Murder Most Postal: Homicidal Tales That Deliver a Message
Edited by Martin H. Greenberg
Ever since the first caveman sketched out the bison hunts on the walls of the Lascaux caves 16,000 years ago, mankind has found a way to communicate. For centuries the letter was the primary form of communication across any distance. Kings, popes, lords, heads of state, scholars, authors — all used pen and paper to plot against one another, gossip, woo and win each other's hearts, and play intricate games of intrigue.
In the 21 stories of Murder Most Postal, all by masters of the mystery genre, the mail takes center stage. Edgar Allen Poe is here with his classic detective tale of a letter gone astray and the cunning way in which it is retrieved. Lawrence Block tells of the correspondence between a death-row inmate and the brother of the woman he killed, and of the deadly consequences for both. Ellery Queen investigates a puzzling philatelic theft. And Matt Costello writes of letters in cyberspace, as a man pours out his heart to a stranger in a chat room in the last messages he will ever write.
The stories and their authors are: "Like a Bone in the Throat" by Lawrence Block; "The Purloined Letter" by Edgar Allen Poe; "An Act of Violence" by William F. Nolan; "The Corbett Correspondence" by Agent No. 5 and Agent No. 6; "Agony Column" by Barry N. Malzberg; "Graduation" by Richard Christian Matheson; "Someone Who Understands Me" by Matthew Costello; "Letter to the Editor" by Morris Hershman; "The Coveted Correspondence" by Ralph McInerny; "A Nice Cup of Tea" by Kate Kingsbury; "Letter to His Son" by Simon Brett; "The Poisoned Pen" by Arthur B. Reeve; "A Literary Death" by Martin H. Greenberg; "The Adventure of the Penny Magenta" by August Derleth; "Letter from a Very Worried Man" by Henry Slesar; "Pure Rotten" by John Lutz; "Computers Don't Argue" by Gordon R. Dickson; "A Letter to Amy" by Joyce Harrington; "The Adventure of the One Penny Black" by Ellery Queen; "Make Yourselves at Home" by Joan Hess; and "Deadlier Than the Mail" by Evan Hunter.
| MARTIN H. GREENBERG, often called the king of anthologists, has compiled more than one thousand anthologies. He lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Larry Segriff is the author of three novels and numerous short stories. |
$14.95, Paperback
ISBN-10: 1-58182-162-2 (Paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58182-162-8 (Paperback)
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