Twelve Red Herrings
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
References
- Archer, Jeffrey. Twelve Red Herrings, Harper Collins, 1994. ISBN 0-7089-8811-3
- ^ "Fit for a magnate". Maclean's. 107 (29): 6. July 1994.
- ^ a b Sweeney, J. K. (January 1995). "TWELVE RED HERRINGS Jeffrey Archer 1994 Short Stories". Magill Book Reviews.
External links
- Jeffrey Archer's official website
- v
- t
- e
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- Shall We Tell the President? (1977)
- Kane and Abel (1980)
- The Prodigal Daughter (1982)
- First Among Equals (1984)
- A Matter of Honour (1986)
- As the Crow Flies (1991)
- Honour Among Thieves (1993)
- The Fourth Estate (1996)
- The Eleventh Commandment (1998)
- Sons of Fortune (2002)
- False Impression (2005)
- The Gospel According to Judas (2007)
- A Prisoner of Birth (2008)
- Paths of Glory (2009)
- Only Time Will Tell (2011)
- The Sins of the Father (2012)
- Best Kept Secret (2013)
- Be Careful What You Wish For (2014)
- Mightier Than the Sword (2015)
- Cometh the Hour (2016)
- This Was a Man (2016)
- Hell - Belmarsh (2002)
- Purgatory - Wayland (2003)
- Heaven - North Sea Camp (2004)
- A Quiver Full of Arrows (1980)
- A Twist in the Tale (1988)
- Twelve Red Herrings (1994)
- The Collected Short Stories (1997)
- To Cut a Long Story Short (2000)
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- "Old Love" (1980)