A collection of eight suspenseful tales from one of the century's finest crime authors With stories published when the author was in her seventies and eighties, this collection proves that after five decades writing crime fiction, Dorothy Salisbury Davis has lost none of her edge. In "Christopher and Maggie," based on Davis's own experiences during the Great Depression, a traveling magician stumbles upon a murder victim. In other stories, a woman picks up the wrong hitchhiker, an ex-detective decides to make some money by getting rid of his wife-forever-and a man gets involved in a road accident from which he simply cannot drive away. The Manhattan gossip columnist and part-time sleuth Julie Hayes from A Death in The Life appears in two stories, "The Puppet" and "Justina." Intelligent, chilling, and beautifully written, these stories are a reminder that in crime fiction, there is no substitute for the Grand Master's touch.
"The veteran mystery novelist . . . turns in an excellent performance. . . . Davis is able to develop her characters fully and make each story nearly as detailed as a novel. Fans of her novels will no doubt be equally pleased with these shorter pieces, and short-story aficionados will enjoy this opportunity to see what one of the genre's grand masters can do with the form."
Booklist
"[I] love Davis's short stories. 'Christopher and Maggie,' in the 2001 collection In the Still of the Night, is a beautiful little conte à clef from Davis's Depression-era job as an advance woman for a very inept magician."
Sara Paretsky, author of the V. I. Warshawski series
"One of the admired writers of American mystery fiction."
Sara Paretsky, author of the V. I. Warshawski series
