Death Makes a Mistake

McGivern, William P., 1921-1982Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.2

Word count: 36K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Death Makes a Mistake by William P. McGivernAuthor: McGivern, William P., 1921-1982,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 18, 2010

Editor's review

Death Makes a Mistake is an English crime novel by William P. McGiven, made available again to readers through free digitization by Project Gutenberg. McGiven's works are often marked by tight plotting and an atmosphere of suspense; this book revolves around a death that goes wrong by accident, and the title itself signals the key role of "mistake" in the story—it may be a slip by the murderer or fate's trick on someone. As a mid-twentieth-century genre novel, it lets readers feel the cold, restrained rhythm and moral tension characteristic of crime narrative of that era. The Project Gutenberg edition preserves the original language and is suitable as an entry text for reading English originals. While reading, note how the author advances suspense through dialogue and scene changes, and how he depicts characters' errors of judgment under pressure. For readers who enjoy classic detective and crime stories, this book offers a light yet entertaining reading experience; for those studying American genre literature or translation, it is also a text for comparison.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers who enjoy English crime and suspense fiction and want a short genre read for leisure.
Learners practicing English original reading who hope to start with genre fiction.
Literature enthusiasts interested in mid-twentieth-century American popular fiction.
Readers and collection organizers who need free public-domain e-book resources.

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting modern psychological suspense or complex twist structures; this book's style is more classic.
Beginners whose English reading is not yet proficient and who need Chinese notes or a translation.
Readers sensitive to depictions of violence or moral ambiguity in crime fiction.

Reading tips

Read through once to grasp the overall suspense, then revisit key dialogue and note how the "mistake" in the title drives the plot.
Keep a vocabulary notebook recording expressions related to criminal investigation and character psychology to build genre vocabulary.
Read alongside other works by the author or crime novels of the same period to observe common techniques of genre writing.
Use the e-book's search function to mark where names and clues appear and map the chain of cause and effect.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is the original English edition, released free by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English. It suits readers with some foundation in English reading; it currently contains no Chinese translation or notes.

Is this book suitable for English beginners?

Not very suitable for absolute beginners or elementary readers. The book contains considerable narrative description and dialogue and requires a certain vocabulary and ability to understand long sentences. It is advisable to try it after reaching at least a high-school level of English, or to read while looking up words.

What are the features of the Project Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg is an early provider of free e-books, and its editions are mainly public-domain texts that preserve the original language, making them easy to obtain and search for free. Readers can download electronic formats for personal reading or study.

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About the author

McGivern, William P., 1921-1982 Author

William P. McGivern (1921–1982) was an American writer of crime and suspense fiction. Because public information about him is limited, the details of his life are not widely known to general readers; nevertheless, the two works held in the collection offer a rough sense of his creative direction. His representative works, Death Makes a Mistake and The Chameleon Man, both carry a strong flavor of mystery and crime, and their titles themselves suggest a focus on deadly puzzles and on disguise, shifting identity, and elusive figures. McGivern's writing tends toward tightly paced plotting, building tension between criminal investigation and character psychology so that readers follow the narrative through layer upon layer of suspense. Although the full extent of his output and influence remains to be studied, his work still offers readability and value within the genre for readers drawn to crime and suspense fiction.