Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Be Read with Caution

Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Be Read with Caution. Ed. Eleanor Sullivan. New York: Dial Press, 1979. (Printing history)

Tales to Be Read with Caution is among the last hardcover Hitchcock anthologies published during the director's lifetime. It contains stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine between 1958 and 1974, though oddly the introduction and dust jacket blurb claim that no story here has seen print since 1972, when in reality eight of thirty (that's 26.6%) were initially published in either 1973 or 1974. The only non-AHMM story contained in this anthology is Charlotte Edwards's novelette, "The Time Before the Crime," among the strongest of the stories. Moreover, the contents make up a healthy portion of the monumental 1976 anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Best of Mystery (Galahad Books). Perhaps the 636-page Best of Mystery was too costly to be a bestseller, so the contents were filtered into slightly smaller hardcovers, but this is just speculation.

The contents are, as usual, a varied mix; the first half is clearly stronger than the second, but the final story makes for a great finish. Caution features fewer duds than most Hitchcock anthologies published in the 1970s, though it also contains fewer "classics." The two strongest stories are the oldest and the most recent: veteran Bill Pronzini's highly entertaining and surprising "Here Lies Another Blackmailer" from 1974, and Charlotte Edwards's 1958 psychological suspense novelette "The Time Before the Crime." Also included in the collection is C.B. Gilford's fine entry "Frightened Lady," which received an Edgar Award nomination for best mystery short story of 1972.

The brief untitled introduction attributed to Hitchcock is, as is the case of most later anthologies, not of any note. It mentions only that there are stories from each of the married Matthews pair, Stephen Wasylyk's first published piece and Gilford's Edgar-nominated entry. Incidentally, it will not be until 1986 that a story from AHMM will receive the Edgar, with the award presented to John Lutz for "Ride the Lightning" from the January 1985 issue (Lutz also has a strong story included in Caution).

And for the stories.


"A Melee of Diamonds" by Edward D. Hoch. (AHMM, April 1972)
I have never been a fan of the overly-prolific Hoch, and his stories seem to appear in nearly every mystery anthology published throughout the 1960s and 1970s. This one features an interesting premise but the story itself is unintentionally comical as it presents Captain Leopold in a reckless and unintelligent light. I wrote a review of the story when I first read it, urged by my frustrations over the unnecessary death of a character, all due to hero Leopold's bumbling. The review is right here. 4/10

"One for the Crow" by Mary Barrett. (AHMM, March 1973)
A filmmaker searching for a spot to shoot a film is impressed with the "local colour" of a certain rural area where a previous filmmaker had gone missing. You're right, that's exactly how it ends. 5/10

"Happiness Before Death" by Henry Slesar. (AHMM, April 1974)
Hitchcock favourite Slesar delivers yet another good story. A self-centred hand model is determined to make his manic-depressive wife happy in order to prevent an attack of conscience once he finally murders her. It's great when a strong premise is handled well and made into a good story (eh, Mr. Hoch?). 7/10

"The Letters of Mme. De Carrere" by Oscar Schisgall. (AHMM, February 1958)
In this short epistolary story, a civic lawyer receives a letter from a small town notary concerning Mme. de Carrere and the recent events surrounding her. In his seemingly well-intentioned correspondence, the notary makes a point to mention some letters that may have unfortunate implications for the lawyer himself, should they be made public. Another good story, well conceived and well written with a satisfying conclusion. 7/10

"Linda Is Gone" by Pauline C. Smith. (AHMM, November 1973)
A young woman wanders away from a community picnic and finds herself stricken with amnesia and wandering aimlessly through California. Meanwhile her husband is arrested for her murder. Another good read. 7/10

"Which One's the Guilty One?" by Edward Wellen. (AHMM, May 1959)
An aging liquor store owner identifies a suspect from a police line-up as the man who recently robbed him, but when he discovers that the person he picked out was a police officer placed as an extra body in the line-up he begins to doubt his certainty. This would have made a good entry to Hitchcock's TV show; I read the story in black & white. 6/10

"Frightened Lady" by C. B. Gilford. (AHMM, July 1972)
Nominated for the Edgar Award as best mystery short story of 1972, it lost out to "The Purple Shroud" by Joyce Harrington. A man drives by the home of a woman he has recently had an affair with only to learn that she has been murdered. Good stuff. 7/10

"The Followers" by Borden Deal. (AHMM, August 1958)
A disillusioned high school teacher is heading home with the recent PTA donations in his coat pocket. He soon notices that three youths are following him. Fairly bland and very 1950s. 4/10

"Never Shake a Family Tree" by Donald E. Westlake. (AHMM, March 1961)
Among my favourite mystery authors, this one does not disappoint and is among Westlake's most reprinted stories. In researching her genealogy, a lonely woman places an add seeking information on the mysterious second wife of a previous relation and is soon contacting by a gentleman wishing to exchange information. Both mysterious and fun. 7/10

"Here Lies Another Blackmailer" by Bill Pronzini. (AHMM, June 1974)
An indolent young man witnesses his uncle and guardian killing a stranger in the yard of their home, and decides to capitalize on the situation. A great concept very well executed. The ending is marvelous and completely unexpected. 8/10

"The Missing Tattoo" by Clayton Matthews. (AHMM, April 1972)
A carnival tattooed lady is found dead on her trailer floor with one of her tattoos missing. Average mystery with no surprises. 4/10

"The Fall of Dr. Scourby" by Patricia Matthews. (AHMM, June 1974)
Heading up the Administration Building Tower of the State University, Ms. Gladys Grumly sees a body fall past her down the stairwell. The better story from the Matthews couple, but while better written its mystery is also fairly average. 5/10

"Within the Law" by John Lutz. (AHMM, April 1972)
A man is persistently following the person he is convinced killed his wife. This one is quite good with some nice surprises and tight suspense. 7/10

"Act of Violence" by Arthur Gordon. (AHMM, July 1959)
Following a business layover in Jamaica, where the heat can make a man do almost anything, our hero quickly falls for a beautiful woman who immediately throws herself at an infamous rogue. No real surprises in this one but nonetheless a good, suspenseful read. 6/10

"The Loose End" by Stephen Wasylyk. (AHMM, April 1968)
While replacing a friend in a lobby newsstand, a police detective, retired after losing his left arm, watches a small-time crook wander in and out of the elevators. 6/10

"That So-Called Laugh" by Frank Sisk. (AHMM, May 1968)
The body of a filmmaker is discovered with a curious note in his bathrobe pocket. Very short and just as average. 5/10

"A Very Special Talent" by Margaret B. Maron. (AHMM, June 1970)
After seven years of blissful marriage, a man discovers that his wife is a murderess. Amusing and highly entertaining with some good laughs. 7/10

"The Joker" by Betty Ren Wright. (AHMM, May 1962)
To capture evidence of his wife's infidelity, during a party at their home a practical joker places a tape recorder on the balcony. A pretty good idea that ends a little too oddly (I won't say why since that'll be spoiling it). 6/10

"The Man Who Took It with Him" by Donald Olson. (AHMM, November 1973)
After many years of courting, a woman marries a stingy man she believes has amassed a fortune. The reader knows better and the story does not disappoint. 7/10

"The Plural Mr. Grimaud" by Jacques Gillies. (AHMM, September 1959)
An American detective stranded penniless in Paris must accept an odd offer of employment: the wealthy Mr. Grimaud needs a body double since he believes that someone is trying to kill him. This was a great premise that started well, but the denouement came too quickly and suddenly. Evidently the character, behind the readers' back, does some investigating and tosses out his theory on the situation. 6/10

"Pseudo Identity" by Lawrence Block. (AHMM, November 1966)
Tired with his suburban middle-class life and of his cold and distant wife, a successful copywriter constructs a second, fictional identity in New York's Village. Things get complicated when he inadvertently discovers that his wife is also leading a double life. A great premise and a good story, the ending is over-explained in a truly unfortunate dull finish. 6/10

"That Russian!" by Jack Ritchie. (AHMM, May 1968)
Ritchie has always been among my favourite AHMM contributors, and this is another good contribution though not among his best. On a ship headed to New York are a number of Russian and Eastern European athletes participating in an upcoming meet. A Hungarian hammer thrower tries to help a Russian sprinter evade the commissar that is shadowing her. Not quite a mystery but a very amusing tale from behind the Iron Curtain, and once which features a non-America or British hero. 6/10

"The Very Hard Sell" by Helen Nielsen. (AHMM, June 1959)
A used car salesman is discovered in a black Cadillac he was trying to sell, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gun shot wound. Police Detective Sommers investigates, and as suspected by the reader, it is not suicide after all. An interesting procedural piece with a nice criminal element. There's a dated moment regarding marijuana, when it appears to be a life-ending drug, and immediate gateway to the harder stuff. Paranoid, but the story is pre-1960 so we can smile, shake out heads and move on. 6/10

"The Privileges of Crime" by Talmage Powell. (AHMM, March 1967)
An amusing little story about a small-town sheriff and his deputy who nab a man clearly guilty of a fouled-up robbery, but must treat him carefully so as not to aggravate his rights. 6/10

"Comeback Performance" by Richard Deming. (AHMM, March 1973)
In a small hotel a wheelchair-bound man and his wife get caught up with some kidnappers. This one starts off well, patiently and nicely built-up, but ends flatly as it is all-too predictable. 5/10

"The Tin Ear" by Ron Goulart. (AHMM, September 1966)
Detective John Easy's partner was just killed while pursuing an adultery case in San Amaro, and Easy heads down to investigate. This one was reprinted in Best Detective Stories #22 though it's not too clear why. Some amusing banter and nice touches, but the mystery itself lacks in mystery. Easy figures out too easily what's going on and sets himself up as a decoy to prove it. 5/10

"Infinite License" by Dan J. Marlowe. (AHMM, September 1968)
"A detective in a big city sees a lot of bodies, but I'd never seen a body like this." This opening line can refer to all types of bodies, yet what our big city detective is bemused by is the well-dressed corpse primly and properly laid out on his own bed in an apparent suicide. This very short piece offers up a neat little idea with a lot of promise, but the ending, though appropriate, is not terribly satisfying. 5/10

"The Montevideo Squeeze" by James Holding. (AHMM, November 1973)
In Montevideo, Uruguay, an organization by the name of the Big Ones is pressuring a taxi company to cough up some protection money. A simple little mystery; not knowing the direction this one is taking might make it predictable to many, but I was slow on the uptake. 6/10

"The White Moth" by Margaret Chenoweth. (AHMM, September 1969)
"Forrest Blake had been dead less than a month when he first came back." A young widow to an old, wealthy man is having post-mortem visions of her less-than-dearly departed husband, in which he holds a key that transforms itself into a white moth. A great opening sentence followed by a great paragraph quickly pull the reader in. The latter portion is not as clever and ultimately predictable. 5/10

"The Time Before the Crime" by Charlotte Edwards. (Cosmopolitan, May 1958)
While one man receives a summons for jury duty, another man is heading toward a life of crime. An intriguing novelette of two very different men, yet both desperate in their own way. The psychology is well employed and though the reader might at some point or other figure out the grand ending, there are enough smaller surprises along the way to make this a good, tight read. The only story not from AHMM as far as I have been able to research. 8/10

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bar the Doors

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bar the Doors (Printing History)

Bar the Doors: Terror Stories. New York: Dell Books 143 (Mapback), 1946. (pictured)
Bar the Doors: 13 Great Tales of Terror, New York: Dell Books F166, January 1962. (pictured)
Bar the Doors. New York: Dell Books 0436, February 1963.
Bar the Doors. New York: Dell Books 0436, July 1965.
Bar the Doors. New York: Dell Books 0436, January 1966. (pictured)
Bar the Doors. St. Albans: Mayflower, 1972.
Bar the Doors. St. Albans: Mayflower, 1977. (pictured)
Bar the Doors. New York: Dell Books, 1983.

Don't anybody move.

Here, selected by the master, are thirteen superlative tales designed to keep you frozen to your seat and written by the world's most ingenious creators of the weird, the shocking, and the fantastic.

(The use of that word superlative makes me grin every time. The blurb appears on both Dell F166 1962 & Dell 0436 1966.)

Dell F166

Bar the Doors is Hitchcock's second foray into the anthology field, and in my opinion among his strongest; certainly the strongest of the early books, though he likely had little or no input into this collection, ghost-edited by Don Ward.

I first read Bar the Doors when I was quite young, it may indeed have been my first Hitchcock anthology. The stories, for the most part, stand up well against today's standards; what they at times might lose to originality they have gained in writing. Reading these earlier suspense stories, whether they be of ghosts or strange island curses, it impresses me how much better our suspense writers were of old. Of course, at the time there were few stigmas associated with being a "genre" writer, so that Dickens and later Fitzgerald could create their own fantasies about haunted houses, railway stations or massive mountain-sized diamonds and people aging backwards, and no respected literary critic would roll his or her eyes. It is the attitude toward genre writing that has (partially, of course) helped to damage the quality of genre writing.

Whatever the cause for our literary decline, it is true that we must read the masters in order to learn the craft, or simply if we desire a cozy little fright.

Dell 143

Introduction by Alfred J. Hitchcock (possibly Don Ward).

I would like to reproduce this in its entirety, but there's something called copyright. Many of the introductions in these anthologies are brief and little more than introductory (and sometimes even less), yet this one is nicely detailed. "[T]he publishers asked me to bring together a group of tales which I admire because of their skillful handling of the element of terror." Hitchcock would be the person I too would turn to for such a grouping, and he (well, our ghost editor, really) does a fine job with the selections here, and in particular "The Storm," "The Kill," "Midnight Express" and "The Upper Berth" are perfect examples of the "skillful" treatment of terror and suspense. Some stories might appear a little dated in that their subject matter is by now all-too familiar, but I can imagine how in 1945 this little collection was such a great success for, as the blurb indicates, these are the "superlative" tales. Hitchcock/Ward points to the range of stories in the collection, acknowledging them as wide and hence not all readers might find each individual selection appealing, especially since the source of the terror is quite different in each of the pieces. He then proceeds to isolate the specific story elements that contain the terror, and this makes for a good read once the stories themselves have been read.


"Pollock and the Porroh Man" by H.G. Wells     7/10
New Budget, 23 May 1895

Published during one of Wells's most important years, which saw the publication of The Time Machine and his first two short story collections, it is not among his most popular stories. Not only is it overshadowed by other work, the story would struggle through any era of political correctness, no matter where its sympathies lie. The story is about an arrogant Englishman who receives a curse from the local Porroh Man while stationed in Sierra Leone. These kind of stories were common at the time as British officers stationed overseas were in a perpetual state of culture shock. (Perhaps the truly superlative story of the British overseas at the time was W. Somerset Maugham's 1924 story set in Malaysia, "The Outstation.") This story is sensitive to the locals despite the "othering" of these natives, and is undeserving of its obscurity. The story is well written, better than many of Wells's later stories when he often appeared to rush his work.


"The Storm" by McKnight Malmar     8/10
Good Housekeeping, February 1944

The epitome of the trapped-alone-at-home-in-the-middle-of-a-raging-storm tale, the introduction refers to the author playing with "an old theme," so that even in 1945 the idea appears to have been overdone. (Incidentally, this is the most recent of the stories, published only a year before the anthology appeared.) Exceptionally well written, "The Storm" is a forgotten gem that many later stories attempt to emulate (perhaps as part of the collective unconscious?). A woman arrives at home a week early from a visit to her sister to find that her husband is out and it is of course late and a torrential storm is raging outside. Descriptions of the storm itself, combined with the woman's anxiety and perturbed, over-stimulated mind, are deftly delivered. Neat little clues are dropped to develop enough of a back story without lengthy, needless information; at times a simple phrase tacked onto a seemingly innocuous sentence. All of this is capped off with a great finish, and a particularly excellent last line. This story, because of its common theme, is a great example of the "skillful" writing of terror discussed in the introduction, because it is strictly the writing that transforms this common theme into something truly unique.


"Moonlight Sonata" by Alexander Woollcott     7/10
The New Yorker, 3 October 1931

A classic little ghost story that employs the once common trope of "so-and-so" told "so-and-so" who told me, in order to give evidence (illusion, really) of actuality. The story is brief and fairly simple, yet nonetheless effectively macabre.

Dell 0436

"The Half-Pint Flask" by DuBose Heyward     5/10
The Bookman, May 1927

Like Wells's entry, this one is about an indigenous curse. On an island in South Carolina populated with the descendants of slaves, the socially conscious narrator must host an arrogant collector of American glass. The collector soon removes a precious artifact from a local cemetery, scoffing at the narrator's pleas about an ancient curse. Soon the locals disperse, and as we can imagine the truly unpleasant collector pays his debt to folklore. The story is a little too long and a little too dull, not to mention predictable. The author in no way tries to create ambiguity around the collector, instead creating a truly despicable character. Originally from South Carolina, Heyward possibly based the collector on someone, or some type of person, he had encountered. Heyward is best known for a previous publication, his novel Porgy (1925), which the Gershwins immortalized by translating it into the superlative opera Porgy and Bess.


"The Kill" by Peter Fleming     8/10
Creeps By Night. Ed. Dashiell Hammett. NY: John Day, 1931.

On a foggy night, stranded in a station waiting for a train, a young man tells the story of his eccentric uncle, Lord Fleer. His uncle believes that all the heirs to his estate will fall victim to a curse planted by a bastard son. Fleming's writing is tight and this little gem is a great read and re-read. Reprinted occasionally over the decades, as in the first Pan Book of Horror Stories (1946), it could still use more of an audience.


"The Upper Berth" by F. Marion Crawford     8/10
The Broken Shaft: Unwin's Christmas Annual. Ed. Sir Henry Norman. London: Fisher Unwin, 1886

"It is very singular, that thing about ghosts..." A classic if there ever was one; among my all-time favourite ghost stories. The narrator, a kind of abstract we, tells of a dull social gathering made interesting by an old sailor with the sturdy and reliable name of Brisbane. Many years ago Brisbane was at sea on the Kamtschatka, staying in a stateroom that is said to contain some force that has driven four men overboard. A classic tale in more senses than one, it might not appeal to a desensitized modern audience wanting blood and gore, but had I been in that stateroom, I would likely have been the ship's fifth victim.


"Midnight Express" by Alfred Noyes     8/10
This Week, 3 November 1935

Poet and essayist Alfred Noyes has left behind a surreal and dark little story with "Midnight Express." At a railway station a man is suddenly struck with the memory of a book he tried to read as a boy but was never able to get beyond page 50, due to an inexplicably troubling illustration of a man standing underneath a lamppost in a darkened railway station. I wrote a lengthier review of this one which, should you be interested, lies somewhere around here.


"The Damned Thing" by Ambrose Bierce     8/10
Tales from New York Town Topics, 7 December 1893

Among Bierce's most anthologized stories, it is also certainly among his strongest. At a coroner's inquisition, a reporter tells of the truly singular events that led to the death of a local man while he was out hunting. I can imagine the stir this little treasure would have made back in 1893 (though in some parts overshadowed by another publishing phenomenon that occurred the same month: Sherlock Holmes's death!).


"The Metronome" by August Derleth     5/10
Terror by Night. Ed. Christine Campbell Thomson. London: Selwyn & Blount, 1934

Easily the weakest story in the collection, I can't help feel that it just doesn't belong. A woman is at home the day before her stepson's funeral, and believes she can hear the ticking of the boy's metronome. I have never been a fan of Derleth's work, and this was the first I'd read many years ago when I first read Bar the Doors; I found it dull back then, nor did I enjoy it upon re-reading.


"The Pipe-Smoker" by Martin Armstrong     7/10
The Fortnightly Review, October 1932

The Fortnightly Review (the child of Anthony Trollope) most likely printed this piece in time for Halloween. The story tells of a man who seeks refuge from a raging rainstorm at a hermit's desolate home. While seated with his distracted host, the man listens to the tale of how the hermit's predecessor came to be in such a lonely state. A creepy and surreal little story; a nice find and another short work that needs to somehow be re-awakened.


"The Corpse at the Table" by Samuel Hopkins Adams     7/10
Saturday Review of Literature, August 1942

Journalist Adams presents us with a tale that he introduces as a possible folk tale. Two men, Estelow and Carney, are caught in a blistering snow storm and by following some telegraph lines make their way to a cabin where they take shelter. In the tradition of Robert W. Service's 1907 poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee," one of the men, Carney, while sickly and dying, finagles a death promise from his companion. In this version, he asks that his friend not bury him unless undoubtedly certain that he is dead. Strange things occur in what is essentially an early modern zombie tale, depending of course on your interpretation of the story. Well written, much of its power is rendered from the sense of loneliness and isolation experienced by Estelow, his caring for the sick Carney and the unimaginable psychological horror he must have suffered by Carney's corpse.

(Interestingly, Adams received $750 from Reader's Digest for the initial publication of the story in Saturday Review of Literature, and an additional $500 a month later for a reprint. How times have changed. If only my reviews can fetch such sums.)


"The Woman at Seven Brothers" by Wilbur Daniel Steele     6/10
Harper's, December 1917

In a lonely lighthouse, the assistant keeper becomes steadily fearful of the keeper's young wife. The story is quite familiar but at the time would still have been somewhat less common. A little too long for what it is, it is nonetheless a good read.

Mayflower 1977

"The Book" by Margaret Irwin     8/10
The London Mercury, September 1930

An unremarkable middle-aged lawyer discovers a book on a shelf at home that seems to move about on its own, changing position. Though in Latin, he is determined to read it, and soon his practice begins to grow, while his perceptions of the world around him begin to alter. The only female author featured in the anthology, Irwin does a wonderful job with this story. I don't always enjoy this kind of demonic supernatural story, but this one is well written and suspenseful.

Casual Debris Presents: An Introduction to the Alfred Hitchcock Anthologies

As a companion to this essay, I am attempting a bibliography of the Alfred Hitchcock anthologies, a work in progress which can be accessed at Casual Debris Presents: the Alfred Hitchcock Anthology Bibliography.

Here is a preliminary overview of the anthologies.


In 1945 Alfred Hitchcock was approached by Dell to put together and introduce an anthology of suspense stories which was published as Suspense Stories Collected by Alfred Hitchcock, and reprinted several times with different titles over the next few years. It was an odd mishmash of stories, but despite being a little all over the place it proved successful, and in about a decade Hitchcock would find himself marketed to the extreme. In 1946 Dell Books released the follow-up Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Bar the Doors, arguably the best of all the first series of anthologies borrowing his name. By the end of 1949 a total of six books were published, followed by a hiatus that lasted until 1957.

In 1955 CBS helped launch what was to become among the most successful and longest-running television anthology dramas, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock himself directed the first episode, "Revenge," and three more episodes for the opening season. December of 1956 saw the first issue of the still-running Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and soon the anthologies were revamped full force. In 1957 one of the more popular anthologies was published by Simon & Schuster: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV, ghost edited by Robert Arthur. (It became so popular that not only was it extensively reprinted over the years, the network backed away and allowed him to "do" many of the included stories.) These three ventures became intertwined. The magazine published original suspense stories, the television show adapted many of them, and the anthologies eventually became reprint venues for the magazine stories.

Among the writers who benefited from this trio of projects was the prolific Robert Bloch, whose short stories were frequently published in the magazine, and eventually adapted, many by his own hand, for the television show (a total of ten episodes for the original series and seven more for the extended Alfred Hitchcock Hour). It was perhaps through this collaboration that Hitchcock later came across the 1959 novel Psycho, the rights of which he quickly purchased. (In fact he also went ahead and purchased as many copies of the book he could find just so that his potential audience would be less likely to know the ending to his film adaptation.)

Another writer to benefit was Henry Slesar, who wrote several teleplays for a variety of shows throughout the 1960s, including Batman and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Slesar had a record thirty-six teleplays or adaptations for AHP, with ten more for AHH, as well as one for the 1985 AHP remake pilot and three for the actual show. His stories were so adaptable and many of them well adapted indeed, that two paperback collections of his adapted stories were published under Hitchcock's name: Alfred Hitchcock Handpicks and Introduces A Bouquet of Clean Crimes and Neat Murders (NY: Avon, 1960) and Alfred Hitchcock Introduces A Crime for Mothers and Others (NY: Avon, 1962).

The anthologies were published in the US and the UK, successful on both sides of the ocean, but the magazine fared well only in the US. The British version lasted eleven issues, from September 1957 to August 1958 (no issue appeared in July), and later for five issues between May and September 1967. The Australian version, titled Alfred Hitchcock's Suspense Magazine, was published in 1957 and 1958, though I haven't yet been able to figure how many issues were printed, since it appeared to have gone through a reincarnation or revamping of sorts after #11.

In the 1960s the Hitchcock anthologies broadened in scope, with Robert Arthur, creator and author of the first Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books, hired by Random House to ghost edit some truly fine alliterative young adult collections, from A Haunted Houseful and Sinister Spies, to Monster Museum and Daring Detectives; it was actually his Spellbinders in Suspense that helped transform me into an avid reader as a child. Arthur also ghost edited some adult books, including the popular Stories They Wouldn't Let Me Do on TV, Stories My Mother Never Told Me, Stories that Scared Even Me and Stories for Late at Night. He received a note in each of these ("The editor gratefully acknowledges the invaluable assistance of Robert Arthur in the preparation of this volume"), though it was many years after his death that the extent of his "assistance" (i.e. he did everything) was made public.

Another ghost editor in the mid-sixties was British anthologist Peter Haining, who ghosted a handful of collections for Pan Books in the UK. The only other person I am aware to have ghosted one of these anthologies is Harold Q. Masur, who put together the 1973 Stories to Be Read with the Lights On. This may have been a result of the unfortunate passing of Robert Arthur in 1969.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the adult anthologies were being published regularly, and each ran through various reprints. An annual hardcover anthology appeared and was reprinted as two separate paperbacks, first with the original titles or variations of, as well as completely different titles. (For instance, Stories for Late at Night was published as 12 Stories for..., More Stories for..., and later on simply as Skeleton Crew.) Other collections were retitled after minor changes were made, such as Suspense Stories which, with the addition of another story, became 14 Suspense Stories to Play Russian Roulette By, and later 14 of My Favorites in Suspense; these are all the same book.

The early anthologies were excellent works, especially those ghosted by Robert Artur, who selected a truly wide array of short stories, novelettes and even novels of a variety of genres and styles. By the 1957 revamping of these books, Hitchcock himself had little to do with the publications (by little I mean nothing, as I suspect that even the brief introductions were ghost written; there is a distinct difference in approach and tone with those published in the 1940s, and let's remember, Arthur himself was well practiced in putting words in Hitchcock's mouth, since he made the director a character in his Three Investigators series). It is truly unfortunate that Arthur never gained the recognition as a first-rate editor, though I am certain he enjoyed his career, working not only on these books but on his own writing and on the scripts for the AHP television show.

By the 1970s the annual hardcover publications became reprints of more recent work, primarily from the most widely read mystery magazines of the time: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, The Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine. Soon the anthologies would become straightforward reprint venues for the magazine. Davis Publications, through their Dial Press imprint, published annual and sometimes bi-annual (it peaked as a quarterly in 1983) numbered anthologies which were essentially "best of" the magazine selections from the previous year. These were initially edited by then magazine editor Eleanor Sullivan (claimant of the first non-ghosted Hitchcock anthology) and later Cathleen Jordan; the first was published in 1976. By then the magazine had been publishing monthly for twenty years and had accumulated enough material to print any number of anthologies reserved for only AHMM stories; some stories even re-appeared in many of these collections so that the books were truly less than unique.

The late 1970s brought about a new era in presenting these works, with the hardcover editions employing titles along the lines of Tales to Take Your Breath Away, Tales to Keep You Spellbound, Tales to Scare You Stiff and so on, while their softcover counterparts were simply numbered, beginning with Alfred Hitchcock's Anthology #1, though later had their own, less clever, subtitles, along the lines of Death-Reach, Fear and Borrowers of the Night. I'm not yet sure when the hardcover editions stopped printing, but the numbered anthology publications ceased in 1989 with Anthology #27: Murder & Other Mishaps. Furthermore, these works were no longer ghost edited though still introduced by "Alfred Hitchcock" (sometimes bearing his signature in print).

It is really the covers and the titles and the publishing phenomenon that make these books nice collectibles. While the hardcovers are not terribly interesting the look at, the paperback incarnations are fantastic, especially those published by Dell. Many are fairly easy to find since they've been printed and re-printed over the years, and some have several editions with their own unique covers that, sad as it might appear to some, I own different editions of the same books. Overall the contents vary from good classic and modern reprints to the generic magazine entries, and some of these tend to be tiresome. However, it is a great consequence that some fine, forgotten and never really known authors were included in these books, including McKnight Malmar and John Keefauver, whose original and excellent short stories, such as "The Storm" and "A Pile of Sand," can be (re)discovered. Finally, Robert Arthur provided us with one of the best suspense anthologies ever compiled, with Stories for Late at Night.


[Note: It is frustratingly difficult to find accurate information on these publications, so much of what I have put together here is educated speculation, which means it sounds valid but could be utterly incorrect. Anyone with information to share, please do so; comment or for anonymity email me at casual.debris@gmail.com.]