Grifters and Swindlers: Stories from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine

This uneven collection of 17 tales drawn from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine ranges from classics of flimflam to the dully predictable. William Campbell Gault's 1950 ``The Cackle Bladder'' will appeal to readers who relished the central setup of the 1973 movie, The Sting , except that Gault's description of the phony betting parlor, the characters and the scam are even more vivid. In ``Thieves' Bazaar'' by W. L. Heath, an exotic Middle Eastern locale sets the scene for a surprising story of a seasoned traveler who is fooled while trying to protect a fellow tourist. Robert Halsted adds a dollop of humor with an intricate stock transaction and an investor's revenge in ``Hostile Takeover,'' and David Morrell's ``The Partnership'' studies the lengths one con artist will go to in order to get a solid job. Other writers are represented by disappointingly obvious selections, however, like Simon Brett's story of a tour representative who becomes involved in murder (``Playing it Cool'') and Julian Symons's ``How to Trap a Crook,'' which ends in a transparent solution. Also represented here are veterans Robert L. Fish and Donald E. Westlake as well as noir fiction writer Jim Thompson. (July)