Piranha To Scurfy

In a house filled floor to ceiling with books, a lonely middle-aged man scrutinises new publications for editing errors. He is obsessive, writing angry letters to each author he finds fault with. Books are his life - and in an unexpected way have led a terrible guilt to fester inside him. Just when he thinks that all is buried and forgotten, a work of fiction with uncanny resemblances to his own story sends him back to the dark precipice. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

A lonely man spends his time writing scathingly critical letters to newly published authors in memory of his mother, buried in his garden, in the title story in a collection of short fiction that also includes "The Wink" about a woman who waits a lifetime for revenge, "Catamount," and "High Mysterious Union," a gripping tale of obsession and violence. 25,000 first printing.

Nine deliciously frightening and exquisitely crafted tales of psychological terror from Ruth Rendell. A self-appointed critic reads books only to catch out their errors of fact and usage, which he points out to their authors in vicious letters: Then one day he comes upon a book that attacks him. An elderly woman finally avenges herself on the man who raped her sixty years before. An idyllic village in the English countryside offers newcomers its own peculiar kind of hospitality and exacts a terrible price on those who reject it. Delivering high-voltage shocks with the elegance of a Henry James, Piranha to Scurfy is further evidence of Ruth Rendell’s mastery of any form she puts her hand to.

Strange events occur in a village in England, where the villagers themselves are endowed with an almost elfish beauty. Discoveries are made by a man who moves into a local cottage, for a writing retreat, also hoping to escape the woes of a recent divorce. He is especially susceptible to the nymph-like charms of the young women - and becomes increasingly bound up in their intrigues. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

More than 200,000 words of great crime and suspense fiction Each year, Ed Gorman and Martin H. Greenberg, editors of The World's Finest Mystery and Crime Stories, have reached farther past the boundaries of the United States to find the very best suspense from the world over. In this third volume of their series they have included stories from Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom as well as, of course, a number of fine stories from the U.S.A. Among these tales are winners of the Edgar Award, the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers, and other major awards in the field. In addition, here are reports on the field of mystery and crime writing from correspondents in the U.S. (Jon L. Breen), England (Maxim Jakubowski), Canada (Edo Van Belkom), Australia (David Honeybone), and Germany (Thomas Woertche). Altogether, with nearly 250,000 words of the best short suspense published in 2001, this bounteous volume is, as the Wall Street Journal said of the previous year's compilation, "the best value-for-money of any such anthology." The A-to-Z of the authors should excite the interest of any mystery reader: Robert Barnard • Lawrence Block • Jon L. Breen • Wolfgang Burger • Lillian Stewart Carl • Margaret Coel • Max Allan Collins • Bill Crider • Jeffery Deaver • Brendan DuBois • Susanna Gregory • Joseph Hansen • Carolyn G. Hart • Lauren Henderson • Edward D. Hoch • Clark Howard • Tatjana Kruse • Paul Lascaux • Dick Lochte • Peter Lovesey • Mary Jane Maffini • Ed McBain • Val McDermid • Marcia Muller • Joyce Carol Oates • Anne Perry • Nancy Pickard • Bill Pronzini • Ruth Rendell • S. J. Rozan • Billie Rubin • Kristine Kathryn Rusch • Stephan Rykena • David B. Silva • Nancy Springer • Jac. Toes • John Vermeulen • Donald E. Westlake • Carolyn Wheat. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In 'Computer Seance', Sophia is credited with the 'spiritualist renaissance' in London, conducting séances for the bereaved residents of West London. So she is not at all surprised to meet her dead brother at a bus stop. She has, after all, encountered other deceased family members before. Only this time the encounter is more disturbingly real. In 'Fair Exchange' a meeting of two old acquaintances leads to the shocking revelation of a mutual friend's death. What unfolds is a tragic story of one life being sacrificed for another. Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in Piranha To Scurfy, a collection of psychological thrillers and murder mysteries.

Aside from Ruth Rendell's brilliance as a fiction writer, and her appeal to mystery lovers, her books portray a compelling, universal experience that her readers can immediately relate to, the intra-familial stresses generated by the nuclear family. Even those who experience the joys as well as pains of family life will find in Rendell the conflicts that beset all who must navigate their way through the conflicts that beset members of the closest families. Barbara Fass Leavy analyzes the multi-leveled treatment of these themes that contributes to Rendell's standing as a major contemporary novelist. Rendell, who also writes as Barbara Vine, draws on ancient Greek narratives, and on the psychological theories Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung derived from them, to portray the disturbed family relationships found throughout her work. Leavy's analysis considers what distinguishes mysteries as popular entertainment from crime fiction as literary art. The potential for rereading even when the reader remembers "whodunit" will be the basis for this distinction. Leavy also looks closely at the Oedipus and Electra complexes and how they illuminate Rendell's portrayals of the different pairings within the nuclear family (for example, mother and daughter) and considers the importance of gender differences. In addition, Leavy corrects a widespread error, that Freud formulated the Electra complex, when in fact the formulation was Jung's as he challenged Freud's emphasis on the Oedipus story as the essential paradigm for human psychological development.

Three classic Ruth Rendell stories: Means of Evil, The Fallen Curtain and The Fever Tree. Ruth Rendell is unequalled in her ability to weave stories that challenge our preconceptions and prejudices. From Wexford and Burden's investigation of a wife's apparent suicide, with all the evidence pointing to the husband in Means of Evil to the unsettling psychology behind a man's friendship with a boy in The Fallen Curtain and the paranoia that plagues two people who no longer know how to trust, in The Fever Tree.

In 'Catamount' the spectacular natural beauty of the Rocky Mountains has Nora, an English visitor, in awe. She yearns to immerse herself more fully in it and wishes particularly to lay eyes on the elusive mountain lion. But even knowing the dangers, she will be surprised by nature's own violence. In 'The Wink' Jean is old and has seen a lot in life. But as simple a thing as a man winking at her has an upsetting effect, transporting her back to the trials and tribulations of her life, beginning with one sexual scandal at the edges of her memory.... Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

This invaluable resource provides information about and sources for researching 50 of the top crime genre writers, including websites and other online resources. * A timeline of major authors and events in the development of the crime fiction genre * Read-alike sections listing other authors whose works are similar in style or theme to those of ten major authors included in the book * Lists of major organizations and awards in the field of crime literature * A bibliography of online and print sources for biographical and critical information about crime genre authors

The Portobello area of West London has a rich personality - vibrant, brilliant in colour, noisy, with graffiti that approach art, bizarre and splendid. An indefinable edge to it adds a spice of danger. There is nothing safe about Portobello... Eugene Wren inherited an art gallery from his father near an arcade that now sells cashmere, handmade soaps and children's clothes. But he decided to move to a more upmarket site in Kensington Church Street. Eugene is fifty, with prematurely white hair. He is, perhaps, too secretive for his own good. He also has an addictive personality. But he has cut back radically on his alcohol consumption and has given up cigarettes. Which is just as well, considering he is going out with a doctor. For all his good intentions, though, there is something he doesn't want her to know about... Eugene's secret links the lives of a number of very different people - each with their own obsessions, problems, dreams and despairs. And through it all the hectic life of Portobello bustles on...

In 'Myth' the shame of being made redundant seems to have robbed David Meacher of vitality. Then, on a trip abroad, he becomes fascinated with an ancient map of the Garden of Eden. Returning to England, his obsession only increases and even re-energises him...but it is not a force for good. In 'The Astronomical Scarf' a magnificent silk scarf, deepest blue and with the constellations of the night-sky patterned in silver across it, is weirdly destined to pass through many hands, and to shape many destinies. In 'Walter's Leg' his grandchildren's persistent questioning leads Walter to reminisce on a distant childhood escapade - in which he was shot in the leg. The memory provokes a desire to track down the perpetrator, but without a thought for the consequences. Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

In 'The Beach Butler' Alison's holiday is proving underwhelming. She has had to take her holiday on her own, and finds the seaside a bore - except for the attentions of the remarkably handsome 'beach butler'. A chance discovery, however, radically alters the atmosphere. In 'The Professional' a young man has a menial job in the department store which is not particularly fulfilling, although it pays a wage and provides a chance to talk to the pretty shop-girls. But when a woman is murdered in the store, far more profound truths surface than would otherwise have been suspected. Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection Piranha To Scurfy.

Victor Jenner is a sociopath. After ten years in prison for shooting - and permanently crippling - a young policeman, Victor is released to a strange new world and told to make a new life for himself. It's hard to adjust to civilian life, but at least there's one blessing - he was never convicted for all those rapes he committed. Then Victor meets David, the policeman he shot, and David's beautiful girlfriend, Clare. And suddenly Victor's new life is starting to look an awful lot like the old one.