Product Description
"All the Lonely People" by Marcia Muller(1-56740-967-9 08A)
"Stakeout" by Bill Pronzini(1-56740-967-9 08B)

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Customer Reviews (2)

Suspense from the "Duo" two
This is a collection of 17 "Horror & Supernatural Stories by Women,"though some seem more in the suspense genre to me.Marcia Muller (author of the Sharon McCone detective novels as well as Elena Oliverez & Joanna Stark trilogies) has teamed with her husband, Bill Pronzini (author of the nameless detective novels) in several enjoyable, themed anthologies: Kill or Cure, Child's Play, She Won the West, & this one.Muller includes one of her own tales in each--usually one of the best in the book.They also teamed on several novels including: Duo, Double, & some of the Oliverez books.They work well together.This one is the strangest.It includes:
Ann Radcliffe's The Haunted Chamber,
Mary Shelley's The Last Man,
Charlotte Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper,
Gertrude Atherton's The Striding Place,
Edith Wharton's Afterward,
May Sinclair's Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched,
Agatha Christie's The Lamp,
Rebecca West's The Gray Men,
Dorothy L. Sayers' The Cyprian Cat,
Virginia Woolf's A Haunted House,
Jane Rice's The Idol of the Flies,
Flannery O'Connor's Judgment Day,
Daphne du Maurier's The Birds,
Mary Counselman's Night Court,
Shirley Jackson's The Lovely House,
Marcia Muller's Kindling Point, &
Joyce Oates' The Bingo Master.

Many of the authors are quite famous as is "The Birds" from which a movie was made.I particularly liked "Night Court" -- not only scary, spooky, but with a killer ending--& the clever Kindling Point.Several were essentially spooky mysteries where the reader can try to guess the ending.It's an easy read & a fun book overall.Enjoy.

Witches' Brew is excellent example of female horror fiction.
While hard to obtain (it's out of print) Witches' Brew is an smorgasbord of female horror fiction. Check out Charlotte Perkins Gillman's The Yellow Wallpaper, a literary classic about women's oppression during the victorian age. Jane Rice's Idol of the Flies offers a chilling impression of the horrors of childhood. My favorite, Where Their Fire Is Not Quenched, is a stark tale of values and sins of the flesh. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Surprisingly Good
I've read a number of Muller/Pronzini edited story collections.Most were very good.All were mystery stories.This one is a collection of Western tales.Most are the usual length, but the last one, "The Hanging Tree" by Dorothy M. Johnson is a 100 page novella (of the 372 pages in the book).It's also a terrific story as are most of the others in the book.I don't usually read westerns, but I like Muller/Pronzini books so I read this one too.I'm glad I did.You don't have to be a fan of westerns to enjoy a good yarn.The editors have wonderful taste in stories.They precede each one with a short vignette about the author.I like to write down the authors of the tales I enjoyed most and see if I can find their novels too (the editors usually include the best titles in the vignettes).I find this quite useful.Also included is Marcia Muller's "Sweet Cactus Wine" which is a fine story as well.If you like a good story, this is a wonderful place to find them.Enjoy! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Wonderful Reference Tool
1001 Midnights; The Aficionado's Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction, written by authors Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller, is a wonderful reference book for anyone interested in the Mystery Genre.The book is 879 pages of mystery authors - listed alphabetically and giving descriptons of the authors' characters, the authors' lives and biographical bits. The books are broken down by code within the genre: ie, Action and Adventure, Comedy, Classic Sleuths, Private Eyes, Thriller and many many more categories.There is information preceeded by a * for titles which are especially notable and ** for "cornerstone works in the field.I recommend this book as either a reference book or as just a darned good read. Thank you, Bill and Marcia for taking the time to write this book. I can't imagine the amount of time and work that it took. ... Read more

Product Description
From the rain-slick streets of the urban jungle to the serene landscape of a major university, modern day private detectives are called upon to solve cases anywhere at anytime. Investigators of all kinds show up in this exciting new collection of detective stories specifically assembled for audio. This is a fabulous new anthology of private eye stories that will delight the discerning mystery aficionados. The stories in this collection span a wide range of sleuths; from an ex-military assassin in Nancy Pickard's "A Rock In the Hard Place" to Loren D. Estleman's Amos Walker who is hired to locate a missing child in the title story. ... Read more

Product Description
Hating the huge and tacky sculpture that would cheapen her exhibit but please the rich patron who donated it, museum curator Elena Oliverez is horrified when the piece suspiciously falls over and kills her boss. Reprint. PW. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Initial Book of Elena Oliverez Trilogy
This is the first book of Marcia Muller's Elena Olivereztrilogy, beginning the exploits of her Hispanic art museum curator.The second is: "The Legend of the Slain Soldiers" and the third and final is "Beyond the Grave" (co-authored with Bill Pronzini who is now Muller's husband).Actually, I think this trilogy gets better book by book, so I actually liked this one the least of the 3.But, it's interesting to see Muller write of protagonists other than Sharon McCone--demonstrates her breadth of talent.She also authored the Joanna Stark trilogy about an art security expert.This series is heavily into the world of Hispanic art but is heavily dosed with the personalities of its highly divergent characters--highlighting human foibles.It is not a continuing saga like the Stark trilogy, but is connected in time and in the characters involved.Interestingly, Muller gives Elena a cameo appearance in her latest Sharon McCone adventure: "The Dangerous Hour."I find Elena to be a very appealing character and admire Muller for delving into a somewhat different world for this trilogy; it's worth reading the entire trilogy.Enjoy! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The third in a series, this Stark mystery is the best!
Muller has created a wonderfully human character in Joanna Stark and shedeserves to live on in future stories! In Dark Star, Muller creates amasterful who-done-it that keeps you guessing to the end, and then wraps upall of the loose ends in one neat package.Too neat, as it seems this maybe our last look at Stark. If Muller tires of Sharon McCone, we only hopeshe returns to Stark and Elena Oliverez (another great character whodisappeared after only three stories). ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Horrible narration spoils good stories
The horrible narration, particularly Henrieta's, spoiled otherwise good stories. Get the hard copy instead. I'm just glad that I didn't pay anything for this as it was a library loan.

Worst narration ever!
I normally thoroughly enjoy books by these authors.But the audio version of Deadly Housewives was terrible. While the stories could have been interesting, they were painful to listen to, especially those read by Henrietta Tiefenthaler.Why would they select a narrator who talks with a lisp?At first, I thought she was just trying to get into the character she was "playing" by slurring her speech as if stoned. But, that's apparently her normal narration voice.I've listened to thousands of audible books, and she is the worst narrator I've ever heard.

Deadly Performance
I have listened to many audio books and I must say that this is absolutely the worst. If I can really choose, I would rate this with negative infinity stars!! I am glad that this was not my first audio book; otherwise, I would have given up on audio books altogether. There are two stories in a single disc. The first story was read at a way too fast pace. Moreover, the lady sounded half drunk! I couldn't catch most of what she read. The lady who read the second story sounded like she was trying to outdo the first in terms of speed! There were no proper pauses (e.g. at the end of a sentence), intonations were wrong, and both stories were read in a dreadful monotone that almost put me to sleep. If you ever think of trying this CD, don't do it when you are driving. It almost drove me nuts trying to keep up with the stories. There was simply no pleasure in listening to their voices. Maybe it was because the producer was trying to squeeze everything into a single disk. So were the stories good? Guess what? I don't know. The readings were so bad that I simply could not concentrate on the story enough to truly appreciate them.

Strong characters and absorbing plots with plenty of mystery paired with women's issues and concerns as a side-dish
Nevada Barr, Carole Nelson Douglas, Marcia Muller and other top names provide engrossing short stories of murder and mystery centering around the psyche of the housewife in a mystery gathering of new stories by big names. Anticipate stories which excel in strong characters and absorbing plots with plenty of mystery paired with women's issues and concerns as a side-dish.

Enjoy the ride!
On television the housewives are desperate, but in this page-turner collection of short stories by award-winning women mystery-suspense writers, the housewives are deadly.

Anyone who knows the mystery genre knows the authors in this anthology: Nevada Barr, Barbara Collins, Carole Nelson Douglas, Eileen Dreyer, Vicki Hendricks, Suzann Ledbetter, Elizabeth Massie, Christina Matthews, Denise Mina, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, S. J. Rozan, and Julie Smith.

Resist any temptation to ignore the introduction and head straight for the stories because the introduction sets the tone for the rest of the housewives you'll meet in the pages that follow.

Some of the housewives are bored, others are disgruntled, but all discover nasty ways to respond to what irritates them. I tried to choose a favorite tale, but couldn't. I recommend you read them all, just not necessarily in the order they appear in the book. "Trailer Trashed" makes reality television worse than you thought. "Joy Ride" gives prudent insight on knowing who you're dealing with. "The Next-Door Collector" makes anyone look at the new neighbors a bit differently. "Lawn and Order" shows new ideas about plants and pets-two things that are supposed to help reduce stress. Ten more stories await you, so make sure you block enough time to enjoy them all.

After you've finished the stories, you'll want to read the "little black book" containing extra entries of comments and recipes supplied by the authors. After seeing how these ladies think, however, I don't know if I'd actually allow anything from the recipes into my mouth without a food taster trying it first.

You're in for a real treat as you move from story to story. Be on the lookout for haunting humor, precious pets, hurtful husbands, naughty neighbors, and generation gaps. Enjoy the ride.

Armchair Interviews says: Wow, sounds like a fun read.




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