W. Somerset Maugham in his always fascinating short stories explores such a variety of relational scenarios with "disinterested curiosity" as to leave this reader breathless with awe. His characters murder, suicide, go mad, con, spy and even (remember he was writing in the early part of the century) commit incest. No situation eludes or escapes him. His genius is to make it all sensible and plausible, even prosaic, a truth we all know. Unrivaled in breadth, depth, brevity, tightness of composition and humor. Not for the faint hearted.