Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road: Crime Fiction

Showing posts with label Crime Fiction. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 26, 2023

Alive and Screaming 3Stars

Title: Alive and Screaming
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 163
Words: 61K

There are times when I read this Hitchcock collections that I get really jazzed up. Other times, I simply sit back and enjoy the ride. My experience with this book was of the latter.

I enjoyed this while reading it but honestly, not a single story stood out. Even now, 2 weeks after I’ve read it, I couldn’t tell you from memory any of the storylines. It wasn’t that they were bad, they just “were”.

It’s like drinking a caramel latte. In and of themselves, they are just good. But sometimes you get that little “extra” something that makes it better and you remember those and wish that you could get that particular barista to make your caramel latte’s forever. But that doesn’t happen and you still enjoy the latte the next day. But after years of drinking them, it all kind of blends together in your mind. Except the bad ones or the REALLY good ones. That doesn’t mean you are dissatisfied with your daily latte though.

I guess my point is that this book was a caramel latte and Hitchcock would have been even fatter if he’d had caramel latte’s to drink back when he was alive. So here’s to looking at you kid.
~sips~

★★★✬☆

Table of Contents:

The Hand from the Past—CHRISTOPHER ANVIL

The Confident Killer—TALMAGE POWELL

The Blue Man—WENZELL BROWN

The Murderess—MAX VAN DER VEER

Light o’ Love—FLETCHER FLORA

Positive Print—RICHARD DEMING

A Weighty Promotion—BRUCE HUNSBERGER

Death, the Black-eyed Denominator—ED LACY

Beware the Righteous Man—DICK ELLIS

A Message from Marsha—JAMES HOLDING

Seven Million Suspects—FRANKLIN M. DAVIS, JR.

Heaven is a Frame of Mind—RICHARD HARDWICK

The Eye of the Pigeon—EDWARD D. HOCH

The Tuesday Club—C. B. GILFORD

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Thursday, June 22, 2023

Killer’s Choice (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

Title: Killer’s Choice
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 97
Words: 44K

From the Publisher and Bookstooge.blog

Annie Boone is dead. She was shot four times in the chest, pieces of the liquor store’s windows spread over her body like raindrops from a lethal storm. For 87th Precinct Detectives Carella, Kling, and newcomer Hawes, even more troubling is the loss of one of their own. Detective Roger Havilland is murdered shortly thereafter, a shard of glass through his jugular.

Faced with a host of suspects—from Annie’s former mother-in-law to her ex-husband, employer, and a string of boyfriends—the detectives find themselves with a victim whose identity spurns all conventional definition. She was the store’s saleswoman…as well as a divorced mother, pool shark, society lady, drunk, and patron of the ballet. Each facet of her life has a corresponding potential suspect. The only way for Carella and the men to find her killer—and maybe that of Havilland, too—is to find out who she really was. The problem is, the only one who really knew her died in a shower of glass.

Turns out the woman was having an affair with the owner of the store and the man's wife got tired of him cheating on her. So she killed her competition. She would have gotten away with it too except she sent the murdered woman a gloating note and said note was written on a torn off piece of vehicle registration, which had the wife's info all over it.

There are times I do not understand why one of these books is super gritty and makes me feel horrible while at other times, like this particular book, its like I’m just reading a newspaper report with zero emotional impact.

This was one of those cases where the victim had portrayed herself to each person who knew her as somebody different. Why, we’re never told. But it made life really hard for the detectives and made me glad I’m a land surveyor and all I have to worry about is poison ivy, stepping on ground nests of hornets and abutters who are dumb as bricks and don’t even know it. I can deal with those things!

I’m glad this didn’t hit me like some of the previous books. Means I can keep on reading the series.

★★★✬☆

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Monday, June 12, 2023

The Black Master (The Shadow #8) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Black Master
Series: The Shadow #8
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 174
Words: 82K

From the Publisher & Bookstooge.blog

Five die and many are injured when Wall Street is bombed, followed by Grand Central Station and the subway entrance at Columbus Circle. When a reporter for The Classic claims to have information on the bomber's identity, the office explodes. As the death toll rises, The Shadow races to uncover who is the bomber known as The Black Master.

Turns out the Blackmaster is a german scientist who had a sister back in the day. Said sister married an American and died from starvation. The american went on to become a multi-millionaire and the Black Master has decided that HE is the one to mete out justice for his sister’s death. If a multitude of New Yorker’s must die in the process, that is a price the Black Master is willing to pay.

The Shadow is not a big fan of this course of action and sets himself in opposition. Of course he wins and destroys the Black Master, who was also a crime fighter helping the police with his new fangled german “criminal psychology”.

First things first. This is not some filthy urban fantasy erotica porn. I mention this because I am reading the Shadow omnibuses and so have to search out the individual titles to find the covers, pages, etc. The crap I had to wade through was not right. I ended up searching for ISBN 9780450027420 to get the correct info. So use that, not the title if you’re ever searching this out.

Second thing. This gave me YUUUUGE 9/11 vibes. New York was getting bombed and there was panic in the newspaper and speculation was rife and nobody knew what was going on. It reminded me exactly of my experience on 9/11. I was working and the radio was going nuts. There were “reports” of bombs going off in cars, of bombs going off in garbage cans, of “sporadic gunfire”. The *&^%%% media didn’t know what was going on and they let their speculation run rampant and increased the panic. Until the plane hit the towers, nobody actually KNEW what was happening. That sense of bewilderment was spot on. Of course, in this novel everybody just goes back to normal the next day and life carries on.

Thirdly, the Crime Fighting Psychologist. Come on, I mean, really? As soon as it was revealed that he was german and profiled criminals, it was painfully obvious he was the Black Master. And if that comes as a spoiler to you, shame on you for being so gullible. It reminded me of the first episode in the Sherlock tv show with Benedict Cumberbatch and one of the police officers, who is not a fan of Sherlock, tells Watson that someday Sherlock will get bored of solving crimes and begin committing then. That is the exact vibe I got from Dr Proffessor Germano (yeah, yeah, whatever, who remembers his real name anyway?) and so as soon as he was introduced he had a big fat arrow pointing to him screaming “Dah Black Meister!”

Now, with all of that being said, I still enjoyed the daylights out of this story. The Black Master was a very worthy adversary for the Shadow and gave him a good run for his money. When a villain seeks to go head to head against the Shadow in a game of mental manipulation, you know he’s not just some thug with a .38 police special.

And Harry Vincent gets his brain blasted by the Black Master and his magic crystal ball. Sadly, we all know he’ll recover and show up in future books. I would have liked to see his drooling corpse slumped against a wall. Oh well, not every story can be a completely Happily Ever After.

★★★✬☆

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Thursday, June 01, 2023

Let It All Bleed Out ★★★★☆

Title: Let It All Bleed Out
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 172
Words: 69K

From the Inside Cover:

Alfie Doesn’t Mind Being Called Square

Alfred Hitchcock is frankly shocked by the temptations that surround us today. X-rated movies. Sweaty centerfolds. Naughty novels. Kids who used to cut grass now smoking it. All of this fills Alfie with alarm.

Let’s return to old-fashioned fun, he pleads. A nice gory stabbing. A neatly drawn strangler’s noose. A proper pistol shot in the dark. A scream of horror that makes you walk away whistling.

For, as the master shows in this nerve-twisting new collection, fads come and go, but evil is here to stay. So let’s strip the mod clothes off the victims, and—

LET IT ALL BLEED OUT

Table of Contents:

COLD NIGHT ON LAKE LENORE

Jonathan Craig

THE ATTITUDE OF MURDER

Nedra Tyre

HAND

William Brittain

SHERIFF PEAVY’S DOUBLE DEAD CASE (A NOVELETTE)

Richard Hardwick

RICH—OR DEAD

David A. Heller

YELLOW SHOES

Hal Ellson

THE MAN WHO HATED TURKEY (A NOVELETTE)

Elijah Ellis

COFFEE BREAK

Arthur Porges

A PADLOCK FOR CHARLIE DRAPER

James Holding

MAC WITHOUT A KNIFE

Talmage Powell

THE CHINLESS WONDER

Stanley Abbott

NO TEARS FOR AN INFORMER

H. A. De Rosso

A RARE BIRD

John Lutz

THE COMIC OPERA

Henry Woodfin

As much as I really like the stories Hitchcock puts together, I am realizing that having a smaller amount actually works in its favor. Being left wanting more actually enhances the stories I’ve already read. Instead of being a book glutton and gorging myself and feeling sick, having just enough is the correct amount. Looking back over the various books, it seems like 300 pages is the upper limit. After that I start to feel too full and get cranky about stuff I wouldn’t normally.

Cold Night on Lake Lenore was a great opener. A man patiently waits for the perfect opportunity to kill his wife. It arrives but he is seen by another woman, who thinks he did it to be with her. He marries her and the last thought is of him thinking he just has to wait for the perfect opportunity again, and that he’s a patient man. It got me thinking about the kind of people who murder others. I’d like to think that the kind of person who could do something like this (murder someone and yet showing perfect restraint until the “perfect” moment) doesn’t exist, as the willingness to do the one would preclude the ability to do the other, but alas, all you have to do is read the news and you read about some guy who’s killed 3 wives and they only caught him because he got cocky about disposing of the remains of Number 4. Just goes to show humans aren’t just simple blobs of matter, even if that’s a negative example, sigh.

The Chinless Wonder was kind of on the other side. A loser of a man decides that he’s sick of being himself and gets a disguise and creates a new identity and hooks up with some chick. Everything is going extremely well until he gets mixed up with the mob. In the end, the girl and her boyfriend were playing him and set him up for the murder of his alter-ego and then to really nail him, the mob boss. Oh, it was priceless watching the pieces move into place. I wasn’t sure exactly where the story was going but after he helped sink a big sack in the river, I figured it out and like I said, just watched the pieces move into position. It was a thing of wonder.

This was just long enough to satisfy me and yet still leaving me wanting more. The perfect combination really.

★★★★☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Thursday, May 11, 2023

The Con Man (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Con Man
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 150
Words: 51K

From the Publisher

A con man is plying his trade on the streets of Isola: conning a domestic for pocket change, businessmen for thousands, and even ladies in exchange for a little bit of love. You can see the world, meet a lot of nice people, imbibe some unique drinks, and make a ton money…all by conning them for their cash.

The question is: How far is he willing to go?

When a young woman's body washes up in the Harb River, the answer to that question becomes tragically clear. Now Detective Steve Carella races against time to find him before another con turns deadly. The only clue he has to go on is the mysterious tattoo on the young woman’s hand—but it’s enough. Carella takes to the streets, searching its darkest corners for a man who cons his victims out of their money…and their lives.

INSERT SEPARATOR

The synopsis is very misleading, in that it makes it seem like there is only ONE con man doing his thing. Well, there isn’t. I won’t tell you how many though, because that would be, GASP, a spoiler and heaven forbid you read a spoiler for a book from 1957! (and by the way, Leia is Luke’s sister) Plus, everyone knows by now that Bookstooge.blog is a completely Spoiler Free Zone and I never tell anyone anything. You bunch of saps…

This wasn’t nearly as “gritty” as the Pusher and I am very thankful for that. McBain doesn’t go into graphic detail about the murders, so that’s good too. And it’s hard to be “gritty” about con men tricking people out of 5 dollars, or 50 dollars or 500 dollars. Basically, trust nobody and you’ll be safe. That’s my philosophy and it would have helped the poor marks who were fleeced in the story.

If it’s too good to be true, then it’s too good to be true. That is true whether you’re talking about money or love. Be happy and satisfied with what you have. Otherwise you’re going to end up losing what you do have. Don’t be stupid.

Well, if you really want to be stupid, you can be. But I’m going to have to charge you for being stupid on my blog. And that’s going to cost you a cool $20 American. Just leave your name, address, mother’s maiden name, credit card number, expiration date and cvw number down in the comments. It’ll be a sacrifice, but I’ll take your data and bilk you. But remember, I warned you, so it’s your fault.

★★★✬☆

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Tuesday, May 02, 2023

The Silent Seven (The Shadow #7) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Silent Seven
Series: The Shadow #7
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 142
Words: 46K

From Thelivingshadow.fandom.com

A violent crime wave swept New York -- ingenious, well-planned escapades masterminded by the Silent Seven, a vicious underworld conspiracy. Hooded criminals, meeting in secret, known to each other by an ancient ritual and matching scarab rings, they plotted to terrorize the city.

Detective Joe Cardona was baffled. First one murder, death by poison pin prick; then another, a cold-blooded execution. The sole clue to both, a pair of dice showing seven. He knew only man could penetrate the inner sanctum of the den of evil -- The Shadow. Moving with an uncanny stealth, the master crime fighter carefully lays a brilliant trap. if his cunning were enough to defeat these evil angels, the last laugh, that eerie chuckle, would be his once again!

INSERT SEPARATOR

Another good Shadow read. I was thinking about giving this 4stars because I really enjoyed the idea of the Shadow taking on a whole group of hidden crime masterminds but then they ended up acting pretty stupid and so I bumped it down that critical half-star. Plus, allowing themselves to be infiltrated by some schlub didn’t measure up to the mark of Master Villain in my mind.

Harry Vincent almost getting crushed to death in a room with a descending ceiling though, that was great. That guy is the world’s foremost idiot and I like to see him suffer. I know the chances of him actually dying are zilch, but I can always hope. Without hope, life is miserable ;-)

Nothing about this book, aside from the villains not living up to my expectations, was a hindrance. It was smooth sailing and a good adventure story. Keep’em coming Grant!

★★★✬☆

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

Tales to Take Your Breath Away ★★★☆☆

Title: Tales to Take Your Breath Away
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 370
Words: 140K

Table of Contents:

THE ARROWMONT PRISON RIDDLE—Bill Pronzini

END OF THE LINE—Edward D. Hoch

THE DETTWEILER SOLUTION—Lawrence Block

THE WHITECHAPEL WANTONS—Vincent McConnor

CORA’S RAID—Isak Romun

A CUP OF HERBAL TEA—Robert S. Aldrich

ALBION, PERFIDIOUS ALBION—Everett Greenbaum

LIFE OR BREATH—Nelson DeMille

THE SILVER LINING—Mick Mahoney

A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR—William Brittain

SUPERSCAM—Francis M. Nevins, Jr.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THIS WOMAN?—John Lutz

JOE CUTTER’S GAME—Brian Garfield

A CABIN IN THE WOODS—John Coyne

CROOK OF THE MONTH—Robert Bloch

DEATH OF A PERUKE-MAKER—Clayton Matthews

THE FOREVER DUEL—James McKimmey

THE CHALLENGE—Carroll Mayers

EXTRA WORK—Robert W. Wells

THE FIRST MOON TOURIST—Duffy Carpenter

THE LONG ARM OF EL JEFE—Edward Wellen

DEATH SENTENCE—Stephen Wasylyk

KID CARDULA—Jack Ritchie

INVISIBLE CLUE—Jeffry Scott

ACCIDENTAL WIDOW—Nedra Tyre

ELEMENT OF SURPRISE—Bruce M. Fisher

LOOKING FOR MILLIKEN STREET—Joyce Harrington

JUDGMENT POSTPONED—Robert Edward Eckels

THE WINDOW—William Bankier

Separator

Unfortunately, while there were some intriguing stories in this collection, I’d already read about 1/3 of the stories in other Hitchcock anthologies. Also, one of the stories dealt with the rape of a 15 year old girl while another dealt with a woman being tricked and as a result losing her unborn baby. That is why I’ve given this the Disturbing tag.

After I realized there were multiple stories I’d already read, I just started skipping them as soon as I recognized that I’d already read them. I really don’t like doing that but I’m not going to waste my time re-reading a short story that I’m not intentionally re-reading.

The new stories, when they weren’t disturbing, were all good and what I’d expect from a book like this. I just hope I don’t run into this situation again.

As for that cover. Is Hitchcock a fatso or what?!? I always knew he was chubby but my goodness, he’s beyond portly. This is why you should never put a real person on the cover of a book. Because people like me come along and mercilessly mock them.

★★★☆☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Monday, March 27, 2023

The Pusher (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Pusher
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 111
Words: 50K

From Bookstooge.blog

A pusher is killed and it is made to look like a suicide. But it is all a setup to frame the son of the Lt. Of the 87^th Precinct. The son is a junkie and the Lt locks him in his room while he goes through withdrawals. Meanwhile, the detectives track down the guy who is trying to blackmail the Lt, and who has also killed several other people.

Oooph, another gritty entry. I’m beginning to think that Darren, in leaving his comment on The Mugger, might have been correct. There is nothing suave here. This is heroin overdoses and whores being beaten to death and families being torn apart by drugs and cops almost dying from being shot at point blank range.

But at the same time, I was hooked. I think I read this in one sitting. It helps that it is so short. I guess people in the 60’s actually worked and got things done, so any entertainment had to slot in wherever it could. Of course, all those hippies went and ruined everything and that is why I am cursed today to be sitting on my couch, eating pizza while enjoying doing nothing. My goodness, my life is so brutal!

While not being disturbingly graphic, McBain doesn’t sugarcoat a thing. It makes me wonder about the people for whom stories like this aren’t fictional at all, but every day life. It also makes me wonder (again) if this is a series I want to continue. I think I’m going to have to take this a book at a time and maybe space them out a bit more. I think I have a total of 5 of these on my kindle right now. Once I’m done with them, I’ll read some other series for a bit and decide if I want to come back.

But the attraction of a short, tight story is undeniable.

★★★✬☆

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

The Death Tower (The Shadow #6) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Death Tower
Series: The Shadow #6
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 138
Words: 45K

From Bookstooge.blog

The Shadow comes to grip with Dr Palermo, a murderous psychopath who is almost as smart and intelligent as the Shadow. And Dr Palermo is one of the Silent Seven and can call upon the Something Something 50, one of which is a celebrated police detective. Can the Shadow, with the help of the ever trustworthy and reliable Harry Vincent (and others) defeat this menace? Of course he can. And he solves the problem by throwing Dr Palermo off a 40story building. Now that’s doing it with panache!

The last time I read a Shadow novel was back in October of ‘22, so it has been a while. It felt really good to dive back into this literary universe though. I like the Shadow. He’s no namby pamby pussy but will kill when it’s needed. At the same time, he’s no John Wick who just kills everyone. Reading about the Shadow go braino-e-braino with Dr Palermo was fun and made for a nice change up from mobsters and gangsters and hoodlums.

My enjoyment wasn’t so much from reading about the Shadow being stymied but from enjoying a more equal fight. In previous stories the Shadow has jumped into groups of hoodlums and beaten the snot out of them even when outnumbered a billion to one. He’s outsmarted gangsters and even mad scientists but Dr Palermo “felt” like a Shadow gone bad. I don’t know if the author, Grant, decided to create Dr Palermo along those lines and thus wrote him accordingly, but it seemed so to me and it was a choice that I really enjoyed.

A welcome return to the Shadow’s adventures for me and I am looking forward to reading more over the coming months.

Finally, that cover! I love these Bantam covers. The little version is clickable to expand to the big version. If I do a cover love section in my monthly Roundup & Ramblings for March, I already know this is going to take the cake.

★★★✬☆

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Stories To Stay Awake By ★★★✬☆

Title: Stories To Stay Awake By
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 198
Words: 78K

Table of Contents:
Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock (ghost written)

Success of a Mission by William Arden

The Splintered Monday by Charlotte Armstrong

Death by Judicial Hanging by Francis Beeding

Floral Tribute by Robert Bloch

Red Wine by Lawrence G. Blochman

Canavan's Back Yard by Joseph Payne Brennan

A Murderous Slice by Marguerite Dickinson

The New Deal by Charles Einstein

Boomerang by Guy Fleming

Sleep is the Enemy by Anthony Gilbert

The Second Coming by Joe Gores

From the Mouse to the Hawk by Dion Henderson

Letter to the Editor by Morris Hershman

The Spy Who Came to the Brink by Edward D. Hoch

Second Talent by James Holding

The Ohio Love Sculpture by Adobe James

Homicide House by Day Keene

Every story here revolves around somebody dying or being killed or being a killer. I found them linked thematically quite well and they didn’t seem like random stories just lumped together.

I really liked the final story, Homicide House by Day Keene. As soon as the narrator revealed that he was bricking up the body of his murdered wife, I knew exactly where the story was going to end and it was ghoulishly delightful to watch as the story went down the path I had predicted.

This book was originally released in hardback with 35 stories and then later on was released in two paperbacks with each containing half the stories. The second paperback was called More Stories To Stay Awake By but I haven’t been able to track down an ebook version, not even a pdf scan, so I will probably not be able to read the other 18 stories from the original. What a shame.

★★★✬☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Sunday, February 26, 2023

The Mugger (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

Title: The Mugger
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 149
Words: 49K

Oh, this not a cozy crime novel and I’m realizing this series is not even going to be “comfortable murder solving 101” like with Nero Wolfe. Not being a “crime fiction” aficiando, I think I would call this True Crime. It’s certainly dirty, gritty and violent enough. I added the ultra violent tag because a 17 year old is killed and she was pregnant, by her brother in law. I felt dirty just writing that.

The whole Mugger thing is a separate storyline and McBain plays the reader like a violin in how he interweaves them and makes them appear as one. It was fantastic. There are times I like being manipulated as a reader and McBain did that masterly in this book.

At the same time, the whole pregnant 17 year old thing was extremely disturbing. She had fallen in love with her brother in law and he used that to his own advantage. It was the grossest violation of adult power that I have read about in a long time. Realizing that people can be, and are, like this really depresses me. As a Christian I know that humanity as a whole is fallen, ie, no longer perfect because of sin. But knowing something and seeing something are very different things. I’ve talked about this with a friend of mine, and that dichotomy of knowing that humanity is the worst while still expecting the best of them, is something most Christians seem to have to live with. So while this kind of behavior is rather normal, unfortunately, it still shocks me.

I do hope this kind of thing isn’t going to be the norm. That would be too heavy a burden for me to deal with I suspect.

★★★✬☆

All My “87^th Precinct” Reviews

Sunday, February 05, 2023

Dates with Death ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Dates with Death
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 210
Words: 76K

Due to everything going on when I read this (see my “Personal” section of the January ‘23 Roundup and Ramblings post), I simply don’t remember a thing. So I’m including the table of contents and calling it good. The rating is based off of my previous Hitchcock reads and the fact that I can remember nothing bad about any of the stories.

TOC

THE DUSTY DRAWER - Harry Muheim

DRUM BEAT - Stephen Marlowe

THE USES OF INTELLIGENCE - Matthew Gant

THE QUEEN’S JEWEL - James Holding

THAT TOUCH OF GENIUS - William Sambrot

THE CROOKED ROAD - Alex Gaby

THE AMATEUR - Michael Gilbert

THE SINGING PIGEON - Ross Macdonald

JUSTICE MAGNIFIQUE - Lawrence Treat

GREEDY NIGHT - E. C. Bentley

A HUMANIST - Romain Gary

THE OBLONG ROOM - Edward D. Hoch

DEAD MAN’S STORY - Howard Rigsby

THE JANISSARIES OF EMILION - Basil Copper

CHINOISERIE - Helen McCloy

★★★✬☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Cop Hater (87th Precinct) ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Cop Hater
Series: 87^th Precinct
Author: Ed McBain
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 112
Words: 49K

During a steamy hot summer, the 87^th Precinct is plagued by a rash of cop killings. 3 cops are killed in as many weeks, with one of them being Detective Steve Carella’s partner. After running clues to the ground and coming up empty, Steve gets a lucky break, finds the killer and it’s revealed the whole thing happened to cover up a woman having her husband killed so she wouldn’t have to divorce him.

Talk about misdirection! I was impressed. I was flabbergasted too. I know that I’m almost 70 years removed from the time this was written (it was published in 1956) and that divorce was one of those “social” sins of the time AND that I’ve read/watched this scenario before but it still blows my mind that someone will commit murder and view it as a better option than divorce. It’s like blowing up the court house because you don’t want to pay your speeding fine.

This was a nice short story with McBain focusing on what went on and not trying to give me every single characters back story or explain the city in block by block detail. You simply don’t need that bloat, you just want it. And here, McBain kicks your teeth in, tells you to sit down, shut up and read the fething story! Ahhh, if only readers of today could appreciate this sparse way of telling a story. I don’t think it was THAT great of a story but simply not having any bloat or author ego or message to wade through made this very enjoyable.

The 87^th Precinct series is really long one (I currently have access to 40 of them and I’m pretty sure there’s more) so I have decided to add 4 or 5 and then take a break between those little mini rotations. Keep it fresh.

The other thing was the main character’s name, Steve Carella. All I could think of was Steve Carell and so I saw him in his “The Office” role and that made for some really funny mental pictures, as Steve Carella is a tough, no-nonsense detective like Starsky or Hutch.

★★★✬☆

Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Stories for Late at Night ★★★☆☆

Title: Stories for Late at Night
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 436
Words: 184K

★★★☆☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Wednesday, October 19, 2022

Gangdom's Doom (The Shadow #5) ★★★☆☆

Title: Gangdom's Doom
Series: The Shadow #5
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 166
Words: 54K

★★★☆☆

All of My “The Shadow” Reviews

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Tales of Terror ★★★✬☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Tales of Terror
Series: ----------
Editor: Alfred Hitchcock
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 771
Words: 306.5K

Synopsis:

From the Inside Cover & TOC

Be afraid—be very afraid: the master of suspense is serving up 58 bloodcurdling tales for your delectation. These suspenseful stories all appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and in the words of Hitch himself, they “are guaranteed to chill and unnerve.” Bill Pronzini contributes “The Arrowmont Prison Riddle,” Margaret B. Maron has “A Very Special Talent,” Barry M. Malzberg offers “A Home Away from Home,” and Patricia Matthews chronicles “The Fall of Dr. Scourby.” Meet a girl who stalks Jack the Ripper, a clairvoyant writer of newspaper obituaries, a homicidal partygoer in a sanatorium, and a police detective who lives vicariously through the exploits of one of his most notorious suspects: they all populate these frightening pages. Caution: not recommended for late-night reading—except for the very brave!

Includes the following 58 stories:

NEDRA TYRE - Killed by Kindness

JOHN F. SUTER - Just a Minor Offense

ROBERT BLOCH - A Home Away from Home

JOSEPH PAYNE BRENNAN - Death of a Derelict

BILL PRONZINI - The Arrowmont Prison Riddle

LAWRENCE BLOCK - The Dettweiler Solution

VINCENT McCONNOR - The Whitechapel Wantons

ISAK ROMUN - Cora’s Raid

NELSON DeMILLE - Life or Breath

WILLIAM BRITTAIN - A Private Little War

JOHN LUTZ - Have You Ever Seen This Woman?

BRIAN GARFIELD - Joe Cutter’s Game

JOHN COYNE - A Cabin in the Woods

EDWARD WELLEN - The Long Arm of El Jefe

JACK RITCHIE - Kid Cardula

JAMES HOLDING - Career Man

LIBBY MacCALL - The Perfidy of Professor Blake

HENRY SLESAR - Sea Change

DONALD OLSON - The Blue Tambourine

WILLIAM P. McGIVERN - Graveyard Shift

BORDEN DEAL - A Bottle of Wine

DONALD HONIG - Man Bites Dog

MICHAEL ZUROY - Never Trust an Ancestor

EDWARD D. HOCH - Another War

ALICE SCANLAN REACH - Sparrow on a String

CLAYTON MATTHEWS - The Missing Tattoo

PATRICIA MATTHEWS - The Fall of Dr. Scourby

STEPHEN WASYLYK - The Loose End

FRANK SISK - That So-Called Laugh

MARGARET B. MARON - A Very Special Talent

BETTY REN WRIGHT - The Joker

HELEN NIELSEN - The Very Hard Sell

RON GOULART - The Tin Ear

CHARLOTTE EDWARDS - The Time Before the Crime

BARRY N. MALZBERG - After the Unfortunate Accident

PATRICK O’KEEFE - The Grateful Thief

TALMAGE POWELL - The Inspiration

ROBERT COLBY - Death Is a Lonely Lover

FLETCHER FLORA - The Witness Was a Lady

PAULINE C. SMITH - Scheme for Destruction

MARY BRAUND - To the Manner Born

RICHARD O. LEWIS - Black Disaster

HAL ELLSON - The Marrow of Justice

IRVING SCHIFFER - Innocent Witness

SAMUEL W. TAYLOR - We’re Really Not That Kind of People

HAROLD Q. MASUR - Pocket Evidence

S. S. RAFFERTY - The Death Desk

AL NUSSBAUM - A Left-Handed Profession

THEODORE MATHIESON - Second Spring

ARTHUR PORGES - Bank Night

BRYCE WALTON - The Contagious Killer

GARY BRANDNER - Bad Actor

MICHAEL BRETT - Free Advice, Incorporated

JAMES M. GILMORE - The Real Criminal

WILLIAM DOLAN - The Hard Sell

BOB BRISTOW - The Prosperous Judds

ROBERT W. ALEXANDER - The Dead Indian

AUGUST DERLETH - The China Cottage

My Thoughts:

There is another anthology that was titled the same but was put together directly by Hitchcock and only had 12-14 stories. This was put together by some chick name Eleanor Sullivan. Good for her.

Overall I enjoyed this quite a bit and thought it was on track to be a solid 4star read. I only saw 2 or 3 stories that I'd read in some of his other collections and with 58 stories thought that was pretty good! Then came the last story, a Pons and Parker story. And Bancroft Pons, Solar's older, smarter and fatter brother is introduced. It was too much. Solar Pons is a pastiche of Sherlock Holmes and I think it is terribly done. I wish I had never read any of the Pons and Parker stories by Derleth.

The book's first story was the perfect opener though. A husband and wife are both having an affair and want to kill off the other because divorce would just destroy the other spouse, who lives and breathes to please the other. No need to be mean, just off them and everyone will be happy. Of course, they end up killing each other and it was PERFECT! It was exactly what I would expect from a story edited by Hitchcock.

The rest of the stories ran the gamut from ok to pretty good with the exception of the last as I mentioned above. This is the 12^th Hitchcock anthology I've read and I've still got 8 more to go. I am loving it!

★★★✬☆

All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Monday, September 19, 2022

The Red Menace (The Shadow #4) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPresss & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Red Menace
Series: The Shadow #4
Authors: Maxwell Grant
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 176
Words: 53K

Synopsis:

From Thelivingshadow.fandom.com & me

The Shadow lives by darkness, gliding through the waiting night unseen, a mocking laugh his only calling card. None who have trafficked in crime will ever forget him. The may sneer at the law... but not at The Shadow. Each generation of evil breeds a newer, stronger root, and The Shadow's latest adversary is no exception: The Red Menace. This brilliant, diabolical political assassin has decided to play both sides of the Revolution in order to steal the ultimate weapon... and invincible power. Time is running out if The Shadow is to stop this crimson-masked megalomaniac from making his insane dreams come true!

Harry Vincent is sent on a mission to watch over a scientist who is developing an areal torpedo that the commies want. The Red Menace sends his own minions as well. The Shadows saves Harry from drowning and takes down the minions but they have already given the torpedo plans to the Red Menace. Meanwhile, the Shadow is dealing with a Russian Prince who appears to be fighting for his life against the Red Menace and his cabal of secret masked commies. The Shadow uses the Prince's loyal aide to kill the cabal with a bomb. Then the Shadow makes a transatlantic flight, tracks down the Red Menace on a train in Europe and unmasks him, as the Russian Prince! The Shadow steals the torpedo plans back and lets the Prince live to face the torture in store for him for his failure by his commie masters.

My Thoughts:

Boo yah! Damned commies. Getting shot and blown up and scheming. They were perfect in this story and I loved it.

The Red Menace was a great copycat of the Shadow and emulated some of his best traits. In many ways he reminded me of Schwartzvold from Big O (the anime) and how he imitated Roger Smith and Big O with his Big Duo. Subtly different, bad and just not quite good enough. It's exactly what you want in a badguy who you know is going to be defeated. The Red Menace follows this formula perfectly and it suited him to a T.

I still wonder why the Shadow bothered rescuing Harry Vincent in the first book, or bothers continuing to use him. Harry is brash and has enough common sense to fill a thimble (and no more) and needs continual rescuing. In fact, I'd say his role in this series is more akin to the Lady in Distress (Nell Fenwick from the Dudley Do-Right cartoons) than as an actual aid to the Shadow.

Nell Fenwick, aka, Harry Vincent

I really thought about giving this a halfstar bump up just for how many commies get kaboomed, but that's a small enough personal pleasure that I didn't feel quite right about it.

★★★☆☆