"A TWIST IN THE TALE" by Jeffrey Archer (A-)

Jeffrey Archer is a man of many talents, among them being a very fine writer. Archer is an English author who also happened to be a leading member of the British Conservative Party during the Eighties. You might remember that he was forced to step down for some reason or other and later I think that he was involved in a financial scandal, the details of which elude me at the moment.

None of this has anything to do with his writing prowess, which is superb. He is a first class teller of tales. Archer is a very smart person who has been around long enough that he really knows his way around the British governmental bureaucracy as well as the London financial world.

One of his specialties, something that is a rarity today, is that he loves to write short stories. He has published four books filled with them, and he uses his wide experience as a background for many of his short stories.

There is something neat about reading short stories. The style demands a conciseness that is rarely in evidence with most authors. Every word has to be selected with care. You can read one, two, or three selections before bed time and go to bed knowing what happened. There is always a place to put the book down if something else comes up.

But most of all is my delight in seeing a true craftsman, a wordsmith, at work. I could never write this well, and I sure admire this talent in Archer when I read his books. He has a way with words that pulls you into each tale right away.

"A Twist in the Tale" contains twelve of his short stories, the first of which is titled "The Perfect Murder." Now, there's a nice title to start off a book, and the story is as good as the title. Other personal favorites in this book include "The Steal" and "Honor Among Thieves," but, to be honest about it, all of them are uniformly excellent.

I believe that this book is still in print. In any event, it will most certainly be available at your local library. I do like this book better than his other compilations of short stories, because every story in this book has a twist ending. Not necessarily a confusing ending, but more like a wry and amusing ending. A nice pleasing little twist that ties everything up in a neat package and adds a sense of justice and order to the world.

If you do enjoy this book as well as I did, then you may follow it up by reading one of his other books of short stories, among them being "To Cut a Long Story Short." I also enjoyed that one, but, as I have said, not as much as this literary gem. In any event, you couldn't go wrong with either book. 1988, 239 pages, Simon and Schuster.

Enjoy a good read whenever you can! Carl