Designs on Life - Tapa dura

Elizabeth Ferrars wrote more than thirty short stories, many of which appeared in anthologies and newspapers by the time Designs on Life was first published in 1980. Already well known for her crime novels, this collection illustrates the author's skill at employing ingenious situations and observations, with nine fresh and original stories that are classic examples of the genre.

Elizabeth Ferrars was one of the most distinguished crime writers of her generation. She was described by Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine as 'The writer who may be the closest of all to Christie in style, plotting and general milieu'. Born in 1907 in Rangoon, Burma, the author grew up in Hampshire, England, before studying journalism in London. Her first crime novel, Give a Corpse a Bad Name, was published in 1940. During her career, she wrote more than seventy novels and became immensely popular in America, where she was published as E. X. Ferrars. In 1953, she became a founding member of the British Crime Writers' Association and, in the early 1980s, was awarded its Silver Dagger for a lifetime's achievement. She died in 1995.