Romance in the Roaring Forties and Other Stories

Runyon's New York of the '30s is peopled with horseplayers, bookies, gangsters, actors, chorus girls and newspapermen who move in and out of these 20 stories conversing in colorful argot. In ""Butch Minds the Baby,'' Big Butch agrees to join an impromptu safe-cracking party if he can bring along his baby son, since his wife is at a wake. Butch makes off with 20 G's in his shirt, after discussing the cause of the baby's complaint, colic vs. teething, with an unsuspecting officer. In ``The Snatching of Bookie Bob,'' the horseplaying kidnappers lose their ransom money and more to their hostage while waiting for the payoff. These O'Henryesque stories and a previous collection, The Bloodhounds of Broadway (written for magazines of the '30s and '40s), form the basis for Guys and Dolls. Movie fans will enjoy the original ``Little Miss Marker.'' A lively introduction by Tom Clark (The World of Damon Runyon) provides useful background information on the author. January