The five tales in Malum in Se share the theme of evil--sometimes the evil of deliberation and action, sometimes the evildoer is only vaguely aware of his or her moral misprision; but more often fully aware and purposeful. Even so, there is humor in evil. Murder is perhaps the greatest evil, but in the largest sense, it is ridiculous, solving nothing. Immediately after the story "Legacy" was written, a larger version of the...