The Shooting Party wraps a story of concealed love and fatal jealousy into a classic murder mystery. When a young woman dies during a shooting party at the country estate of a dissolute count, a magistrate is called to investigate. But suspicion descends upon virtually everyone, for, as we soon learn, the victim was at the center of a tangled web of relationshipsawith her elderly husband, with the lecherous count, and with the magistrate himself. One of Anton Chekhovas earliest experiments in fiction, this short, riveting novel prefigures the mature style he would develop in his magnificent stories and plays.

Six selections from the famed Russian showcase his natural aptitude for detail, dialogue, humor, and compassion. Includes The Darling, a poignant piece supporting the claim that life has no meaning without love; as well as The Kiss, Anna on the Neck, The Man in a Case, The Malefactor, and the title story.