"The Avenging Chance" by Anthony Berkeley (1929)

A complimentary box of chocolates leads to tragedy.

Story Review: "The Avenging Chance" is the original kernel of Anthony Berkeley's much expanded novel The Poisoned Chocolates Case (1929). In both a man's wife dies after inadvertently receiving a poisoned box of chocolates. The novel has a different solution than the short story (and different character names). In fact, the novel lavishly provides no less than six reasonable explanations to the mystery, including the resolution from "The Avenging Chance," which is one of the "wrong" theories. Unlike the novel, the story is short, concise, and to the point, efficiently wrapping up a perfect enigma. Oddly, the story and the novel were published the same year, but the novel though written second was apparently published first. A shame since the story provides a sort of red herring for the novel. In a more perfect world "The Avenging Chance" and The Poisoned Chocolates Case would always be published together.  [4★]