The Collected Stories of Amanda Cross - Hardcover

Cross, Amanda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345408179 ISBN 13: 9780345408174

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1997

Synopsis

"For more than twenty-five years Amanda Cross has been blazing a trail for the rest of us to follow", declares Sara Paretsky. The New York Times Book Review adds that if by some cruel oversight you havent discovered Amanda Cross, you have an uncommon pleasure in store for you. Pleasure indeed. Amanda Cross is master of the American literary whodunit. In her delicately menacing short fiction, assembled here in one volume for the first time, dangerous impulses seize the most unlikely individuals, and everyday existence is fast eclipsed by the bizarre.
With a brilliant touch as light as a butterfly's wing, Cross creates unforgettable characters who probe the baffling conundrums that seek them out: the disappearance of an unpopular university colleague, gone before anyone told her that they loved her . . . the enigma of the nameless toddler who walks out of the bushes one New England summer afternoon . . . the cold-blooded murder of Mrs. Byron Lloyd, shot dead during a writers panel discussion . . . the theft of a seventeenth-century painting from a lonely Texas convent . . . the reappearance of a missing Constable drawing just where it can cause the most trouble . . . and other wonderful mysteries, many of which star the incomparable private investigator Kate Fansler.
In a web of irony, wit, and compassion, Cross nets a rich variety of humankind, adjusting the scales of justice so perfectly that readers will rejoice, not only for the consummate resolution of her elegant puzzles but for the excellent company of Kate Fansler and her gifted creator.

About this title

Review

Amanda Cross is really Carolyn Heilbrun, author of the groundbreaking nonfiction book Writing a Woman's Life, and, like her heroine Kate Fansler, a professor of English. That's why these 10 stories--written during breaks between her longer works--are intellectual puzzles rather than action-packed adventures. Each one is a cool, bracing spoonful of lemon sherbet for the brain. Cross/Fansler novels in paperback include Death in a Tenured Position, In the Last Analysis, The James Joyce Murder, and A Trap for Fools.

From the Publisher

When I read THE JAMES JOYCE MURDER, I instantly became a fan of Amanda Cross and her protagonist, English professor Kate Fansler. And I continued to devour this wonderful series: THE QUESTION OF MAX, DEATH IN A TENURED POSITION, NO WORD FROM WINIFRED -- and onward. In time, I (and many other readers) came to realize that "Amanda Cross" is a pseudonym for Dr. Carolyn G. Heilbrun, the revered Columbia University professor whose WRITING A WOMAN'S LIFE and other nonfiction volumes are recognized as ground-breaking classics in literary criticism and feminist studies. My admiration for the author grew and grew -- in both her guises. And then a few years ago, I had the great good fortune to become the editor of her "Amanda Cross" half. Which has given me many opportunities to get to know Carolyn personally (it helps that we live only a few blocks from each other). So I've been in the company of this widely beloved author for autograph parties, bookstore events, an honorary dinner, and recently at the ALA (American Library Association) conference, where scores of adoring fans -- librarians and educators -- patiently queued up to get personally autographed copies of THE PUZZLED HEART, the latest Fansler mystery, as well as backlist titles in the series. Even with the resultant writer's cramp, it was a great day for "Amanda." And another cherished memory I have of this charming, gracious, and multitalented author.

--Joe Blades, Associate Publisher

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0345408179
• ISBN 13: 9780345408174
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 184