Cat O'Nine Tales: And Other Stories

355 Pages·2013·3.08 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Archer

CAN O’ NINE TALES

By

Jeffrey Archer
Also by Jeffrey Archer
NOVELS
Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less
Shall We Tell the President?
Kane & Abel
The Prodigal Daughter
First Among Equals
A Matter of Honor
As the Crow Flies
Honor Among Thieves
The Fourth Estate
The Eleventh Commandment
Sons of Fortune
False Impression
SHORT STORIES
A Quiver Full of Arrows
A Twist in the Tale
Twelve Red Herrings
To Cut a Long Story Short
The Collected Short Stories
PLAYS
Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Exclusive
The Accused
PRISON DIARIES
Volume One – Hell, Volume Two – Purgatory and Volume Three –
Heaven
SCREENPLAYS
Mallory: Walking off the Map False Impression
JEFFREY ARCHER
CAT O’ NINE TALES
And Other Stories Drawing by Ronald searle St. Martin’s Press
New York This is a work of fiction. All of the characters,
organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either
products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
CAT O’ NINE TALES.
Copyright © 2007 by Jeffrey Archer. All rights reserved. Printed
in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used
or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s
Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Drawings copyright © 2007 by Ronald Searle ISBN-13: 978-0-
312-36264-5
ISBN-10: 0-312-36264-1

First published in Great Britian by Macmillan, an imprint of Pan
Macmillan Ltd.
First U.S. Edition: June 2007
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Elizabeth

Preface
While I was incarcerated for two years, in five different
prisons, I picked up several stories that were not appropriate to
include in the day-to-day journals of a prison diary. These tales are
marked in the contents with an asterisk.
Although all nine stories have been embellished, each is
rooted in fact. In all but one, the prisoner concerned has asked me
not to reveal his real name.
The other three stories included in this volume are also
true, but I came across them after being released from prison: in
Athens – ‘A Greek Tragedy’, in London – The Wisdom of
Solomon’, and in Rome my favourite – ‘In the Eye of the
Beholder’.
The Man Who Robbed His Own Post Office