The Fate of a Prisoner — Denys Johnson-Davies

The themes in this unusual collection of short stories range from the lost innocence of childhood, betrayal, greed and the battlefield of sex, to the courage of old age. The settings include desert wadis in the Arabian Gulf, a small Sudanese village, the packed streets of Cairo, and a sniper's alley in Beirut. "Deal Concluded," the tale of an arms sale with more to it than the salesman suspects, shows a sardonic sense of humor. The same humor is present in the volume's title story, in which the ruler of a Gulf sheikhdom and his English commandant of police engage in an elaborate dance of deadly etiquette over the fate of a young murderer. The writing is fluid and compelling.