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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.
★★★★☆
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
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