The Deadliest Games: Tales of Psychological Suspense from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine

by Janet Hutchings (Editor)

P. D. James, Andrew Vachss, Joyce Carol Oates, and other popular writers contribute sixteen unconventional stories of psychological suspense in which the line between good and evil, hero and villain, is blurred.

271 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1993

About the author

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine editor 1991-present.

Reviews

[Mrs. Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Deadliest Games is a collection by Janet Hutchins of psychological suspense short stories published in “Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine” in the early 90’s. She had a good eye, and some fine stories to choose from. Ellins’ “The Moment of Decision” is now so well-known that there’s probably no mystery fan out there who hasn’t already read it. Oates’ “The Model” was very good - better, in my opinion, than most of her more recent short stories. Two great finds were R. M. Kinder’s “Jeremy” and Martin Naparsteck’s “The 9:13”. Unfortunately, they also led to two disappointments - nothing else either wrote is available at West Coast libraries. Fremlin’s story was surprisingly blah, and Hoch’s prominently featured a fictional animal fight for the fictional audience’s fun and profit (p93+). I am a real life person, and for me it’s not “just a story;” I know that real human beings arrange real fights that inflict real suffering, whether it’s dogs or chickens or snakes which are torn to bloody pieces. I don’t care much for Hoch anyway, so skipping the rest of it was no loss.