Mermaids on the Golf Course

1st edition (publ. Heinemann)

Mermaids on the Golf Course (1985) is a collection of short stories by Patricia Highsmith, encompassing her standard themes of murder, violence, secrets and insanity. ^[1]

Overview

The stories all serve as an exposé of the underbelly of American middle-class society, including the titular tale of a man whose near death experience casts a dark shadow over the rest of his days, and another about a husband who exacts cruel revenge on his wife by exploiting her habit of preserving dead pets in their garden. ^[2]

Contents

• "Mermaids on the Golf Course"
• "The Button"
• "Where the Action Is"
• "Chris's Last Party"
• "A Clock Ticks at Christmas"
• "A Shot from Nowhere"
• "The Stuff of Madness"
• "Not in This Life, Maybe the Next"
• "I Am Not As Efficient As Other People"
• "The Cruellest Month"
• "The Romantic"

Reception

• One of the exhilarating effects of reading Highsmith's stories is their sure handedness, their amazing breadth and abundance. They compel attention and they add significantly to her already formidable presence. - James Lasdun, Washington Post

• A true master of the psychological thriller. - Bookforum

• An atmosphere of nameless dread, of unspeakable foreboding, permeates every page of Patricia Highsmith, and there's nothing quite like it. - Boston Globe

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]