HANGMAN'S DOZEN

Thirteen tales are introduced by Stanley Ellin who makes much of ""these Alexandrian stories"" for their ""sense of human motive and reaction"". Though each depends on that extra switch for an ending, there is no monotony in the collection; the range is widely different. From the man who lives with guilt over Lincoln's death to the woman who has lived in terror of an imaginary companion, to a view of segregation, the vanishing of a body, the fate of stranded climbers -- these have a tight grip.