"Did that really happen?" is the question frequently posed to Peggy Backman, the author of this collection of short stories. Some might answer, "Does it really matter if it's true or not, as long as it's a good tale?" The stories take place in the US, as well as on tropical islands in the Caribbean and the South Pacific. Most are told in short story form; three are put to verse. The author, a psychologist, examines human behavior with a keen eye, pointing out its ironies and conflicts as the stories evolve-drawing from her own experience, both professional and personal, as well as from her...

The writer Peggy Backman is a psychologist turned fiction writer. In her previous book, Did That Really Happen, the stories are a mixture of perception and misperception with a dash of suspiciousness thrown in. In this latest book, as its name suggests, The Painter's Bad Day and Other Stories of Life's Mysteries and Idiosyncrasies, people's behaviors again confound us. You can't assume that you know how people feel or what motivates them; you can only speculate and observe, as their mysterious and idiosyncratic ways affect the lives of others, as well as their own. This collection of short...