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Short stories 36-40

“Grace Notes”, by Sara Paretsky. From Windy City Blues. A V.I Warshawski story. This is the first V.I. Warshawski story I have read (shameful admittance from a mystery fan, I know). It’s okay, but not conducive to make me like Warshawski.

“The Black Gondolier”, by Fritz Leiber. From Night Monsters. A well-written and interesting story about a dreadful conspiracy that may or may not be imagined. I have a special fondness for Leiber, having devoured many of his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser fantasy stories some years ago. This is the first I read of his horror stories, and I also have a volume of his sci-fi short stories that I would have liked to include in the challenge, but I can‘t find it.

“W.S.” by L.P. Hartley. From Roald Dahl's Book of Ghost Stories. A chilly story about an author who starts getting mysterious postcards. Recommended.

“The Market Basing Mystery”, by Agatha Christie. From 13 For Luck. A locked room mystery with a twist.

“The Haunted Mind”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales (Norton critical edition). An insightful, dreamlike story about waking up in the middle of a winter’s night and looking back on one’s life with regret.
By the way, although I read them ages ago, I think I will include in the challenge the stories from this book that were part of my set reading for a course on 19th century American literature, because they were what are considered to be the best of Hawthorne’s tales. Since I have completely forgotten what they were about, I can’t really consider it cheating ;-)
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