Prepare to meet the most seductively female and the most shockingly fatal of femme fatales, brought to you by seventeen of today's finest authors of mystery and suspense fiction. Award-winning editor Otto Penzler presents a collection of short and sizzling masterpieces of kisses and kiss-offs, gams and gats, published for the first time anywhere. Tale after thrilling tale, they'll prove to you just how sexy and not so gentle the "gentler sex" can be.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Improvisation by Ed McBain
• Cielo Azul by Michael Connelly
• Give Me Your Heart by Joyce Carol Oates
• Karma by Walter Mosley
• Dear Penthouse Forum (A First Draft) by Laura Lippman
• Rendezvous by Nelson DeMille
• What She Offered by Thomas H. Cook
• Her Lord and Master by Andrew Klavan
• Mr. Gray's Folly by John Connolly
• A Thousand Miles From Nowhere by Lorenzo Carcaterra
• Witness by J.A. Jance
• Soft Spot by Ian Rankin
• Third Party by Jay McInerney
• The Last Kiss by S.J. Rozan
• Sneaker Wave by Anne Perry
• Louly and Pretty Boy by Elmore Leonard
• Born Bad by Jeffrey Deaver