- An English lord requires one more chess piece to complete a set that would be worth a fortune. Another man, an accountant, realizes he"s achieved nothing in his life - and sets out to make a fortune before he retires. And then there is the author"s own favorite, In the Eye of the Beholder, about a star athlete who has a fateful run-in with a three-hundred-pound woman. Some of these twelve stories were inspired by the two years Jeffrey Archer spent in prison, including Don"t Drink the Water, the tale of a company chairman who tries to poison his wife while on a trip to St. Petersburg--with unexpected consequences. Witty, suspenseful, sad, surprising, and unforgettable, Cat O"Nine Tales is Jeffrey Archer at his best.