The Collected Stories of Amanda Cross [Paperback]

Amanda Cross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 1998

Amanda Cross is master of the American literary whodunit. In her delicately menacing short fiction, assembled here in one volume, dangerous impulses seize the most unlikely individuals, and everyday existence is fast eclipsed by the bizarre. Among the compelling intrigues: The cold-blooded murder of Mrs. Byron Lloyd, shot dead during a writers' panel discussion . . . the enigma of the nameless toddler who walks out of the bushes one New England summer afternoon . . . the reappearance of a missing Constable drawing just where it can cause the most trouble . . . and other wonderful mysteries, many of which star the incomparable amateur sleuth Kate Fansler.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amanda Cross is really Carolyn Heilbrun, author of the groundbreaking nonfiction book Writing a Woman's Life, and, like her heroine Kate Fansler, a professor of English. That's why these 10 stories--written during breaks between her longer works--are intellectual puzzles rather than action-packed adventures. Each one is a cool, bracing spoonful of lemon sherbet for the brain. Cross/Fansler novels in paperback include Death in a Tenured Position, In the Last Analysis, The James Joyce Murder, and A Trap for Fools. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

This slim volume of 10 short stories deftly demonstrates Cross's mastery of the nonviolent, literary puzzler. Cross is the nom de plume of Carolyn Heilbrun, who explains in her introduction that, while she prefers novels to short stories, her series character, sleuthing English professor Kate Fansler, demanded attention while Heilbrun finished her nonfiction book Writing a Woman's Life (1988). Consequently, as Cross, she wrote three of these stories in which Fansler's niece relates her aunt's adventures: "Tania's Nowhere," concerns a professor who vanishes; "Once Upon a Time" hinges on the mysterious parentage of a student; and the lost dog of a stuffy professor's daughter animates "Arrie and Jasper." While these contain a hint of academic life and no dead bodies, the more successful stories acquaint readers with unique, colorful characters and their dilemmas. In "The Baroness" (not a Fansler story), a New York woman is asked by her British friend to surreptitiously return a stolen artwork and then is conscripted to help catch the thief. In the most successful story (and the only previously unpublished one), "The George Eliot Play," readers get a short course on the author's life as well as an ingenious mystery surrounding a resurfaced manuscript. Those who want their minds engaged in a whodunit will do well to turn to these short Cross sections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (January 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345421132
• ISBN-13: 978-0345421135
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,954,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Charming Cozies, November 8, 2010

By 

Mie (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Amanda Cross (Paperback)

These cozy mystery stories are a must read for lovers of literature, those familiar with academia, and those disillusioned with most media portrayals of women. Amanda Cross (aka the accomplished Carolyn Heilbrun) peppers her stories with humor and literary allusions, good-naturedly exposes tensions between successful women and men (as well as successful old women and young women), and subtly undercuts misogynistic, ageist stereotypes throughout her pleasant stories. Her stories are a fresh change from violent or aggressive murder mysteries. Instead they focus on the enigmatic quirks of life that an amateur detective might actually be called upon to (informally and without payment) investigate.

Many of the stories seek to resolve familial disruptions via fair-minded and calming methods, and for that reason seem the ultimate cozies. Nevertheless, at times the ideas are cold or provocative. For example, my favorite line is this one, describing why a clearly unlikeable misogynist might shoot the wrong old woman: "If women are all the same in the dark, older women are all the same in the light."

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book.Actually, I keep reading it again & again., May 8, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Collected Stories of Amanda Cross (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book. I recomend it to readers of all ages

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I did not even finish this book, June 25, 2010

By 

J. C. (Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collected Stories of Amanda Cross (Paperback)

I was told that Amanda Cross was a good mystery writer and looked forward to reading some of her works. After reading 4 of these short stories, I put the book down and will not look for any more of her works.

I tried to over look the excessive use of fractured compound sentences, but the bizarre resolution of the stories was more than I could bear.