When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking), the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.s, including such tried and true conventions as the locked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, and the mistaken identity. Now, in Murderous Schemes, renowned mystery writers Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions, illustrating each with four short stories written by some of the masters of the form. The resulting collection of thirty-two tales spans a hundred and fifty years of crime fiction and includes virtually every style imaginable, from the hard-boiled detective story to the cozy armchair mystery. the differences between American and British detective fiction, and they illuminate the evolution of crime writing over time. Here is a glorious treasure chest of tales that cover every crime in the book, written by a who's who of crime fiction-Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy L. Sayers, Chester Himes, Edward D. Hoch, and Lawrence Block, to name but a few. Bringing together a century and a half of superb crime stories, Murderous Schemes is a glorious collection that will inform and delight anyone who loves mystery and mayhem.

Entries provide the likely sources for a name; describe historical and mythological backgrounds; examine Shakespeare's presentation of a character or place; and suggest various interpretations of a name. Each entry contains line citations to William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, edited by Wells and Taylor, Oxford University Press (1986).

The discovery of a "new" painting by Van Gogh hidden in the barn of a rural French farmhouse sets the art world spinning. The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam authenticates the painting, and the poor French family in whose barn it was discovered stands to collect millions once the painting is auctioned.
But a holocaust survivor living in New York claims the painting is actually his, and was stolen from him by the Nazis. He hires a team to help him prove that the "bill of sale" he has in Van Gogh's handwritting is authentic.
Their international investigation leads to the discovery of another never-seen-before Van Gogh, and the revelation that someone working in the Van Gogh Museum has access to an entire horde of famous paintings stolen by the Nazis during World War II -- and has been secretly sending them to former Nazis around the world so that they sell them at auction and make millions.

The authors cover everything: characters (Touchstone, the clown in "As You Like It"), places (Tours, the French city mentioned in "Henry VI"), animals (Tray, one of King Lear's three dogs), buildings (the Tower of London), officials (Roman Tribunes), rivers (the Trent), nationals ("Transylvanian"), nicknames (Monsieur Traveller, applied to Jaques in "As You Like It"), astrological groupings (Trigon, an astrological group of three signs), and much more.
"The Shakespeare Name Dictionary" identifies them all in full, readable entries. The authors' coverage includes such information as the historical errors in Shakespeare's plays, as well as variant interpretations of names. Line references in the plays are keyed to the Oxford Shakespeare. With fuller coverage than anything currently available, "The Shakespeare Name" "Dictionary"-available in paperback for the first time--is the ultimate guide to the plays.

When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking), the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.s, including such tried and true conventions as the locked room, the unbreakable alibi, the double bluff, and the mistaken identity. Now, in Murderous Schemes, renowned mystery writers Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions, illustrating each with four short stories written by some of the masters of the form. The resulting collection of thirty-two tales spans a hundred and fifty years of crime fiction and includes virtually every style imaginable, from the hard-boiled detective story to the cozy armchair mystery.

Here Westlake and Davis provide the avid mystery reader (and the budding mystery writer) with a glimpse behind the curtain, allowing them to compare for themselves how some of the great crime writers worked their magic on a particular convention. These tales highlight not only differences between individual writers, but also the differences between American and British detective fiction, and they illuminate the evolution of crime writing over time. Here is a glorious treasure chest of tales that cover every crime in the book, written by a who's who of crime fiction--Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie Collins, Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Raymond Chandler, Dorothy L. Sayers, Chester Himes, Edward D. Hoch, and Lawrence Block, to name but a few.

Bringing together a century and a half of superb crime stories, Murderous Schemes is a glorious collection that will inform and delight anyone who loves mystery and mayhem.

"Conversations with Robertson Davies" is a long overdue anthology of interviews with Canada's most respected literary figure. Journalist, essayist, reviewer, playwright, and novelist, Robertson Davies has not only been a leading figure in Canadian literature since World War II, but, since the publication of "Fifth Business" in 1970, he has become known throughout the world.

"Conversations with Robertson Davies" will be of interest both to the student of Canadian literature and culture and to the scholar examining Davies's plays and novels as well as to the general reader who would like to know more about the awesome man behind the Salterton and Deptford trilogies, "What's Bred in the Bone," and "The Lyre of Orpheus."

A majority of this anthology of twenty-eight interviews has never before appeared in print. Along with these previously unpublished interviews, the reader finds a selection of the best print interviews: Tom Harpur of the "Toronto Star" proves Davies's spiritual beliefs, Ann Saddlemyer looks into his dreams, and author Terence M. Green questions Davies on the supernatural.