Behind a Mask

Six years before she wrote Little Women Louisa May Alcott in financial straits entered Pauline''s Passion and Punishment a novelette in a newspaper contest. Not only did it win the $100 prize but published anonymously it marked the first in the series of blood & thunder tales that would be her livelihood for years. In Behind a Mask editor Madeleine Stern introduces four Alcott thrillers: Pauline''s Passion and Punishment The Mysterious Key The Abbot''s Ghost and the title story Behind a Mask. First published in one volume in 1975 they are regarded as Alcott''s finest work in this genre.