Nor does she deal with the problem of succession at the bank, which might have irritated her subject, the hero of this piece.

FORBES: Emperor Sandy

The surprise hero: a piece of chewing gum.

WSJ: Menu

Then comes a car chase through the foggy forest to which he has fled, and, lastly, a bizarre and moping chamber piece, with our hero holed up in a deserted house, lashings of cold rain, and a pair of useless police officers bickering over his doom.

NEWYORKER: Tehran Tales

It was set up for the decider back in Sydney where the villain of the piece would be Australia's usual hero, David Campese.

BBC: SPORT | Rugby Union | Lions in NZ | History of the Lions: Australia 1989

Just as a race car driver might discuss the fine points of his engine, I had the hero in my novel "The Soloist" dissect the piano's inner workings in relation to a given piece of music: pedal action, tuning, hammers and bridge.

WSJ: Novelist Nicholas Christopher on Writing About Music | Word Craft