Invitation to Murder (SIGNED Limited Edition) Copy 399 of 400 Nancy Picard ; Bill Pronzini ; John Lutz ; Carolyn G. Hart ; Joan Hess ; Richard Laymon ; Gary Brandner ; Billie Sue Mosiman ; Kristine Kathryn Rusch ; Teri White ; Andrew Vachss ; William J. Reynolds ; Jan Grape ; Judith Kelman ; William F. Nolan

Eighteen mystery writers create original stories based on the same simple premise

Inspired by a single premise--"a young woman is found dead on the apartment floor"--this collection of stories has a nice quota of top-notch tales ranging from procedurals to horror to science fiction. In Nancy Pickard's evocative "The Dead Past," a psychiatrist tries to help a young girl who is afraid of everything and everyone. The father in Andrew Vachss's "Anytime I Want" brutalizes his daughters, killing one and prompting his sons to take revenge. In the not-so-distant future of Barbara Paul's "Who What When Where Why," investigative reporting is too dangerous to be done in person, and a freelancer seeks to avenge the destruction of the beautiful simulacra who carries out investigations in her stead. In "Darke Street" by Gary Brandner, an elderly woman buys a brief span of gorgeous youth. The creative madman who narrates Rex Miller's "Still Life with Gold Frame" must write voluminously or die. Another sort of madman comes to grief with a cat in Teri White's "Merlin and the Hit Man." There is enough variety and change of pace here to maintain the interest of both the casual and addicted mystery reader.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Omnipresent anthologists Gorman and Greenberg suggested to 18 writers that each pound out a story that included one common element: a young woman found dead on an apartment floor. Despite Bill Pronzini's introduction, which claims there's not ``a poorly conceived or poorly written [story] in the bunch,'' there's a fair number of each, the exceptions being John Lutz's ``Open and Shut,'' a deliciously devious cui bono? tale, and Barbara Paul's bioengineering story of next-century murder. Also on hand: Pronzini's ``Nameless,'' attending to a matter for a boccie-court regular; a plant-the-evidence story from Carolyn G. Hart; an Andrew Vachss short-short; a silly shrink-saga from Nancy Pickard; Loren Estleman with a religious cult, a pig farmer, and a secret in the wine cellar; and William F. Nolan with a trip to the boneyard, sci- fi style. Other contributors include three newcomers, Jan Grape, Kristine K. Rusch, and Billie Sue Mosiman, who are, in turn, obvious, labored, and repetitive (also derivative). A simplistic premise, alas, encourages simplistic solutions. -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.