Patricia Highsmith, The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith

The Selected Stories of Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith

Norton, Dec 2005, $17.95, 724 pp.

ISBN: 0393327728

Known for her novels (see STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY), the late Patricia Highsmith was also a fabulous short story writer with her myriad of tales containing suspense and believable protagonists, even when the star or support cast is an animal. Until this anthology this reviewer had no idea how many and how good her shorts are.

The collection is divided into five major segments filled with tension, and in many cases dark humor. "The Animal Lover's Book of Beastly Murder" includes thirteen tales of angry animals demanding respect, sometimes violently (ask that brave rat) from humans destroying their world. Section Two, "The Little Tales of Misogyny" contains seventeen tales of morality with choices not always being the high ground. Number three "Slowly, Slowly in the Wind" holds twelve more classical type horror/sci fi thrillers. "The Black House" compilation is eleven psychological haunted house tales with quite a human twist. Finally the last grouping, "Mermaids on the Golf Course" blends horror with loosely put romantic fantasy in eleven fine tales.

THE SELECTED STORIES OF PATRICIA HIGHSMITH is a fantastic collection that showcases the depth of a great novelist to bring her trademark suspense to the short format.