The stories for this annual collection of the Mystery Writers of America were selected for their strange and exotic locales. Breathtaking suspense, cold-blooded crime, and challenging twists of plot—set in the four corners of the world—make this recording a chilling audio experience. We suggest you listen with the lights on! DEADHEAD COMING DOWN by Margaret Maron, read by Andrew Stevens: There's nothing exotic about driving an eighteen-wheeler, but twenty minutes off the interstate is a whole different country—and a little challenge to break the monotony. A LITTLE PIECE OF ROOM by Barbara Owens, read by Peter Marshall: In the Arizona desert, a suspicious, crippled hermit forges an unlikely bond with a mysterious young visitor. THE MATCHSTICK HUT by Jean Darling, read by Andrew Stevens: Macker Malloy has ten hours of leave in Monrovia, Liberia. He can't find much in the way of entertainment until he runs into an old friend living in strange circumstances. NIGHT CRAWLERS by Joyce Harrington, read by Nancy Dussault: Mirabelle MacMaster's life has been cramped and inhibited, restricted by her paralyzed tyrannical father to their eerie remote home. What will she do when a means of escape presents itself?  THE SMOKE PEOPLE by Walter Satterthwait, read by Arte Johnson: A sudden death amidst a squalor of a Nigerian slum looks like simple cardiac arrest—but a persistent policeman, a member of the same tribe as a dead man, suspects otherwise. THE TREASURE OF PACHACAMAC by James Holding, read by Peter Marshall: Felipe de la Vega, professor of archaeology at Lima's San Marcos University, knows that his only living relative, under the influence of an unsavory friend, means to use the professor's years of painstaking research to find a priceless treasure. THE VULTURES OF MALABAR by Edward D. Hoch, read by Arte Johnson: In Bombay, bodies are sometimes left in sacred "towers of silence" to be devoured by vultures. But someone has been entering the towers for some unauthorized purpose. THE WOMAN IN THE SHADOWS by Stephanie Kay Bendel, read by Roddy McDowall: Dr. Harwell's patients claim that a few weeks at Casa Mendez, a convalescent hotel in Puerto Rico, works wonders. The doctor himself encounters a disturbing mystery on his own first visit.