The Chaser (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Collier
- First Published: 1951
- Type of Plot: Horror
- Time of Work: About 1940
- Setting: New York City
- Principal Characters: Alan Austen, An old man
- Genres: Short fiction, Horror literature
- Subjects: New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Magic or magicians, Love or romance, Murder or homicide, New York City, Marriage, 1940’s, Jealousy, envy, or resentment, Poisons or poisoning
- Locales: New York, NY
The Story
Alan Austen, a young man who is passionately in love with a young woman who is indifferent to him, comes to the establishment of a mysterious old man who deals in magic potions. Austen has been told that he can buy a potion that will make the object of his affections fall madly in love with him. The old man shows little interest in the financial profit to be gained from selling Alan a love potion. Instead, he devotes most of his sales talk to recommending a potion that he calls a spot remover or a life cleaner, a powerful poison that is undetectable in an autopsy....
[The entire page is 1435 words long]
