When plotting a murder (figuratively speaking) the mystery writer has at hand any number of M.O.s: the locked room the unbreakable alibi the double bluff and the mistaken identity. Now in Murderous Schemes renowned mystery writers Donald E. Westlake and J. Madison Davis offer an illuminating look at eight such mystery conventions illustrating each with four short stories written by some of the masters of the form such as Dorothy L. Sayers Chester Himes Edward D. Hoch and Lawrence Block to name but a few.