Murderous Schemes An Anthology of Classic Detective Stories

When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking), the mystery writer has athand any number of M.O.s, including such tried and true conventions as thelocked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, and the mistaken identity.Now, in Murderous Schemes, renowned mystery writers Donald E. Westlake and J.Madison Davis offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions,illustrating each with four short stories written by some of the masters of theform. The resulting collection of thirty-two tales spans a hundred and fiftyyears of crime fiction and includes virtually every style imaginable, from thehard-boiled detective story to the cozy armchair mystery.Here Westlake and Davis provide the avid mystery reader (and the buddingmystery writer) with a glimpse behind the curtain, allowing them to compare forthemselves how some of the great crime writers worked their magic on aparticular convention. These tales highlight not only differences betweenindividual writers, but also the differences between American and Britishdetective fiction, and they illuminate the evolution of crime writing over time.Here is a glorious treasure chest of tales that cover every crime in the book,written by a who's who of crime fiction--Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, ArthurConan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy L. Sayers, ChesterHimes, Edward D. Hoch, and Lawrence Block, to name but a few.Bringing together a century and a half of superb crime stories, MurderousSchemes is a glorious collection that will inform and delight anyone who lovesmystery and mayhem.

Donald E. Westlake received the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for his novel God Save the Mark and in 1993 won their Grandmaster Award for lifetime achievement. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his screenplay for The Grifters. J. Madison Davis is Professor of Journalism in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Oklahoma and is current president of the International Association of Crime Writers. He is the author of The Murder of Frau Schutz, which was nominated for the Edgar Award.