A "new" Mark Twain story to be published

When he died in 1910, Mark Twain left behind a mass of papers. ("The largest collection of personal papers created by any 19-century American author," says publisher HarperStudio.) Now some of those papers will be seeing the light of day.

Among them was an unpublished story that will appear in next week's issue of the mystery quarterly The Strand. "The Undertaker's Tale" is a never-before-published humorous piece by Twain. "Twain uses his razor sharp wit to pen a tongue-in-cheek tale about the funeral industry which could easily have been written today," says Strand editor Andrew Gulli.

More of Twain's unpublished work will come to light next month when HarperStudio releases "Who Is Mark Twain?," a compendium of short fiction and nonfiction pieces found among Twain's papers.

The Strand's publishers say they are particularly excited about their spring issue. Not only will it include the Twain story, but also a P.G. Wodehouse story that had been lost for 100 years.