Opening Shots

by Block, Lawrence

• ISBN13: 9781581822182
• ISBN10: 1581822189
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-01
• Publisher: Cumberland House

Summary

This second volume of Opening Shots is a collection of twenty-three first stories published by prominent mystery and crime writers. Some of these offerings are remarkably mature, professional work. Others are more obviously early works, before the writers' skills reached full maturity. But every one of them is a pleasure to read, and in each can be seen the seed of the writer's craft.

"Each writer has included an introduction worth the price of admission all by themselves", observes Block. "Writers, it seems to me, are never more eloquent or more interesting than when they reminisce about their early days, and recalling one's first success seems a spur to anecdotage for most of us".

Table of Contents

Introduction: An Opening Shot	9	(4)
Lawrence Block
Final Rites	13	(20)
Doug Allyn
Don't Kill a Karate Fighter	33	(10)
William E. Chambers
Entrapped	43	(18)
Harlan Coben
Yellow Gal	61	(14)
Michael Collins
Together	75	(22)
Jeffery Deaver
The Rough Boys	97	(14)
Harlan Ellison
Tole My Cap'n	111	(14)
Joe Gores
Layover	125	(14)
Ed Gorman
A Bunch of Mumbo-Jumbo	139	(16)
Jan Grape
The Cure	155	(18)
David Handler
Till Tuesday	173	(16)
Jeremiah Healy
Village of the Dead	189	(20)
Edward D. Hoch
Chalk	209	(10)
Evan Hunter
It's a Wise Child Who Knows	219	(14)
Stuart Kaminsky
Who Killed Cock Robin?	233	(28)
H.R.F. Keating
Medford & Son	261	(10)
Dick Lochte
Thieves' Honor	271	(12)
John Lutz
Not All Brides Are Beautiful	283	(10)
Sharyn McCrumb
Manslaughter	293	(18)
Joyce Carol Oates
You Don't Know What It's Like	311	(20)
Bill Pronzini
The Disappearance of Penny	331	(16)
Robert J. Randisi
A Victim Must be Found	347	(10)
Henry Slesar
Blue Rose	357	(52)
Peter Straub
A Bad Night for Burglars	409	(12)
Lawrence Block
Authors' Biographies	421	(8)
Copyrights and Permissions	429