Murder Most Postal

by Greenberg, Martin Harry

• ISBN13: 9781581821628
• ISBN10: 158182162X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-05-01
• Publisher: Cumberland House

Summary

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 in Murder Most Postal, all by masters of the mystery genre, the mail takes center stage. Edgar Allan 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.

Table of Contents

Introduction	vii
John Helfers
Like a Bone in the Throat	1	(26)
Lawrence Block
The Purloined Letter	27	(18)
Edgar Allan Poe
An Act of Violence	45	(8)
William F. Nolan
The Corbett Correspondence	53	(14)
``Agent No. 5 and Agent No. 6''
Agony Column	67	(10)
Barry N. Malzberg
Graduation	77	(16)
Richard Christian Matheson
Someone Who Understands Me	93	(8)
Matthew Costello
Letter to the Editor	101	(6)
Morris Hershman
The Coveted Correspondence	107	(24)
Ralph McInerny
A Nice Cup of Tea	131	(12)
Kate Kingsbury
Letter to His Son	143	(18)
Simon Brett
The Poisoned Pen	161	(20)
Arthur B. Reeve
A Literary Death	181	(4)
Martin H. Greenberg
The Adventure of the Penny Magenta	185	(14)
August Derleth
Letter from a Very Worried Man	199	(4)
Henry Slesar
Pure Rotten	203	(6)
John Lutz
Computers Don't Argue	209	(16)
Gordon R. Dickson
A Letter to Amy	225	(18)
Joyce Harrington
The Adventure of the One-Penny Black	243	(20)
Ellery Queen
Make Yourselves at Home	263	(16)
Joan Hess
Deadlier than the Mail	279	(18)
Evan Hunter
Contributors	297	(8)
Copyrights and Permissions	305