Fear Is a Killer: Sixteen Stories of Crime and Punishment

Lori McLeod is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

For more than 30 years, William Bankier has contributed short stories to
such publications as the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and the Alfred
Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Fear Is a Killer is the first collection of
stories to be published by Bankier—who, in 1992, was awarded the
Derrick Murdoch Award for lifetime achievement.

The pleasure of reading this collection lies in its diversity; each
story is unique in terms of setting, characters, and emotional response
on the part of the reader. Settings range from small-town Ontario to New
York to London. Some stories charm and amuse the reader; others are
simply terrifying. In “What Really Happened,” a 60-year-old
housekeeper, Margaret, shares a secret with her employer over a cup of
tea. Margaret, who “is as solid as an NFL linebacker and has a mad
focus to her eyes,” claims to know the true story of Lizzie Borden and
the murders of her stepmother and father. One of the most chilling
stories is “The Collaborators,” in which a man becomes a
“prisoner” of his mentally unbalanced psychiatrist.

This outstanding collection is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys
crime and mystery fiction.