyment for mystery readers of every genre." Mystery Scene
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"A dastardly curation of stories . . . perfect." popmatters.com
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"Always a twist, often humorous . . . a marvelous collection." Erie Times-News, Bulletin, Express-Times, Dominion Post, and Sunday Sentinel
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"Indefatigable." Shepherd Express and expressmilwaukee.com
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"A marvelous collection of mystery standards that deserves a place on the shelf of every fan of the old-fashioned 'gotcha' story." Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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"In terms of sheer quality, it would be hard to find an anthology to top [Murder Short and Sweet] . . . comparably excellent." Ellery Queen
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"A marvelous collection . . . deserves a place on the shelf of every fan of the old-fashioned 'gotcha' story." The Sunday Journal Sentinel
Synopsis
With murder as the unifying theme, this collection of classic stories brings together the best of the genre and features such celebrated authors as Agatha Christie, Ruth Rendell, A. Conan Doyle, O. Henry, Donald E. Westlake, Ellery Queen, Roald Dahl, John Updike, Edgar Allan Poe, and Lawrence Block. With stories compiled from the last century and selections that are more literary than hard boiled, this compendium features a bevy of colorful characters, including a jealous wife who kills her husband with a frozen leg of lamb before cooking and serving the evidence to investigators and a novelist who offs his critics, one by one, in increasingly imaginative ways. These masterful stories—with motives that vary from hate and revenge to greed and the thrill of the act—are sure to excite any murder mystery maven.
About the Author
Paul D. Staudohar is the editor of numerous anthologies, including Baseball's Best Short Stories, Boxing's Best Short Stories, Fishing's Best Short Stories, Golf's Best Short Stories, Hunting's Best Short Stories, and Sports Best Short Stories.