THE FAIRER SEX? NOT THESE LADIES…The female of the species is absolutely deadlier than the male in these 14 cunningly-crafted tales of suspense, crimes of passion, and murder, all by women writers. Edited by MWA Grandmaster and bestselling mystery author John D. MacDonald, these bone-chilling stories show the depths that men and women will stoop to in pursuit of what they want. Christianna Brand brings us a story of two sisters who engage in the ultimate c...

WHEN IT COMES TO MURDER, THERE'S ALWAYS A CHOICE…The only thing more varied than how people are killed is the many, many ways people try to get away with this terrible crime. Now masterful mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis brings together 23 classic stories of crime and suspense, whodunits and detective stories from some of the finest authors of the 1950s.Ross Macdonald's classic P.I. Lew Archer takes a chilling case in California, where the mob isn't ...

The British Secret Service, working to uncover a large-scale blackmail ring and catch its mysterious mastermind, 'The Spider', find themselves at the country residence Feltham Abbey where a fancy-dress ball is in full swing. In the tumult of revelry, Sir Ralph Feltham is found dead. Not the atmosphere bewildered guest Tony was expecting, he sets out make sense of the night's activities and the motives of the other guests. Among them is Hilary, an independently minded socialite still in her...

When Helen Davenport is found strangled in her London flat, the news shocks even those who thought they knew her well. Beautiful, charming, and surrounded by gossip, Helen had lived a life that drew both admiration and quiet resentment.As questions begin to surface, Scott Egerton, a Member of Parliament with a sharp eye for trouble, starts looking more closely at the people around her. What first appears to be a simple crime soon reveals a tangled history and a circle of suspects w...

'An unusually well told mystery tale' - NEW YORK TIMESA haunting country-house mystery of jealousy, secrets, and betrayal from the Golden Age of detective fiction.When celebrated painter Simon Chandos is found dead in his secluded Sussex home, what first appears to be a suicide soon unravels into something far darker. Around him swirl a cast of uneasy souls: his beautiful but distant wife, her reckless admirer, a mysterious woman in black, and a house fille...

A big black handbag, two bunches of daffodils, and a sharp-faced young man with pointed shoes. When a purse goes missing on a London-bound coach, an elderly passenger named Elsie steps in to fix the mess. But in Anthony Gilbert's rain-slicked urban world, charity is rarely free, and a successful heist is only as good as the final hand-off. A sharp, bite-sized mystery where everyone is playing a game, and the real winner is the one who leaves the bus first.

FIFTEEN STORIES ABOUT THE MOST HEINOUS CRIME OF ALL…Of all the crimes humankind can commit, the act of murder—of cold-bloodedly taking another human life—is often the most shocking, and can tear couples, families, and even entire towns apart.Mystery Writers of America is proud to present this volume in the Classics series, featuring fourteen stories by acclaimed writers, all exploring the terrible crime of murder. From chill-master Robert Bloch comes a stor...

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A seminal collection from one of the true masters of the short story. Spanning the duration of Cheever’s long and distinguished career, these sixty-one stories chronicle and encapsulate the lives of what has been called “the greatest generation.”From the early wonder and disillusionment of city life in “The Enormous Radio” to the surprising discoveries and common mysteries of suburbia in “The Housebreaker of Shady Hill”...

Welcome to a land Ray Bradbury calls "the Undiscovered Country" of his imagination--that vast territory of ideas, concepts, notions and conceits where the stories you now hold were born. America's premier living author of short fiction, Bradbury has spent many lifetimes in this remarkable place--strolling through empty, shadow-washed fields at midnight; exploring long-forgotten rooms gathering dust behind doors bolted years ago to keep strangers locked out.. and secrets locked in. The nigh...

Short stories of suspense by the author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley—“a brilliant collection” with a foreword by Graham Greene (The Sunday Times).Master of tension Patricia Highsmith is best known for her novels of ever-increasing suspense, but she is equally adept at the short story, where “she is after the quick kill rather than the slow encirclement of the reader.” Eleven is Highsmith’s first collection ...

Ray Bradbury is, indisputably, one of America's greatest storytellers. The recipient of the 2000 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, he ranks among the most beloved -- and widely read -- of American authors. In The Cat's Pajamas, this "latter-day O. Henry" (Booklist) takes us on an amazing walk through his six-decade career, presenting twenty-two tales -- some old, some new, all but two never before published.Here you will find stories...

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • Twenty-eight “heart-stopping [and] utterly beautiful” (Newsday) stories that locate moments of love and betrayal, desire and forgiveness, from Nobel Prize–winning author Alice Munro“Her stories are like few others. One must go back to Tolstoy and Chekhov . . . for comparable largeness.”—John Updike, The New York Times Book ReviewA traveling salesperson during the Depression takes h...