Twelve Red Herrings

Here, from the world’s greatest storyteller, Jeffrey Archer, are twelve ingeniously plotted stories that display his renowned ability for the unpredictable, but wholly satisfying, twist. Even more inventive than his previous bestselling short story collections, Twelve Red Herrings contains a dozen startling tales, each of which makes use of misleading clues to surprise the reader. You’ll read about a woman who fools her husband and her lover on the same day; a leading lawyer’s attempt to prove his client is not blind; an honored guest whose expectations are something more than the red carpet; a young painter who finds an unlikely way to call attention to herself; and a woman whose casual ride into the country becomes such a gauntlet of terror that by the last page you’ll be shaking with fear. In each of these stories, human beings are put under pressure – how do they react when they have an opportunity to seize, a crucial problem to solve, a danger to avoid? Displaying all the Archer hallmarks, from relentless pacing to sophisticated glamour, Twelve Red Herrings offers two additional rewards. For the first time, in the final story, a choice of four endings is offered, testifying to the range of Archer’s imagination and the suppleness of the writer’s art. Also, there is buried in each story a diversion of another kind – let us simply call it a red herring – which Archer challenges his readers to uncover. Who will be the first to spot all twelve?