Archer, Jeffrey: A Twist in the Tale

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Jeffrey Archer's 1988 collection of twelve short stories is not entitled A Twist in the Tale for nothing. The concluding paragraphs of each story--sometimes just the final sentence--inevitably offer the reader some kind of surprise, whether slight and easily swallowed ("A La Carte") or groan inducing ("Just Good Friends") or the product of a sort of dishonest storytelling that leaves one feeling ill treated ("The Perfect Murder"). Among the best of the lot are "A La Carte"--the story of a young man compelled by his father to delay entering his chosen profession--and "Honor among Thieves," in which a wine connoisseur is put to the test by a "humbug." But all of the stories (ten of them are reportedly based on actual events) are worth a read. Archer writes in a commendably straightforward style that is easily digested: it is not surprising that, as the jacket copy of the book informs us, Archer has been hailed as "the natural successor to Maugham." (See Somerset Maugham's autobiographical The Summing Up for his discussion of the three qualities for which he strove in his writing: lucidity, simplicity, and euphony.)