Murder and Obsession — Otto Penzler

From lethal spikes to fatal kisses, from mad dogs to battle-crazed Englishmen, here indeed is Murder and Obsession, a star-studded collection of previously unpublished short mysteries.  In the wickedly entertaining tradition of his acclaimed collections Murder for Love and Murder for Revenge, award-winning editor Otto Penzler has once again gathered the best of the best, fifteen bestselling authors who dare to explore a deliciously chilling subject: obsession at its most insidious.

Her toenails were bloodred, her lips were blue in Edna Buchanan's "The Red Shoes," a riveting tale that takes us into the life of an alcoholic-turned-foot-fetishist who steps into the middle of a murder.  What happens when a hard-nosed insurance investigator lights up a joint and sniffs out a case of arson? It's a tale that only Elmore Leonard could tell, in "Sparks." Then there's "Slow Burn," Eric Van Lustbader's gripping story of a beautiful detective torn among obsessions--a past injustice, a consuming passion, and a savage crime that links them both.  

Elizabeth George reaches into English history in "I, Richard," as an academic obsessed by a priceless artifact plots a deadly course of seduction--only to discover that fate is the most quixotic mistress of all.  But "Barking at Butterflies" is a story straight out of today's headlines: Ed McBain's tale of a man who goes barking mad when a yappy Maltese takes over his life.  Can the devil make you do it?  Joyce Carol Oates has the answer as she plumbs the darkest recesses of possession in "The Vampire."

A paranoid cop smokes out an unseen perpetrator... a minor annoyance mushrooms into a major crime... an aging voyeur is lured into self-destruction by a teenage temptress seen through a crack in the wall... It's a devil's brew of Murder and Obsession in nine more mesmerizing stories by Kent Anderson, Amanda Cross, James Crumley, Philip Friedman, James W. Hall, Dennis Lehane, Michael Malone, Anne Perry, and Shel Silverstein, America's favorite writers exploring the depths of obsession--for the height of bone-chilling fun.