3rd Culprit: An Annual of Crime Stories - Hardcover

Cody, Liza; Lewin, Michael Z.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312117361 ISBN 13: 9780312117368

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 1995

Synopsis

Gathers mystery stories by Ruth Rendell, H.R.F. Keating, Donald E. Westlake, Sara Paretsky, James Melville, and Joan Lock

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

This third annual anthology from the Crime Writers' Association celebrates nothing but good crime writing. Most of the stories are original, but some are reprints from magazines-Ruth Rendell's 1980 "A Needle for the Devil," for instance, which has a sadistic nurse fall under spells of love and knitting, much to the displeasure of her husband, who doesn't care for the sound of her clicking #14 needles. In a new story, "Someone Got to Eddie," Scots author Ian Rankin abandons his Edinburgh copper John Rebus for a dark moment with an informer and the man who has come to end his squealing days. The Best of Breed award goes to Donald Westlake for his 1989 tale, "Too Many Crooks," in which master thief Dortmunder tunnels into the back of a bank at the precise moment that other, less skilled criminals are in the front of the bank, negotiating a tense hostage situation with nervous cops; Dortmunder must perform some tricky improvisation to keep the loot. Also on hand are cartoons, a difficult acrostic and tales by Frances Fyfield, H.R.F. Keating and editor Lewin, among others.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

The third annual anthology of the Crime Writers' Association is a diverse, entertaining potpourri of mayhem, murder, and double crosses. Among the authors are William G. Tapply, Ruth Rendell, Sara Paretsky, and James Melville. Highlights include David Williams' previously unpublished "Second Best Man" in which a would-be adulterer gets exactly what he wanted, much to his regret, and Melville's original "Night Flight," an account of a transoceanic flight in which a male passenger seduces his seating partner, much as the fly seduced the spider. Coeditor Michael Z. Lewin contributes a tale of canine revenge, and Tapply (of Brady Coyne fame) blurs the line between victim and victimizer in "Social Work." Also included are biographical notes and a brief history of the Crime Writers' Association. An excellent anthology. Wes Lukowsky

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0312117361
• ISBN 13: 9780312117368
• Binding: Hardcover
• Editor: Lovesey Peter