The Black House

by Patricia Highsmith

Overview

"A border zone of the macabre, the disturbing, the not-quite accidental." —John Gross, New York Times Book Review

Horrific tragedy becomes disturbingly ordinary in The Black House, a masterful collection of short stories, written during a particularly dark time in Patricia Highsmith's life. As readers will discover, the work eerily evokes the warm familiarities of suburban life: the manicured lawns, the white picket fences, and the local pubs, each providing the backbone for her chilling portraits. Seemingly small indiscretions and infidelities—along with love affairs and murder—consume the characters that commit them. Cycles of destructive jealousy overwhelm the cheating protagonists of "Blow It" and "When in Rome," and the title story explores small-town male camaraderie and the destructive secret it masks. This enthralling collection of eleven stories presents Highsmith at her finest: melancholy, suspenseful, and sizzling with a powerful awareness of human emotion.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393326314
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	12/17/2004
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	704,785
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 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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