The Greatest Writers In The World Of Mystery Invite You To The Main Event!

And here’s the starting lineup:

ISAAC ASIMOV examines the ulterior motives of “The Man Who Prenteded to Like Baseball.”

ANTHONY BOUCHER takes us into a deadly scrimmage at the “Coffin Corner.”

REX STOUT tosses a curveball at our puzzled heads and promises “This Won’t Kill You.”

WALTER TEVIS takes us behind the 8-ball and into the story that inspired the film The Hustler.

ED McBAIN has us snowblind and worried on the slopes of “Storm.”

JACK RITCHIE has us ducking punches and praying for the bell in “The Return of Cardula.”

JOHN D. MacDONALD strikes a deadly chord and spares no suspense in “Dead on the Pin.”

ELLERY QUEEN tackles a difficult case in “Trojan Horse.”

plus eleven more gems of mystery, mayhem and unsportsmanlike behavior.

How, how, oh how can one not adore a book that actually has a P.G. Wodehouse story in it—and one about Bertie Wooster and Jeeves, to boot?

It ain’t easy, but I seem to have managed it nonetheless.

As usual, I’m less than sanguine about reviewing a mystery anthology because I’m not a big fan of the genre. The stories here seem reasonably good to me, but none really caught my attention overwhelmingly. Even the Wodehouse piece ("Without the Option") is not among his best, and has only the most tenuous connection to sports, anyway.

Unfortunately, Asimov is in this anthology, with “The Man Who Pretended to Like Baseball,” aka “The Woman in the Bar.” I don’t like this story, no sir, not at all. I can barely manage to work my way through it, and inasmuch as it’s the first story in the anthology (and the Wodehouse story the last one), this book had two strikes against it the moment it got up to bat.

(Plus I really don’t like any sports, myself.)

So I don’t enjoy this anthology at all, I wish it had never seen the light of day, but I’m prejudiced against it and know it. Make of that what you will.

Contents

“The Woman in the Bar”