A heart-stopping mystery anthology from fourteen of today's best-loved and bestselling female mystery and suspense writers. Wisteria Lane Has Nothing On The Grand Dames of Mystery...In the expert hands of fourteen unsurpassed storytellers, being a housewife takes on a whole new meaning. Get ready for a lethal mix of meddling mothers-in-law, creepy neighbors, cheating husbands, fickle female friends, careers left behind, out-of-control kids, steamy sex, and much, much more in this thrilling collection of stories. Go behind the lace curtains and PTA smiles to explore the often mind-numbing reality of being a housewife. You'll laugh, you'll scream, you'll recognize yourself or your best friend in each of these deadly situations. Join Nevada Barr, Barbara Collins, Carole Nelson Douglas, Eileen Dreyer, Vicki Hendricks, Suzann Ledbetter, Elisabeth Massie, Christine Matthews, Denise Mina, Marcia Muller, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard, S. J. Rozan, and Julie Smith on a riotous ride through the dark but often hilarious corners of the housewife psyche. In Deadly Housewives, the murders and mysteries on Wisteria Lane will look like an elementary-school bake sale compared to the thrills and suspense that these masters cook up!

Says Ed Gorman in his Introduction: "Whatever she chooses to write, she does what so few others do. Several of these stories hinge on motives that Roald Dahl might have come up with." Thirteen stories by Christine Matthews, including two published for the first time, introduce us to a private investigator who tries to frame her father for murder, a psychiatrist whose whole family needs help, a grifter who knows when to seize the moment, and several people looking for special kinds of revenge. In a lighter vein, we tag along as that old Hollywood bad boy Fatty Arbuckle helps solve a murder. With an Afterword in which Christine Matthews explains a bit about her work.