Showing results by author "Patricia Highsmith" in Classics

Tom Ripley detested murder. Unless it was absolutely necessary. If possible, he preferred someone else to do the dirty work. In this case someone with no criminal record, who would commit 'two simple murders' for a very generous fee....

Patricia Highsmith was one of the great 20th-century novelists, celebrated for classics The Talented Mr Ripley, Carol and Strangers on a Train, but she was also a masterful and prolific short-story writer. This definitive new collection, featuring two stories that have never been published before, confirms Highsmith as a genius of the genre. Peerlessly disturbing, exhilarating and savagely funny, Highsmith's stories still have the power to startle, presenting a world that is frighteningly familiar and as relevant today as when they were written.

Tom Ripley is struggling to stay one step ahead of his creditors and the law when an unexpected acquaintance offers him the chance to start over. Ripley wants money, success, and the good life and he's willing to kill for it. When his newfound happiness is threatened, his response is as swift as it is shocking.

In den Erzählungen "Der Schneckenforscher" und "Die Heldin" seziert Patricia Highsmith zwei zunächst eher unauffällige Exemplare der Gattung Mensch: Während der Broker Peter Knoppert sich immer mehr in seine Leidenschaft für schleimige Schnecken hineinsteigert, kriecht das Kindermädchen Lucille Smith tiefer und tiefer in das Leben ihrer Arbeitgeber hinein und entwickelt eine ungesunde Hingabe für ihre Schützlinge.