Dust jacket illustration by Charles S. Pyle

WIN, LOSE, OR DIE.

Whether it’s child’s play or for the highest stakes, whether we stick to the rules or cheat, we all play games — for fun, for thrills, for love or money, to prove we’re the best or make an opponent knuckle under. And the games we play, with cards or dice or nothing but our wits, reveal something deeply personal about the players.

In this powerful new anthology, Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster Lawrence Block has assembled an all-star team for the ultimate game night. Sit down at the checkerboard with S.A. Cosby, assemble jigsaw puzzles with David Morrell, or play marbles for the fate of the world with Joe R. Lansdale. In Jeffery Deaver’s hands, an innocent game of Candyland takes twists the Parker Brothers could never have imagined. Science-fiction grandmaster Robert Silverberg uncovers painful truths about destiny while betting on the turtle races in a Caribbean resort. And Lawrence Block himself out-Hitchcocks Hitchcock with his classic story of murder victims swapped by strangers on a handball court.

From hide-and-seek to Russian roulette, from mahjong to Mouse Trap, it’s a game lover’s dream — but beware: your turn is coming, and while winning isn’t everything, sometimes losing can be deadly…

Limited: 750 numbered copies signed by the editor

From Publishers Weekly (Starred Review):

“David Morrell shines with the subtle and creepy ‘The Puzzle Master,’ in which a couple become addicted to jigsaw puzzles by a particular artist, only to find potentially ominous clues linking disparate bucolic scenes. The wide range of stories and games in them begs for a sequel.”

Table of Contents:

Shut Up and Deal (an introduction) — Lawrence Block
Seek and You Will Find — Patricia Abbott
Game Over — Charles Ardai
King’s Row — S. A. Cosby
The Babysitter — Jeffery Deaver
Paladin — Tod Goldberg
Psychiatrist — Jane Hamilton
Knock — James D. F. Hannah
With the Right Bait — Gar Anthony Haywood
Two Norths, Two Souths, Two East, Two West, Two Reds, Two Whites, and Two Greens — Elaine Kagan
A Crokinole Tale — Avri Klemer
Red Billie — Joe R. Lansdale
Lightning Round — Warren Moore
The Puzzle Master — David Morrell
Challenge Cube — Kevin Quigley
A Tip on a Turtle — Robert Silverberg
Chance — Wallace Stroby
Strangers on a Handball Court — Lawrence Block