Mum and Mr. Armitage: Selected Stories of Beryl Bainbridge

This first short story collection, by the award-winning British writer (Injury Time, The Bottle Factory Outing, contains 12 faultlessly crafted and indisputably original tales. In the title story, ""Mum'' is widowed Rosemary Mumford, whose visits with Mr. Armitage delight the regulars at a resort hotel. The two friends play complicated pranks wildly appreciated by all except elderly Miss Emmet, who ``expected to be left out of things. And she was.'' The lady endures the wild antics until Mum and Mr. A. pick her as the patsy in a hair-raising joke for which they pay a high price ultimately. ``People for Lunch'' discloses the secret that compels a faithless husband and wife of another man to think over problems caused by adultery. Embracing savage irony, supernatural adventures, gothica, misunderstandings, every story in this collection is a gem. (July 27)