In for a Penny

Highlighted by the acclaimed novella, “The Trismegistus Club,” In for a Penny takes us deep into the heart of a quirky, deeply engaging fictional world. “Home Before Dark,” chronicles one man’s first few hours in the afterlife. Its thematic companion, “Small Houses,” recounts an aging widower’s last few hours on earth. In “The other Side,” a minor precognitive episode leads the hero to an obsessive fascination with the hidden mysteries of the universe. In “His Own Back Yard,” a story worthy of the great Jack Finney, a middle-aged man finds himself stranded in the haunted territory of his childhood. The blackly funny “War of the Worlds” uses a bowling ball and the imminent end of Life As We Know It to illuminate the fault lines in a modern marriage. Finally, in the wonderfully imagined title story, the single-minded pursuit of treasure — of something for nothing — leads the protagonist to a harrowing confrontation with his own worst self.