Recorded live at the Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York City and at venues across the United States, these audio anthologies feature short stories from the Selected Shorts program that airs nationwide. More than 300,000 listeners tune in to this offering weekly to hear some of their favorite tales read aloud by an assortment of distinguished actors. A dashing lineup of elegant crime tales and gritty hard-boiled detective stories—alternately menacing and cozy, with exotic locales and murder in the mix—are featured in this collection. Among the stories are Ed McBain's "Improvisation" read by Isaiah Sheffer, Louise Erdrich's "Gleason" read by Robert Sean Leonard, Nadine Gordiner's "Country Lovers" performed by Hattie Winston, the Dashiell Hammett classic "The Creeping Siamese" performed by John Shea, Shirley Jackson’s "The Summer People" performed by René Auberjonois, and C. S. Montanye's "A Shock for the Countess" read by Fionnula Flanagan.