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...

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...

Fifteen exquisite tales from one of the world'd greatest writers of the short storyInnovative, startlingly perceptive and aglow with colour, these stories were written towards the end of Katherine Mansfield's tragically short life. Many are set in the author's native New Zealand, others in England and the French Riviera. All are revelations of the unspoken, half-understood emotions that make up everyday experience - from the blackly comic 'The Daughters of the Late...

"You must read Bedelia", the seductive black-widow thriller by the author of the classic film noir, Laura ( The New York Times).Charlie Horst has returned with his new bride, Bedelia, to his family home in Connecticut. Indulgently infatuated, Charlie is the luckiest man alive. What's not to love about Bedelia? She's gorgeous and complacent. She's also a gracious and ideal party host—luscious and decorative in blue velvet. And in public, s...

No matter what cases private eye Lew Archer takes on—a burglary, a runaway, or a disappeared person—the trail always leads to tangled family secrets and murder. Widely considered the heir to Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe, Archer dug up secrets and bodies in and around Los Angeles.Here, The Archer Files collects all the Lew Archer short stories ever published, along with thirteen unpublished “case notes” and a fascinating biographical profile of Archer by Edgar Award finalis...

Ten stories from the ‘brilliant’ Katherine Mansfield set in New Zealand. As Vincent O’Sullivan states, those encountering Mansfield’s stories for the first time have invariably found they ‘were alive, they were witty, they were moving, they covered new ground’. But with about 70 stories to choose from and a vast array of themes and approaches, where do you start, and how do you begin to understand and best appreciate her writing and achievements? This series features selec...

A young woman investigates the death of her wealthy, estranged father in a small Rhode Island town in this novel by the author of the Peter Shandy Mysteries.Murder can happen anywhere, even in sleepy Meldrum, Rhode Island. And while the town's old-money families may prefer to sweep such unseemliness under their Oriental rugs, its newest resident can think of nothing else. Nineteen-year-old Jenny Cirak has moved into the house her father, a once-famous movie producer...

When a friend comes to her with a problem, Tish springs into action—no matter how much trouble it's going to causeIn the title tale of this collection by Mary Roberts Rinehart, after a long, chaotic life, Tish Carberry retires to her apartment, hoping for a bit of peace and quiet. But why, her friends wonder, does it sound like someone's practicing riflery in her living room? No one would be surprised if Tish had converted her parlor into a shooting gallery, but her...