Cat o'Nine Tales is the fifth collection of irresistible short stories from the master storyteller. Ingeniously plotted, with richly drawn characters and Jeffrey Archer's trademark of deliciously unexpected conclusions, this new collection has the added bonus of thirteen charming illustrations by the internationally acclaimed artist Ronald Searle.

Some of these twelve stories were inspired by the two years Jeffrey Archer spent in prison, including the story of a company chairman who tries to poison his wife while on a trip to St. Petersburg---with unexpected consequences. Â"The Red KingÂ" is a tale about a con man who discovers that an English lord requires one more chess piece to complete a set that would be worth a fortune. In another tale of deception, Â"The Commissioner,Â" a Bombay con artist ends up in the morgue after he uses the police chief as bait in his latest scam. Â"The Perfect MurderÂ" reveals how a convict manages to remove an old enemy while he's locked up in jail, and then set up two prison officers as his alibi. In Â"Charity Begins at Home,Â" an accountant realizes he has achieved nothing in his life, and sets out to make a fortune before he retires. And then there is Archer's favorite, Â"In the Eye of the Beholder,Â" in which a handsome star athlete falls in love with a three-hundred-pound woman . . . who happens to be the ninth-richest woman in Italy.

Jeffrey Archer is the only author to have topped international bestseller lists with his fiction, nonfiction, and short stories. Cat o'Nine Tales is Archer at his best: witty, poignant, sad, surprising, and unforgettable.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Bestseller Archer (Kane & Abel) put his time in prison to fine literary use, as evidenced by the 12 stellar entries in his fifth story collection, nine of which are based on tales he heard from fellow inmates while incarcerated. Three others he composed after his release. Highlights include "Maestro," in which a restaurant owner finds a way to launder money so that the tax man can't collect; "The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office," about a hardworking couple who steal from their own business rather than see it all taken from them; and "It Can't Be October Already," in which a man uses the system to beat the system. The economy and precision of Archer's prose never fails to delight. The criminal doesn't always get away with his crime and justice doesn't always prevail, but the reader wins with each and every story. Drawings by the inimitable Ronald Searle are a bonus. (June)
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Review

Praise for Jeffrey Archer's Short Stories

Â"A storyteller in the class of Alexander Dumas. . . Unsurpassed skillÂ…making the reader wonder intensely what will happen next.Â"
---The Washington Post
 
Â"There isn't a better story-teller alive.Â"
---Larry King

Â"Archer is a master entertainer.Â"
---Time
 
Â"Archer is a terrific story-teller, and meets the reader's ultimate tests---to want to turn the page to see what happens next.Â"
---Sunday Times, London

Â"Probably the greatest storyteller of our age.Â"
---Mail on Sunday, London

Â"Jeffrey Archer has a gift for plot that can only be described as genius.Â"
---Daily Telegraph, London

Â"Cunning plots, silken style . . . Archer plays a cat-and-mouse game with the reader."
---The New York Times