A Choice of Murders

Book excerpt: WHEN IT COMES TO MURDER, THERE'S ALWAYS A CHOICE… The only thing more varied than how people are killed is the many, many ways people try to get away with this terrible crime. Now masterful mystery writer Dorothy Salisbury Davis brings together 23 classic stories of crime and suspense, whodunits and detective stories from some of the finest authors of the 1950s. Ross Macdonald’s classic P.I. Lew Archer takes a chilling case in California, where the mob isn't the only deadly thing under the West Coast sun. Margaret Millar brings us the tale of the couple next door who ensnares their neighbor in a tangled web of love and deception. Margaret Manners invites us to a bar for a drink and a quick little story of a con man who got what he deserved—and how the man accused of his murder walked free. And Michael Gilbert's brilliant detective Gladwyn Hughes must get to the bottom of an ambassador assassinated in front of forty-five witnesses before a war breaks out in Europe over the murder. Twenty-three stories of criminals, victims, and always, always multiple choices of murder… Featuring stories by: ROBERT ARTHUR LAWRENCE G. BLOCHMAN ANTHONY BOUCHER WENZELL BROWN ANDREW CARVE MIGNON G. EBERHART STANLEY ELLIN ANTHONY GILBERT MICHAEL GILBERT RYERSON JOHNSON HELEN KASSON JAMES A. KIRCH ROSS MACDONALD MARGARET MANNERS STEPHEN MARLOWE MARGARET MILLAR STUART PALMER JOHN BASYE PRICE ELLERY QUEEN MARC SEYMOUR RUTHVEN TODD LAWRENCE TREAT ROBERT TURNER