Buffet for Unwelcome Guests: The Best Short Mystery Stories of Christianna Brand (Mystery Makers) - Hardcover

Briney, Robert E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809311402 ISBN 13: 9780809311408

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1983

Synopsis

Christianna Brand's fiction features brisk prose, wry twists, plots that lure the reader into a false sense of having figured every contingency, and ironic turns that not only spice the narrative but supply its lifeblood. No one has read a Brand story who has failed to read the last sentence.

Christianna Brand was born Mary Christianna Milne in Malaya in 1907. She spent her childhood in India. At 17 she learned her father had lost all his money. Without a shred of training or experience she found herself faced with earning a living. She held a string of jobs, but lent little distinction to any of them: nursery governess, packer of beaded dresses for export, hostess in a plush nightclub, professional ballroom dancer, model in Bond Street dress shops, and, ?most hopeless of all,” secretary.

In 1939, lacking any training in litera­ture or journalism, Mary Milne decided to try writing fiction. Her first novel, Death in High Heels, was rejected by 15 publishers before The Bodley Head took it in 1941, published under the pen name, Christianna Brand.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Briney is chairman of the De­partment of Computer Science at Salem (Massachusetts) State College and a fre­quent commentator on western, mystery, fantasy, and science fiction.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0809311402
• ISBN 13: 9780809311408
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320
• Editor: Nevins Francis M., Greenberg Martin H.