This collection of original stories from today's most successful, prize-winning writers of crime fiction proves that "irreconcilable differences" can't begin to describe the lethal results of a relationship gone wrong.

For this outstanding anthology, editor Lia Matera challenged a stellar list of contributors including National Book Award Winner Joyce Carol Oates, New York Times best-sellers Edna Buchanan and Jeffery Deaver, and award winners Laurie R. King, Julie Smith, Bill Pronzini, Margaret Maron, and Marcia Muller to use the phrase "irreconcilable differences" as a springboard for a story. Their responses make for irresistible reading. These twenty concoctions of mystery and suspense move from sharp and probing to humorous and sly, fully evoking the theme of discord most deadly.

Here are the clever twists and chilling turns of breakups, family feuds, broken partnerships, and lovers' quarrels. A couple takes witty revenge on their honeymooning exes in Judith Kelman's "Just Desserts." Gillian Roberts's "Heart Break" explores the dark side of staying together. In Sarah Lovett's "Buried Treasure," a hint-dropping stranger changes the life of an imperiled widow, while Jan Burke shows how a Good Samaritan can save a bad marriage in "An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart."

As this acclaimed cast of authors probes the minefield of intimacy, devotion, and trust upon which human lives are built, Irreconcilable Differences explodes with heart-stopping events.

Contents:

• Introduction by Lia Matera
• Tusk by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Perfect Revenge by Amanda Cross
• Eye to Eye by Jeffery Deaver
• Stutter Step by John Lutz
• Miami Heat by Edna Buchanan
• Wishful Thinking by Bill Pronzini
• Up at the Riverside [Sharon McCone; Ted Smalley] by Marcia Muller
• Paleta Man by Laurie R. King
• Buried Treasure by Sarah Lovett
• An Unsuspected Condition of the Heart by Jan Burke
• Legacy by Jeremiah Healy
• Fresh Paint by Julie Smith
• Just Deserts by Judith Kelman
• Half of Something by Margaret Maron
• Heart Break by Gillian Roberts
• All's Well That Ends by Joan Hess
• Love Thy Neighbor by Sarah Shankman
• Showdown at the Terminal Oasis by Pete Hautman
• Fun with Forensics by Eileen Dreyer
• If It Can’t Be True by Lia Matera