Edited by: Lawrence Block

Readers enthralled by the works of great mystery and crime writers will find something new in Opening Shots. This collection offers not only the first published short stories of twenty prominent writers, but also features each author's recollection of the trials and thrills of making that unforgettable first sale.

Opening Shots humanizes legendary writers and revisits the cutting-edge work from which raw talents broke through in bold and soemtimes experimental fashion. Joan Hess's "Death of a Romance Writer" offers a nifty and humorous literary twist-an inside joke- that Hess describes as "a dollop of revenge for all the abused heroines of romantic fiction." But there's nothing funny about James Sallis's "Jim and Mary G," a disturbing story with a sad conclusion that can be interpreted in more than one way. Says Sallis, "I was just starting to try and write stories that might be read in several ways, or on several levels, simultaneously."

Between its wide variety of stories and styles and its candid personal refelctions from the authors thenselves. Opening Shots is a compelling anthology that entertains and offers a glimpse beyond the page and into the mind of the writer.

Contents:

• Introduction: An Opening Shot by Lawrence Block
• Laud by David Black (1978)
• Double Glazing by Simon Brett (1979)
• Public Servant by Max Allan Collins (1985)
• Spring Fever by Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1952)
• The Tree on Execution Hill by Loren D. Estleman (1977)
• Now’s the Time by John Harvey (1994)
• Death of a Romance Writer by Joan Hess (1988)
• Compliments of a Friend by Susan Isaacs (2000)
• The Bathroom by Peter Lovesey (1973)
• The Death of Me by Margaret Maron (1968)
• Freedom by Susan Moody (1990)
• The Dripping by David MorrellA Taste of Life by Sara Paretsky (1989)
• Fan Mail by Peter Robinson (1989)
• Jim and Mary G by James Sallis (1970)
• The White Death by Justin Scott (1989)
• The Tinder Box by Minette Walters (1999)
• Arrest by Donald E. Westlake (1958)
• You Can’t Lose by Lawrence Block (1958)
• Authors’ Biographies