The authors of the stories in this collection have kindly granted special permission to the editor and the Mystery Writers of America to include them in the book. Grateful acknowledgment is made to the authors and also to the copyright holders, magazines, and publishers named below.

“Marmalade Wine” by Joan Aiken. Copyright © 1958 by Joan Aiken. First published in the United States by Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Re­printed by permission of Joan Aiken Brown.

“The Tilt of Death” by Rod Amateau and David Davis. Copyright © 1968 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

“Amateur Standing” by Suzanne Blanc. Copyright © 1969 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

“The Real Bad Friend” by Robert Bloch. Copyright © 1957 by Renown Publi­cations. Reprinted by permission of the author and Renown Publications.

“The Front Room” by Michael Butterworth. Copyright © 1969 by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

“Farewell to the Faulkners” by Miriam Allen deFord. Copyright © 1946 by The American Mercury, Inc. (now Davis Publications, Inc.) First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

“Death on Christmas Eve” by Stanley Ellin. Copyright © 1950 by Stanley Ellin. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Counter Intelligence” by Robert L. Fish. Copyright 1965 by Popular Publi­cations, Inc. First published in Argosy. Reprinted by permission of the author and the author’s agent, Robert P. Mills.

“Something Evil in the House” by Celia Fremlin. Copyright © 1968 by Celia Fremlin (C. M. Coler). First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Wide O—” by Elsin Ann Gardner. Copyright © 1968 by Elsin Ann Gardner. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Peppermint-Striped Goodbye” by Ron Goulart. Copyright © 1965 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published In Ellery Queen’s Mystery Maga­zine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“The Cries of Love” by Patricia Highsmith. Copyright © 1968 by Patricia Highsmith. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Gone Girl” by Ross MacDonald. Copyright © 1953 by Kenneth Millar. Re­printed by permission of Kenneth Millar.

’’The Dead Past” by Al Nussbaum. Copyright © 1968 by H.S.D. Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of H.S.D. Publications, Inc.

“The President’s Half Disme” by Ellery Queen. Copyright © 1947, 1952 by Little, Brown and Company. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Never Hit a Lady” by Fred S. Tobey. Copyright © 1967 by The Diners Club, Inc. First published in Signature. Reprinted by permission of the author and his agent, Theron Raines, 244 Madison Avenue, New York, New York.

“H as in Homicide” by Lawrence Treat. Copyright © 1964 by Davis Publications, Inc. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Reprinted by permission of Samuel French, Inc., agent for Lawrence Treat.

“The Man Who Played Too Well” by Don Von Elsner. Copyright © 1968 by Behn-Miller Publishers, Inc. First published in Popular Bridge. Reprinted by permission of the author.

“Domestic Intrigue” by Donald E. Westlake. Copyright © 1966 by Donald E. Westlake. First published in The Saint Magazine, July 1966, and in the author’s collection The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution and Other Fictions. Reprinted by permission of the author, Random House, Inc., and Henry Morrison, Inc., the author’s agents.

“The Moon of Montezuma” by Cornell Woolrich. Copyright © 1952 by Cornell Woolrich. Reprinted by permission of the executors of the author’s estate and their agents, Scott Meredith Literary Agency, Inc., 580 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10036.