The Art of Murder: Classic True Crime Stories

Goodman ( The Lady Killers ) has assembled a collection of 13 true-crime stories, ranging from the 16th century to the present day, relating murders by and of artists or figures connected to the worlds of art and literature. The link is tenuous; as these tales are not whodunits, their appeal should lie in the telling. Several of the entries are effective, such as Kenneth Weinberg's account of a death in Cleveland caused by bizarre sex play apparently inspired by a scene in John O'Hara's novel sp correct/pk BUtterfield 8. One piece by Oscar Wilde is a delicious essay on Thomas Griffiths Wainewright, a poet, painter and forger who, exiled to the penal colony of Australia, changed as an artist: ``One can fancy an intense personality being created out of sin.'' Albert Borowitz dryly but thoroughly dissects the debate about whether the Italian composer Antonio Salieri murdered his rival Mozart. Other pieces are too long for the payoff, such as Richard Whittington-Egan's story of a painter who apparently killed his preteen model, and a report on the 1906 murder of the architect Stanford White that consists mainly of reprinted New York Times articles. Photos and illustrations. (Apr.)