Tales of the Unexpected was published way back in 1979. All 16 of the short stories included were were written for magazines until they were packed together in one very good book.
I don't read short stories. I find that in the majority of cases they are either lacking in the necessary details or they are crammed to the brink with too many details which make it difficult to understand the ending! Hard to please I know. So basically the only reason why I even bothered to read this book was because of the author. Namely, one of my favourites!
The stories included are:
Taste Lamb to the Slaughter Man from the South My Lady Love, My Dove Dip in the Pool Galloping Foxley Skin Neck Nunc Dimittis The Landlady William and Mary The Way Up to Heaven Parson's Pleasure Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat Royal Jelly Edward the Conqueror
Some of these have also been included in other of Roald Dahls short story collections like Someone Like You and Kiss Kiss. Likely scenario, maybe being they wanted to boost up the pages.
Like the title suggests, these stories do have unexpected twists in the endings. Ones which I could never of even thought up. They vary from murder, where the weapon could be right under the policemans noses, sneaking vicars who get a dose of whats coming to them, mistaken identity and a cat which appears to be a reincarnation of a former composer!
**Snippets**
Taste: A family and a wine connoisseur, Richard
Pratt, are dining together. Pratt, always on these social occassions, places small bets that he can guess where abouts the wine which is being served is from. However, he raises the stakes when it is suggested that he wouldn't be able to correctly answer, by saying that he would be allowed to marry the families 18 year old daughter.
Lamb to the Slaughter: A pregnant woman comes home to find her husband distressed about something going on at work. It is not mentioned but you can assume that he is intent on leaving her. He works with the police force, so when they come and investigate the murder, being friendly with her, don't think twice about staying and having something eat.
Man from the South: A man challenges a young American lad to light his lighter 10 times on the trot to get himself a cadillac, if not-he will have his little finger chopped off.
My Lady Love, My Dove: A happily married couple enjoy games of bridge with other couples. Albeit, the wife is slightly overbearing and nosey so encourages her husband to plant a bugging device in their guests bedroom.
Dip in the Pool: A man, to slow down a speeding boat as part of a regualar bet, dives fully clothed into the sea. Making sure before hand that a lady saw him do it. As the boat leaves him behind despite the womans full attention, another lady guides her away, claiming nonsense at something the other had said.
Galloping Foxley: A man obsessed by routine who takes the train at exactly 8:12 and sits in the same seat everyday, is surprised by the arrival of a newcomer who takes his seat. This newcomer shows the same characteristics and appearance of a teacher who used to beat him when he was at school.
Skin: A former tattoo parlour owner reminices on the time when he knew a famous artist when he was just a young man, starting out in the world. He has fallen onto hard times and happens to pass an art gallery who are showing this artists work. On entering, he is quickly told to leave until he takes off his shirt and shows a magnificent tattoo on the whole of his back.
Neck: A man and his butler take a walk and happen to notice the mans wife outside with a young photographer, laughing and stiking mocking poses next to her husbands beloved art and sculptures. Being down she sticks her head between one of the pieces of sculptures holes and unfortunetly gets stuck, just before the photographer has kissed her. Rushing down, the wife yells at the butler to fetch a saw, but on doing so he returns with another tool.
Nunc Dimittis: A wealthy man discovers from idle gossip that his girlfriends sees him as a complete bore. Devising a plan which involves a local artist who paints portraits in three stages-starting off with the person being naked and a dinner party with everybody invited to show it off.
The Landlady: A 17 year old boy, looking for work needs somewhere to stay for the night and is somehow hypnotised into lodging at a B 'n B, where the owner treats him exceptionally well and charges him much less than expected. On reading the guest book entries he discovers that there has only been 2 other guests that stayed there over the past 2 years, and they haven't signed out.
William and Mary: Mary Peal receives a letter from her dead husband, telling her that a doctor named Landy has managed a scientific project by fixing his brain to an artificial heart, and also he would be able to see thanks to one of his eyes being encorporated.
The Way Up to Heaven: A woman has a extreme fear of being late for anything, whether it be car, train or boat. On taking a trip to visit her daughter, her husband claims that he has left her present indoors so hurries back inside the house, leaving a frantic wife in the car. She notices however, the present wedged firmly down the side of his seat, as though it was pushed down by a hand. On going to the door herself, she too notices the door has been locked, putting the key in the door she freezes and changes her mind-on coming back she notices that he husband has not sent a car for her.
Parson's Pleasure: A clergyman is a respectable antique dealer, who has a small shop which does rather well when he gets his hands on antiques for little money and sells them for a small fortune, thanks to his outward appearance. On visiting the countryside, he sees an old farm. Bound to be full of hidden treasures. Inside he spots an item of furniture worth a lot of money. Telling the owners that he only wanted the item for its table legs and so gets it for a meager sum of £20. The owners, only too happy to help, consider the possibility that the parson, only has a small car and the item could never fit in one.
Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat: One day a woman having an affair receives a gift from her lover in that of an extravagant mink coat. Knowing that her husband would never believe that she could of afforded it, she pawns it off for £50, keeping the receit for a later date to collect, in pretext that she had simply found the slip of paper by pure chance.
Royal Jelly: A young couple have just had a baby, but the mother has been getting increasingly concerned because it doesn't eat and is rapidly loosing weight. The father, on working with bees discovers that by feeding their young royal jelly for the first 3 days they grow in size. This could however have other consequences when given to human babies.
Edward the Conqueror: A cat is nearly burnt in a bonfire, which Edward has been making when his wife rescues it. Playing some music she discovers that this animal has a reaction to certain pieces and concludes that he must be the reincarnation of Liszt, a dead composer.
My favourites are most definetly Parson's Pleasure and Lamb to the Slaughter, although all of the stories are cleverly written.
This is an ideal book for Roald Dahl readers and anybody who enjoys stories with a slight twist. Nowadays you can get it for the cheap price of £5.99 from Amazon.
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