Death wears a beauty mask and other stories

Tony Award-nominated actress Maxwell, the narrator of many of bestseller Clark's audiobooks, reads the author's informative introduction and seven of the eight short stories in this collection, as well as the title novella. All of the shorts are entertaining and well performed, but a few of them stand out. In "Stowaway," first published in 1958, a stewardess on a flight from an occupied (and only vaguely identified) country hides a young member of the underground from a brutal police commissioner, and Maxwell presents her with a teeth-clenched, nerves-of-steel delivery while portraying the commissioner, in all his unpleasantness, with a snarling Russian accent. "A Crime of Passion" features former U.S. president Henry Parker Britland IV and his wife, Sandra, who give off a Nick and Nora vibe as they try to defend his secretary of state from a murder charge. As for the one entry not read by Maxwell, "The Tell-Tale Purr" is a goof on the famous Poe short story. Petkoff does a splendid job of giving voice to the effete, homicidal narrator, but the story and its final joke are about as thin as, well, a cat's whisker. A Simon & Schuster hardcover. (Apr.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Forty years ago, Higgins Clark put aside this book's title novella to write Where Are the Children, which made her career. Now she gives the novella a fresh look while also digging up stories that start with her first publication ever, 1956's "Stowaway."

MWA Grand Master Clark assembles a selection of nine previously published tales, including her first published story (1958's "Stowaway") and one long original tale—begun in 1972 but only finished recently—that lends its name to the volume. Blending Clark's trademark mystery, suspense, and romance, "Death Wears a Beauty Mask" focuses on famous model Alexandra Saunders. When Alexandra disappears, her lookalike sister, Janice, and Janice's new husband, Michael Broad, try to find her. Since three sinister men are also on Alexandra's trail and one is a killer, Janice and Michael must get to her first. Clark's sleuths range from lottery-rich oldsters Alvirah and Willy Meehan in "The Cape Cod Masquerade" to former U.S. president Henry Parker Britland IV and his wife, Sandra, who use his still potent influence to rescue his former secretary of state, Thomas Shipman, from a murder charge in "Definitely, A Crime of Passion." This collection nicely illustrates Clark's range and superlative storytelling talent. (Apr.)