Book Review: 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be read With the Door Locked'
'Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read With the Door Locked' (368 pp.) was published by Random House in 1975. A two-volume, mass-market paperback edition was issued by Dell in 1977.
I was expecting good things from 'Door Locked,' which compiles stories first printed in various magazines and digests from the early 1940s to the early 1970s. There are some big names published here, including Harlan Ellison, Roald Dahl, John D. MacDonald, Joseph Payne Brennan, and Joe Gores, among others. The collection is a mix of the crime, suspense, and horror genres.
My capsule summaries of the contents:
Hijack, by Robert L. Fish: crime at 25,000 feet. First published in Playboy in August, 1972, this is a brilliant little tale, and one of the best in the anthology.
Funeral in Another Town, by Jerry Jacobson: arrogant and privileged mystery writer Amis Bannerman is given an invitation for a funeral......of a failed horror magazine. This story is too overdone to be very effective.
A Case for Quiet, by William Jeffrey: nestled among the moors of Yorkshire, the Kings Head Hotel is a very placid hostelry. And they intend to keep it that way. This is the quintessential Alfred Hitchcock tale: well-written, well-plotted, and urbane. With a note of mayhem that is concealed, until emerging at the proper moment.
A Good Head for Murder, by Charles W. Runyon: American couple Gordon and Ann Phelps are driving an unreliable car, late at night, through a remote area of Mexico. This is not a good idea......
The Invisible Cat, by Betty Ren Wright: a well-plotted tale about a psychopathic killer menacing a small town.
Royal Jelly, by Roald Dahl: Albert Taylor's wife, Mabel, is distraught over the failure of the couple's infant to thrive. What is a beekeeper to do ? A classic Dahl tale, where a careful reading reveals brilliant little bits of subversion......
Light Verse by Isaac Asimov: a 'robot' story, about a dowager who makes intriguing 'light sculptures.'
The Distributor, by Richard Matheson: when the seemingly benign Theodore Gordon moves into your 'hood, bad things start to happen. This story, first published in 1958 in Playboy, is based on the premise that white, middle-class suburbanites inherently are violent racists......
How Henry J. Littlefinger Licked the Hippies' Scheme to Take Over the Country by Tossing Pot in Postage Stamp Glue, by John Keefauver: first published in the National Review, a magazine of conservative ideology, this is a slight fable about dirty, longhaired, unwashed, dope-smoking hippies trying to take over the USA. It has not aged well.
The Leak, by Jacques Futrelle: this story first saw publication in 1907. It's about financier J. Morgan Grayson, who consults with the amazing detective Professor Augustus S. F. X Van Dusen, aka 'the Thinking Machine.' The premise relies on technologies from over a century ago and, inevitably, is dated...........Futrelle is famous for giving up his seat on a Titanic lifeboat to his wife; he died when the ship went under.
All the Sounds of Fear, by Harlan Ellison: Method Actor Richard Becker wins praise for his roles, but this comes with a cost. A 1962 story from Ellison that is too overwritten and melodramatic to be effective.
Little Foxes Sleep Warm, by Waldo Carlton Wright: it's a hard and hungry winter in 1806 Vermont, and Ezra Durham believes he's found a way to survive until spring. A subtle, but impactful, little story.
The Graft Is Green, by Harold Q. Masur: a venerable judge is dead; were crooked union members involved ? A competent, but not particularly remarkable, whodunit.
View by Moonlight, by Patricia McGerr: a mild tale about a spy and the need for clandestine action. There is a female protagonist.
There Hangs Death !, by John D. MacDonald: Dr. Hilber is dead, and under most suspicious circumstances. MacDonald was better off doing private eye tales, than this variant on the locked-room mystery.
Lincoln's Doctor's Son's Dog, by Warner Law: this story first saw print in the March, 1970 issue of Playboy. It's a 'shaggy dog' (do people still use that term ?!) story set in 1865 Springfield, Illinois.
Coyote Street, by Gary Brandner: Brandner is perhaps best known for his Paperbacks from Hell, but he also was a successful crime writer. 'Coyote' is set in early 70s Los Angeles, where a private eye is hired by an attractive Latina who has some 'family issues.'
Zombique, by Joseph Payne Brennan: Tyler Marinson acquires an artifact of Haitian design. Like all such trinkets, it has its sinister side.........
The Pattern, by Bill Pronzini: A mild mannered man claims to have committed murder. The surprise ending works reasonably well.
Pipe Dream, by Alan Dean Foster: from the mid-50s to the early 1970s, Playboy magazine pushed the idea that older men who smoked pipes were irresistable to younger women. Shapely young actress Emma meets such a man. A good story from Foster, better known for his sci-fi prose.
Shottle Bop, by Theodore Sturgeon: the first-person narrator is a first-class loser, barely making his way through the world. But on a chilly, late Autumn day, stopping in at a strange little store in New York City provides him with a new path. Nowadays, this 1941 novelette would be labeled an 'urban fantasy.'
The Magnum, by Jack Ritchie: an elderly man needs assistance with a bottle of champagne. Another little gem of a 'surprise ending' story.
Voices in the Dust, by Gerald Kersh: the first-person narrator insists on visiting the ruined city, far off in the desert, that the locals shun as a Bad Place. Is their fear justified ? An atmospheric horror tale from author Kersh.
The Odor of Melting by Edward D. Hoch: a rescue at sea has profound implications for mankind. A neat little tale from veteran crime fiction writer Hoch.
The Sound of Murder, by William P. McGivern: murder on the Orient Express. The mechanisms of why and wherefore overwhelm the story.
The Income Tax Mystery by Michael Gilbert: a very British, very proper mystery about a solicitor whose income likely comes from illicit sources.
Watch for It by Joseph N. Gores: the San Francisco Bay area, the early 1970s, and a cell of Marxist revolutionaries are intent on rescuing a colleague captured by the 'pigs.' A well-plotted story from Gores, with a sharp little denouement.
The Affair of the Twisted Scarf by Rex Stout: a drawing-room mystery featuring Nero Wolfe. I never have been at all interested in these types of stories, and the trite, cutesy prose that dominates this novelette (at one point Wolfe's right-hand man Archie Goodwin uses the phrase, 'I yooped') left me with little desire to explore the genre further.
Summing things up, this particular Hitchcock anthology emphasizes crime and suspense over sci-fi and horror. It does have its share of duds - the Rex Stout piece being the most prominent of these - but in the balance, the good stories outweigh the bad ones, so I'm going to settle on a Rating of Four Stars.
