MURDER AMONG FRIENDS: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by the Adams Round Table [Hardcover]

Various (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2000

Eleven masters of mystery present Murder Among Friends, a provocative collection of all-new stories that explore the bonds-and boundaries-of friendship. These tales of life and death, loyalty and betrayal, feature friends and neighbors-"partners in crime"-who are thick as thieves. Or so it seems...

With stories by:
,br>Lawrence Block
Mary Higgins Clark
Stanley Cohen
Dorothy Salisbury Davis
Mickey Friedman
Susan Isaacs
Judith Kelman
Warren Murphy
Justin Scott
Peter Straub
Whitley Strieber

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The Adams Round Table is today's counterpart to the legendary Algonquin Round Table. Founded in 1982 by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Chastain, the members meet every month to discuss their craft and create some of the best-loved mysteries of our time. Collectively, they have produced more than one hundred novels, including bestsellers and Edgar Award winners.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 269 pages
• Publisher: Berkley Hardcover; 1st edition (October 10, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425167003
• ISBN-13: 978-0425167007
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,462,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great mix of mysteries., July 28, 2001

By 

Affaire de Coeur - See all my reviews

This review is from: MURDER AMONG FRIENDS: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by the Adams Round Table (Hardcover)

This book, the sixth collection of short stories from a mystery writer's group, is a mixed bag of candy and cardboard. With no wonders of style or brilliance of plot, it's still a good read. In this world, of course, somebody's always got a secret. It starts with Lawrence Block's gritty, compassionate cop, a guy I'd like to meet at a party: "I don't remember what she was wearing, but I'm sure she looked good in it. She always did." As a favor to a friend, he's called in to deal with the awkwardness when a card game ends with a stabbing. He manages to hide everybody's dirty laundry, including his own, and still be a decent man. The book ends with a nasty, preachy little mess by Whitley Strieber, but along the way we also get Dorothy Salisbury Davis's story of small-town intrigue. The narrator is a lawyer with a healthy skepticism about his fellow citizens, such as the coroner who "had a doctor-of-medicine degree, which I guess entitles you to work on dead people if that's your preference." And, naturally, the wandering preacher who brings a hidden agenda to the town. From Mickey Friedman we get skullduggery among the spinsters at the Estelle Peavy Residence for Women. The heroine takes time out from her epic poem about Cape St. Sebastian, Florida, to find out where Gigi the stripper disappeared to. In Judith Kelman's story we eavesdrop on six women hell-bent on sweet, gruesome revenge on a con-man Lothario (unless perhaps one of them breaks a nail). And we get Justin Scott's sweet tale of a cat trying to save his lady-love's kitten from a fierce blizzard and a predatory owl.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super mystery anthology, October 10, 2000

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MURDER AMONG FRIENDS: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by the Adams Round Table (Hardcover)

The sixth anthology from the Adams Round Table, a group of mystery writers who meet monthly to discuss their trade, is the usual superb book. The short stories center on the relationships between friends/neighbors and crime. The contributors are eleven stars such as Higgins, Block, Isaacs, and Kelman. Each story stands on its own yet adds to the overall theme of the book.

The Adams Round Table series of books is always top-notch entertainment and this year's edition may be the best of the lot. Each story is well written and exciting while leaving the reader thinking about how far one goes for a friend. This reviewer still wonders what took me so long to join the short story bandwagon that has forced a scramble to find earlier works including some of the previous editions of this powerful anthology.

Harriet Klausner