A wire for Live, the Web, thirst, recklessness, warnings, fog, bread and butter, Bound East for Cardiff, aAbortion, the movie man, servitude, the sniper, the personal eqauation, before breakfast, now I ask you, in the zone, ile, the long voyage home, the moon of the caribbees, the robe, beyond the horizon, shell shock, the dreamy kid, where the cross is made, the straw, Chris Christophersen, gold, anna Christie, and the Emperor Jones.

These four stories examine isolated crimes within society that not only breed murder but destructive suspicions--

"Charles Portis is now recognized as a singular American genius, a writer whose deadpan style, picaresque plots, and unforgettable characters have drawn a passionate following among readers and writers. 'His fiction,' Roy Blount Jr. has said, 'is the funniest I know.' Library of America now presents the definitive Portis collection, featuring all five of his novels -- Norwood (1966), The Dog of the South (1979), Masters of Atlantis (1985), and Gringos...