The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case [Paperback]

George Baxt (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

During the 1925 filming of Alfred Hitchcock's first movie, The Pleasure Garden, in Munich, the script girl and a musician are murdered. Clues and suspects are scarce, and the crimes go unsolved. Eleven years later in London, an old Munich acquaintance, ill and distraught, begs Hitchcock to read a spy thriller script. The script-deliverer is murdered on Hitchcock's doorstep. The script itself features the abduction of Alma Hitchcock and police pursuit of Hitch (as a suspected murderer), while he searches for a master spy in order to clear himself and rescue his wife. Alma is kidnapped, Hitch is almost framed for murder and he hares off, chased by Scotland Yard, in pursuit of a double-agent. Hitch and Alma are antiseptically nice but there are many other colorful, Hitchcockian characters (including the obligatory cool blonde), lots of dashing around (ending at a Channel-side mansion with 39 steps), much evidence of "the Hitchcock touch" and, of course, a MacGuffin, Hitchcock's famous red-herring device. The complications are far-fetched but entertaining, and the brisk pace is worthy of Hitch himself. Baxt also wrote The Dorothy Parker Murder Case.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Intl Polygonics Ltd (April 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0930330552
• ISBN-13: 978-0930330552
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,099,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Too Confusing, this one., July 10, 2003

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case (Paperback)

I found this book a little confusing, and it did not ring true in a lot of areas. For example, picturing Alfred Hitchcock as a devil-may-care spy for England. The relish that he displayed when faced with murder and kidnapping is certainly not the picture that I have of him in my mind. This book is quite different than The Dorothy Parker Murder Case which is the only other book of Baxt's that I've read so far. This was a spy story set just before the beginning of the Second World War. Maybe my assessment of the book has been tainted by the fact that I just finished reading Eric Ambler's "A Coffin for Dimitrios" - a spy story set about the same time as this one was. "Coffin" was a masterpiece, and this one just seemed a little inane. It is still quite funny in spots, and Hitch had a great sense of humour, and that shows up over and over in the book. Not bad for a romp.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Too Confusing, this one., July 10, 2003

By 

S. Schwartz "romonko" (alberta canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case (Paperback)

I found this book a little confusing, and it did not ring true in a lot of areas. For example, picturing Alfred Hitchcock as a devil-may-care spy for England. The relish that he displayed when faced with murder and kidnapping is certainly not the picture that I have of him in my mind. This book is quite different than The Dorothy Parker Murder Case which is the only other book of Baxt's that I've read so far. This was a spy story set just before the beginning of the Second World War. Maybe my assessment of the book has been tainted by the fact that I just finished reading Eric Ambler's "A Coffin for Dimitrios" - a spy story set about the same time as this one was. "Coffin" was a masterpiece, and this one just seemed a little inane. It is still quite funny in spots, and Hitch had a great sense of humour, and that shows up over and over in the book. Not bad for a romp.

3.0 out of 5 stars Close, But No Cigar..., August 29, 2000

By 

Patrick Burnett "penngos" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Alfred Hitchcock Murder Case (Paperback)

George Baxt has carved out an interesting niche in the mystery world, from the gay-themed Pharaoh Love series to the Celebrity series, which takes names like Dorothy Parker, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis and, of course, Alfred Hitchcock, and weaves them into mystery plots as amateur detectives.

Because I like fictional versions of real people in my books, I was bound to come across Baxt at some point. For the most part, I can say I'm glad I did. His mysteries are usually entertaining and very funny, which works with an original character, like Pharaoh Love, or even with a character like Dorothy Parker, who you expect to be funny.

But here we have Alfred Hitchcock, who had a wicked on-set sense of humor. But Baxt's portrayal here seems false somehow - Hitch and his wife Alma become embroiled in a plot that seems to come directly from one of Hitchcock's movies. It's complex and wry and gives one the impression that everyone knows what's going on but the hero (a staple of several of Hitch's spy movies). Many people die throughout the story and Alma & Hitch giggle through it all as though they were Nick and Nora Charles. But that isn't the problem.

I'm okay with humorous mysteries. I'm okay with detectives who laugh in the face of death. But I'm afraid I wasn't prepared for Alfred Hitchcock laughing in the face of death. I suspect this is a failing of my own, but I didn't get the feeling that the characters were well-researched or portrayed effectively.

One thing I did like was the "Dain Curse"-like plotting that stretched the story over several years.