) First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Jeffrey Archer |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
Publication date | July 1994 |
| Pages | 324 |
| ISBN | 0-00-224329-6 |
Twelve Red Herrings (or 12 Red Herrings) is a 1994 short story collection by British writer and politician Jeffrey Archer. Archer challenges his readers to find "twelve red herrings", one in each story. The book reached #3 in the Canadian best-sellers (fiction) list.[1] J. K. Sweeney from Magill Book Reviews (01/01/1995) reviews the stories as "An attempt, it must be said, which is of such a nature that quite often the author succeeds in the effort."[2]
For the story "One Man's Meat..." the reader is offered the choice of four different endings: "Rare", "Burnt", "Overdone" and "À Point". Sweeney from Magill Book Reviews comments on this: "Each of the conclusions is quite plausible, although the average reader may find one far more convincing that the others--a circumstance which the author no doubt anticipated with a certain degree of relish."[2]
Contents
The book contains 12 stories.
- "Trial and Error"
- "Cheap at Half The Price"*
- "Dougie Mortimer's Right Arm"*
- "Do Not Pass Go"*
- "Chunnel Vision"*
- "Shoeshine Boy"*
- "You'll Never Live to Regret It"*
- "Never Stop on the Motorway"*
- "Not for Sale"
- "Timeo Danaos"*
- "An Eye for an Eye"*
- "One Man's Meat..."
In the preface the author notes that the stories indicated with an asterisk are "based on known incidents (some of them embellished with considerable licence)."
See also
- Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes
References
- Archer, Jeffrey. Twelve Red Herrings, Harper Collins, 1994. ISBN 0-7089-8811-3