Twelve Red Herrings

The bestselling author Jeffrey Archer once again astonishes, delights, and electrifies with this collection, Twelve Red Herrings. Archer, the internationally bestselling author of Honor Among Thieves and Kane & Abel, serves up this inventive collection of a dozen short stories -- with a twist. Cleverly styled, with richly drawn characters and ingeniously plotted story lines, each of the twelve pieces ends with a delightfully unexpected turn of events. An imprisoned man is certain that his supposed murder victim is very much alive....A female driver is pursued relentlessly by a menacing figure in another vehicle....A young artist gets the biggest break of her career....A restless beauty manages the perfect birthday celebration....An escaped Iraqi on Saddam Hussein's death list pays an involuntary visit to his homeland. In each tale, human beings are given an opportunity to seize, a crucial problem to solve, or a danger to avoid. How will they react? How would you? Capping off the collection are two additional rewards. In the final story, Archer offers a choice of four endings. And buried in each story is another diversion -- a red herring which Archer challenges his readers to uncover.

Originally published: New York: HarperCollins, 1994.

An imprisoned man is certain that his supposed murder victim is very much alive... A female driver is pursued relentlessly by a menacing figure in another vehicle... A young artist gets the biggest break of her career... A restless beauty manages the perfect birthday celebration... An escaped Iraqi on Saddam Hussein's death list pays an involuntary visit to his homeland... How will they react? How would you? Twelve Red Herrings is the third collection of irresistible short stories from a master storyteller. Cleverly styled, with richly drawn characters and ingeniously plotted story lines, each of the twelve tales ends with a delightfully unexpected turn of events.

In Cheap at Half the Price, by #1 New York Times bestselling author and master of the short story Jeffrey Archer, the conniving Consuela Rosenheim hunts down her ideal birthday present – and next husband – in London. Will she accomplish her biggest swindle yet, or will she finally get her just desserts? The wily woman is, as Archer opens, “naturally superior to men,” and a pure joy for Archer fans new and old.

One Man's Meat is part of The Year of Short Stories and is one of several digital shorts released to celebrate the publication of Jeffrey Archer’s magnificent seventh collection, Tell Tale. Taken from Jeffrey Archer's third collection of short stories, Twelve Red Herrings, comes One Man's Meat, an irresistible, witty and ingenious short read. When Michael Whitaker spots the stunning Anna Townsend on the steps of the theatre, he decides he will do whatever it takes to get to know her. Finding a way to get a ticket for the seat next to her, he then invites her to a drink at the interval. By the end of the play, Michael asks her to accompany him to dinner. But what will her answer be? What follows are four different endings . . . choose just one, or – if choosing to read all four – they can be read in the following order: Rare, Burnt, Overdone, and À Point . . . Be sure to look out for more from The Year of Short Stories collection, including The Endgame and No Room at the Inn.

Nonsense is the best compilation and study of verbal logical fallacies available anywhere. It is a handbook of the myriad ways we go about being illogical--how we deceive others and ourselves, how we think and argue in ways that are disorderly, disorganized, or irrelevant. Nonsense is also a short course in nonmathematical logical thinking, especially important for students of philosophy and economics. A book of remarkable scholarship, Nonsense is unexpectedly relaxed, informal, and accessible.

The fourteen short stories in To Cut a Long Story Short show Jeffrey Archer's great skills with a wide variety of character, of subject and of setting, but all with that trademark twist in the tale. Every reader will have their own favourites: the choices run from love at first sight across the train tracks to the cleverest of confidence tricks, from the quirks of the legal profession – and those who are able to manipulate both sides of the Bar – to the creative financial talents of a member of Her Majesty's diplomatic service – but for a good cause. The last story, The Grass is Always Greener, is possibly the best piece Archer has written, and will haunt you for the rest of your life.

The Collected Short Stories brings together three of Jeffrey Archer’s classic collections of short stories: A Quiver Full of Arrows, A Twist in the Tale and Twelve Red Herrings. Every reader will have their own favourites: the choices run from an imprisoned man who is certain that his supposed murder victim is very much alive, to a female driver pursued relentlessly by a menacing figure in another vehicle. An offhand remark is taken seriously by a Chinese sculptor in one tale, while a British diplomat unexpectedly becomes the owner of a priceless work of art in another . . . And over three of the stories, discover a hauntingly written, atmospheric account of two undergraduates at Oxford in the thirties: a tale of bitter rivalry that ends in a memorable love story. These stories are packed full of the master storyteller’s unexpected twists, richly drawn characters and ingenious, witty denouements – some will make you laugh, others will bring you to tears. And, as always, every one of them will keep you spellbound.