Customer Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Have never read Alfred Hitchcock's Magazine so have no idea if these are the best stories which have appeared in there but I can say I have read a fair few anthologies and would have to say this is up there with the best of them. You'll never come across a large collection of short stories by various authors where you love every single story inside but the great collections have a large percentage of stories you really enjoy, allow you to read stories you will have a pretty difficult time tracking down by authors who you are a fan of as well as introduce you to authors whose full length novels you have never tried. This collection does accomplish all this.

The best stories in here in my opinion are the first story Frightening Frammis about a hitchhiker con man who is returning to LA with his tail between his legs when he is given a lift by a couple and shortly after offered a scam by the wife if he will kill her husband. #8 although a bit predictable is a good old serial killer tale. Although most of Westlake's work is better Good Night Good Night is still a good read about a TV star who is shot while watching an episode of his show and wants to work out which of his co-stars shot him before death embraces him. The Method Sheriff, the tale of a small town bank robbery is one of those classic twist stories. New Neighbour is the story of how the elderly in a street react to a new bully neighbour who kills their animal companions when they complain about the noise and other matters. The Muse by Jan Burke along with being a great story also constantly pays tribute to Alfred Hitchcock with his films constantly referenced by the main characters who play games where the other must guess which film they are referring to unfortunately for them though someone else wants to play an even deadlier game. Sinkhole is another great tale of a man not able to divorce his wife who uses a sinkhole in the backyard to get rid of her only to find he is not the only person in the area who has had this idea.

Since Amazon doesn't give a list of who has contributed to this collection and which of their stories are in here, something which I personally find really annoying when trying to track down stories I haven't read by authors that I like. I will provide a comprehensive list at the bottom of this review. Buy this anthology it's good! Other great recently published anthologies are Dangerous Women edited by Otto Penzler, The Best American Mystery Stories 2006 edited by Scott Turow and Mystery Writers of America Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder edited by Harlan Coben.

Inside this anthology you'll find:-
The Frightening Frammis by Jim Thompson
The Day of the Execution by Henry Slesar
#8 by Jackie Ritchie
Not a Laughing Matter by Evan Hunter
A Genuine Alectryomancer by Charles Willeford
Good Night! Good Night! By Donald E Westlake
The Cost of Kent Castwell by Avram Davidson
The Long Way Down by Edward D. Hooch
The Method Sheriff by Ed Lacy
Death of a Nobody by Bill Pronzini
Recipe for Murder by James Holding
New Neighbor by Talmage Powell
Historical Errors by William Brittain
A Candle for the Bag Lady by Lawrence Block
Making a Killing With Mama Cass by Wiliam Bankier
The Takamoku Joseki by Sara Paretsky
My Brother's Wife by Rob Kantner
Final Rites by Doug Allyn
The Search for Olga Bateua by Stephen Wasylyk
Hawks by Connie Holt
Unbearable Temptations by Jeffry Scott
Priests by George C Chesbro
Pusan Nights by Martin Limon
Body Englis by S. J. Rozan
The Muse by Jan Burke
Sinkhole by Carol Cail
Saturday Night at the Mikado Massage by Loren D Estleman
Lord of Obstacles by Gregory S. Fallis
Black Spartacus by James Lincoln Warren
Eries Last Day by Steve Hockensmith
Tabloid Press by Janice Law
The O-Bon Cat by I. J. Parker
Leaving Nairobi by Ed McBain
Voodoo by Rhys Bowen

I'd never heard of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, though I am an avid reader of mystery and suspense novels. If this anthology is an indicator of what's to be found in the magazine, then the montly is definitely worth a look.

Most of these thirty-four stories are very well done. There were several that didn't quite hold my interest, but that wasn't because they were poorly written: they just didn't grab me.

There are several standouts in the anthology, including a wonderfully wry short by Ed McBain.

Many of the names in the anthology are familiar. Some stories represent early works, some later.

In any event, any mystery fan will enjoy this anthology. It will provide several evenings of fun mystery reading when you're not up to tackling the latest novel.

Jerry

I recall reading 'Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine' in the '80s, and discovering quite a few of the now long out of print paperback anthologies, which purported to be 'edited' by Hitchcock himself, along with ghost-written introductions. All of this was in the manner of the classic 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents' TV series, with which the magazine is the longest-lived tie-in.
The glory days of the magazine(and the anthologies) were filled with short, concise, suspenseful little tales in which the bad guy would reach a suitable end, with an appropriate twist of fate (and plot).
Only a few such stories are in evidence in this volume, perhaps because the best work has already been reprinted in numerous places.
This 'comprehensive' 50th-anniversary collection suffers from the same problem as many anthologies, with perhaps a few too many riches. Although there are a few well-known authors, and some occasional nuggets among the stories, nothing in particular sticks in the memory, and in fact, skipping a few stories altogether won't make too much difference.
The 'Hitchcock' magazine has somewhow managed to last half a century, so it must be doing something to satisfy a (relatively) small but loyal audience. As an example of a declining breed-the a short story anthology magazine-this is worth browsing through as a curiousity, but the reader would probably be better served to dig deeper into the works of the reprsented authors. I get the feeling all are capable of better things in a different forum.