Maybe I'm just really morbid but this book hooked me in right from the title and kept my attention all the way to the end. It consists of 4 short stories, all of which are about people who killed their parents. Disturbing, right? But so compelling (and hilarious!) to read. What I love best is that the author Bierce does not rely on graphic details of the murders but instead uses a more pedantic prose style, peppered with plenty of dry wit and whimsy, to hike up the horror of the stories. And these stories are absolutely horrific, grotesque, appalling... I also love the fact that the protagonists are all so matter-of-fact about their crimes, as if it was just a minor inconvenience in their lives. ( )

This is a short collection of four very odd, very nasty Bierce stories, where the narrator's parents end up dying in each case, though it may not strictly be parenticide. "Oil of Dog" is perhaps the best known of these, as I have seen it anthologized before. These stories seem to be set in an alternate universe with a far different legal system than ours and with much different attitudes about crime, especially murder. (Apparently Bierce did not have a good relationship with his own parents....) ( )

How very, very odd. ( )

this is my favorite collection of short stories from Ambrose Bierce revealing his dark and very dry wit. ( )

Ambrose Bierce (1842 - 1914?), best known as journalist, satirist and short story writer. Cynical in outlook, economical in style; Bierce vanished while an observer with Pancho Villa’s army.

Four grotesque short stories about murder within the family, seen through the gently innocent eyes of family members … usually the murderer himself.