arly 100 years ago, The Reverend Monsignor Ronald Knox of the famed Detection Club developed ten rules-a Decalogue he called them-that he felt were "necessary to the full enjoyment of a detective story." Fairness with readers seemed an author's highest calling, and-lo!-"the faculty for writing a good mystery story is rare."

Writers (those heretics!) regularly bristle at a challenge, and being told that a literary twist is forbidden makes their fingers twitch at the keyboard.

This anthology contains fourteen of today's outstanding English and American short story authors, trying their best to break one-or more!-of the good monsignor's rules. Twins, supernatural events, and sleuths not sharing their clues are all in here-transgressions in all directions.