“You don’t have to stay to the very last minute...er...toots,” she confided. “Your boyfriend’s waiting for you outside; I just saw him through the window.”
There he was holding up the front of the library when Prudence Roberts emerged a moment or two later.
“The lieutenant would like to see you to personally convey his thanks on behalf of the department,” he said. “And afterward I...uh...know where there’s a real high-brow pitcher showing, awful refined.”
Prudence pondered the invitation. “No,” she said finally. “Make it a nice snappy gangster movie and you’re on. I’ve gotten so used to excitement in the last few days, I’d feel sort of lost without it.”
Afterword
We at Mystery Writers of America hope you enjoyed this collection of stories from nineteen of our best mystery writers. Michele Slung’s Woman’s Wiles is the second in a series of classic crime collections from the MWA vaults, brought to you by our program Mystery Writers of America Presents: MWA Classics.
Since 1945, MWA has been America’s premiere organization for professional mystery writers, a group dedicated to learning from each other, helping new members, and sharing our successes and good times. One way we celebrate our talent is through the production of original, themed anthologies, published more or less yearly since 1946, in which one remarkable writer invites others to his or her collection.
Read more about our anthology program, both the new ones and classic re-issues, on our web page: https://mysterywriters.org
And watch for future editions of Mystery Writers of America Presents: MWA Classics.
To receive notifications about future volumes, subscribe here: http://mysterywriters.org/mwa-anthologies/classics-newsletter/
Copyrights
Foreward copyright © 2017 by Michele Slung.
Introduction copyright © 1979 by Michele Slung.
“The Two Sisters,” copyright © 1976 by Joyce Harrington. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Second Chance,” by Edward D. Hoch, copyright © 1977 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Greek Refrain,” originally published as “The Strange Adventure of Charles Homer,” copyright © 1967 by Frank Sisk. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
“Mom Knows Best,” by James Yaffe, copyright © 1952 by Mercury Publications, Inc. First published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
“The Candle Flame,” copyright © 1975 by Lawrence Treat. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Robert P. Mills, Ltd.
“The Kitchen Floor,” by Dorothy A. Collins, copyright © 1978 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
“The Girl Friend,” by Morris Hershman, copyright © 1957 by Flying Eagle Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“Double Jeopardy,” originally published as “Death Threat,” copyright © 1978 by Susan Dunlap. First published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
“You Can’t Be a Little Girl All Your Life,” copyright © 1958 by Stanley Ellin. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
“Mrs. Norris Observes,” originally published as “Mrs. Norris Visits the Library,” copyright © 1959 by Dorothy Salisbury Davis. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
“Invitation to a Murder,” copyright © 1972 by Josh Pachter. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
“The Ransom of Retta Chiefman,” by Stanley Cohen, copyright © 1979 by Mystery Writers of America. An original story.
“Medicine Woman,” by Richard Deming, copyright © 1964 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc. First published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
“The People Across the Canyon,” copyright © 1962 by Margaret Millar. First published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.
“The Cost of Respectability,” by Kathleen Hershey, copyright © 1979 by Mystery Writers of America. An original story.
“A Matter of Pride,” by Richard A. Moore, copyright © 1978 by Renown Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author.
“The Raconteur,” copyright © 1960 by L. Fred Ayvazian, M.D. First appeared in Ararat (a quarterly magazine), Summer 1960.
“The Prisoner of Zemu Island,” copyright © 1971 by Joan Richter. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.
“The Book That Squealed,” from Detective Story, August 1939. Copyright © 1939 Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; copyright © 1966 by Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of The Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A., Executors of the Estate of Cornell Woolrich.
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Did you love Women's Wiles? Then you should read A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime by Jeffery Deaver et al.!
TEMPERS FLARE IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT…
…And the wrong move, the wrong word, even the wrong look can set off any man or woman already driven past their boiling point. A Hot and Sultry Night for Crime, edited by bestselling author Jeffery Deaver, features 20 stories of people dealing with not just the torrid weather, but all different kinds of heat. From a retired police chief pitching in on a missing dog report that leads to him solving a murder to a mystery of Southern manners that proves the heat brings out the worst in everybody to a Los Angeles gumshoe who goes to a movie to cool off, but finds a still-warm body inside the theater, these mystery stories all prove that when the temperature rises, anyone can go crazy from the heat, and the most cold-blooded crimes can be committed during the hottest, darkest nights…
This volume contains the following award-winning or nominated stories: “Lady on Ice” by Loren D. Estleman, winner of the 2003 Shamus Award for Best Short Story; “Green Heat” by Angela Zeman, selected for The Best American Mystery Short Stories 2004, edited by Nelson DeMille and Otto Penzler; and “War Crimes” by G. Miki Hayden and “Child Support” by Ronnie Klaskin were both nominated for the Best Short Story Macavity Award.
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