THE ANIMAL-LOVER'S BOOK OF BEASTLY MURDER

Originally published in Britain in 1975, this collection of 13 animal-vs.-human murder/horror tales has been slow to appear in the US. . .and for good reason: the knee-jerk misanthropy that sometimes man Highsmith's superior suspense is dominant and oppressive here—in simplistic, predictable stories that substitute smiling gruesomeness for genuine cleverness or wit. Five of the entries are essentially the identical stoW, recycled with different details: a mistreated animal—a circus elephant (who narrates), a carnival goat, a truffle-hunting pig, a tourist-guide's camel, or a burglar's monkey-assistant—turns on his/her evil master, with grisly (but not very inventive) results. Three others are reminiscent of bad horror movies: a persecuted Venetian rat kills a baby human; a French boy has a lethal ferret (remember Willard?) as his "secret weapon"; hamsters overrun a family's new home, eventually going for Dad's jugular vein. And the tone is arch, only faintly amusing, in two tales of posh pets disposing of unacceptable owners—while "Notes from a Respectable Cockroach" is limp satire. Only two stories, in fact, offer a modicum of suspense or texture: "Engine Horse," in which a farming widow gets engine protection from a murderous grandson; and the nauseating but interesting "The Day of Reckoning"—which features accidental death, murder-by-pecking, and adulterous passion at an automated chicken farm. Disappointing work from a major, but wildly erratic, talent—with limited pleasure even for fanciers of black comedies about vengeful pets and livestock.