Mortal Errors 4Stars

 

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Title: Mortal Errors
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 229
Words: 105K

Despite what the cover says about “30 Stories”, in this edition there are only 23. That’s the weird thing about these Alfred Hitchcock collections, they were released and released with different names, different number of stories, etc. I can’t imagine readers were very happy with that kind of treatment by publishers back then. Of course, looking at readers today, they put up with a ton more horse caca from publishers and sometimes it feels like they’re eating it with both hands :-( Ok, grumpy old grump complaining time is over. Now get off my virtual lawn!

One of these I recognized from a previous collection. The story was “A Padlock for Charlie Draper”. It’s a good story but the reveal at the end about the reward loses its impact on a re-read. The rest of the stories ran all over the place from bad guys doing bad things and getting away with, to bad guys getting their just desserts to good guys doing the right thing and getting the badguy.

I just sat back and soaked it in. That seems to be the best way to enjoy these kinds of stories.

★★★★☆

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Table of Contents:

WHERE’S MILO - Fletcher Flora

THE WASTEBASKET - Jack Ritchie

DEAD GAME - Harold Q. Masur

POLTERGEIST - W. Sherwood Hartman

A CHOICE OF WITNESSES - Henry Slesar

ONE BAD WINTER’S DAY - William Link and Richard Levinson

A MATTER OF EXPERIENCE - Wyc Toole

AN EASY SCORE - Al Nussbaum

FOOL’S GOLD - Gil Brewer

VOICES IN DEAD MAN’S WELL - Donald Honig

THE ARTIFICIAL LIAR - William Brittain

A PADLOCK FOR CHARLIE DRAPER - James Holding

THE VERY BEST - John Lutz

GIVE-AND-TAKE - Dan J. Marlowe

IF A BODY - Stephen Wasylyk

THE WEB - Bill Pronzini

ONE STEP TO MURDER - Jamie Ellis

THE CHOICE - Mark Sadler

DREAMING IS A LONELY THING - Edward D. Hoch

SCENTS IN THE DARK - Edward Wellen

LESSONS FROM A PRO - George Kipp

THE NIGHT HELEN WAS KILLED - Pauline C. Smith

A CASE FOR QUIET - William Jeffrey

• All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews