The International Association of Crime Writers Presents Bad Behavior

by Mary Higgins Clark and Thomas Adcock

Book Overview

A varied, suspenseful collection of stories, published in collaboration with the International Association of Crime Writers, features the work of Lawrence Block, P. D. James, Joyce Carol Oates, Sara... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0152001794
• ISBN13: 9780152001797
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.3"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Short stories

This book is a collection of bizarre short stories edited by Mary Higgins Clark. A good variety of stories. Good for waits in doctors office as each story is only 4-5 pages long.

One of Clark's Best Mystery Anthologies: 4½ stars

"Bad Behavior," a collaboration by the International Association of Crime Writers, contains 22 mystery stories, as recapped below:"Thrown-Away Child" by Thomas Adcock -- A young black man seeks to avenge his uncle's untimely death, supposedly caused by a conniving pastor. Not very suspenseful, but well written with a voodooistic New Orleans setting. >> "The Framing Game" by Paul Bishop -- A high school basketball player is framed for stealing a pair of Air Jordans. Simple, yet effective. Good ending. >> "Revenge" by Samuel Blas -- When a man's wife is brutally raped and beaten, he sets out to find the perpetrator. Fast paced, but ending left wide open.<p>"Like a Bug on a Windshield" by Lawrence Block -- A truck driver fears he may have given a fellow trucker the idea to run other vehicles off the road. This one will definitely have readers looking twice at truckers. >> "Bless This House" by Christianna Brand -- An unsubtle story set in England about a young carpenter, a pregnant virgin, and the woman who lets them stay in her shed. >> "The Gun" by Ann Carol -- A brief interrogation by two detectives of a teen boy who had found a gun in a parking lot. Surprising ending. You might have to read it twice to get it, like I had to.<p>"Lucky Dip" by Liza Cody -- A homeless girl pickpockets a corpse, unaware of what she's stolen. Very good story, but the ending left me wanting more. >> "Death of the Right Fielder" by Stuart Dybek -- The title says it all: a young right fielder mysteriously dies while playing baseball. Weak ending. >> "The Dare" by Carol Ellis -- A young man is pressured into breaking into a house, and steals a trophy.<p>"Why Herbert Killed His Mother" by Winifred Holtby -- An amusingly dry story of a mother who dotes on her son too much. >> "The Girl Who Loved Graveyards" by P. D. James -- An orphan girl searches for her father's grave. >> "The Green Killer" by M. E. Kerr -- When a young man's spoiled cousin dies, he's eager to inherit his things. Loose ending, but a good moral about trying--and failing--to be someone you're not.<p>"Kim's Game" by M. D. Lake -- A summer camp game teaches a girl how to solve a counselor's murder. Well written, though the motive is unanswered. >> "Darker than Just Before the Dawn" by John H. MaGowan -- A woman reads of several serial murders in an out-of-town newspaper. You almost feel sorry for the protagonist, despite her role in the story. >> "Late Developments" by Terry Mullins -- A young man witnesses a mob murder and helps to solve it.<p>"The Premonition" by Joyce Carol Oates -- A man has a premonition to visit his brother's family during Christmas. Kind of a creepy holiday story. The reader will have to read between the lines to understand what happened to the man's brother. >> "The Maltese Cat" by Sara Paretsky -- A private investigator looks for her client's runaway sister. Longest story here, but pretty good. >> Two young men play a nocturnal death-sport called "The Werewolf Game" (by Mauricio-Jo