Black House

by Patricia Highsmith

Overview

"Highsmith's writing is wicked . . . it puts a spell on you, after which you feel altered, even tainted." —Entertainment Weekly
With Norton's publication of The Black House, Patricia Highsmith's entire body of work is now back in print. First published in 1981, this volume is one of Highsmith's most nuanced and psychologically suspenseful works. The stories in The Black House mine classic Highsmith terrain as they sketch the lives of suburban dwellers that appear quite normal at first but unravel to reveal their proximity to the macabre. This collection is a perfect example of Highsmith's view of human nature and a fitting capstone to the reintroduction of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393326314
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	12/28/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt,The Blunderer and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

Date of Birth:

January 19, 1921

Date of Death:

February 4, 1995

Place of Birth:

Fort Worth, Texas

Place of Death:

Locarno, Switzerland

Education:

B.A., Barnard College, 1942

Table of Contents

	Something the Cat Dragged In	11
	Not One of Us	37
	The Terrors of Basket-Weaving	55
	Under a Dark Angel's Eye	71
	I Despise Your Life	93
	The Dream of the Emma C	121
	Old Folks at Home	147
	When in Rome	175
	Blow It	203
	The Kite	223
	The Black House	247

Editorial Reviews

''The Black House'' brings together 11 Highsmith short stories. Only four or five feature an outright crime, the kind you get arrested for; the others take place in a border zone of the macabre, the disturbing, the not quite accidental. What almost all of them have in common is a high degree of tension, and a seemingly impassive style that in fact plays insidiously on the reader's nerves. . . . Her short stories represent a relatively minor part of her achievement; but within their limits they are almost always compelling, as they are here.
— New York Times

John Gross

From 1993 and 1985, respectively, come two collections of short mystery tales. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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