A wealthy man writes to five mystery writers for advice on planning the artistic murder of his wife and framing her lover.

Interesting. ( )

Lame in concept (a fatuous rich man writes to five famous crime writers asking them to provide him with a plan for the most "artistic" murder ever devised, using as their basis a scenario that is so banal as to be beneath contempt -- the rich man's wife and best friend are having an affair) and embarrassing in execution (the five authors hardly give of their best; they must have been operating under the control of a chess timer); it's hard for me to explain why I started this book and even more difficult to rationalize why I completed it; so there is considerable mystery about this title, although not mystery of a kind that is likely to appeal to anyone who simply wants to read a good book, which this assuredly is not. ( )