Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Keep You Spellbound

by Eleanor Sullivan (Editor), Robert Bloch, Joseph Payne Brennan

From Alfred Hitchcock, 30 stories that will hold you in their spell by:

Robert Bloch, Joseph Payne Brennan, Wenzell Brown, Robert Cenedella, Robert Colby, Hilda Cushing, Avram Davidson, Borden Deal, Charlotte Edwards, David Ely, Paul W. Fairman, C.B. Gifford, Edward D. Hoch, Donald Honig, Clark Howard, Miriam Lynch, Libby MacCall, Clayton Matthews, Helen Nielsen, Lawrence Page, Jean Potts, Bill Pronzini, Gilbert Ralston, Jack Ritchie, Holly Roth, Henry Slesar, John Suter, Nedra Tyre, Hillary Waugh, and Edward Wellen.

Genres: Mystery, Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Crime, Classics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Annabelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Published in 1976, this collection has thirty stories from authors I have never heard of or just can't remember, except for Robert Bloch, who wrote Psycho. About a third of the stories were written by women. The stories all center on crime, ranging from petty to the severe: kidnapping, murder, prank calls, forgery. But mostly it features murder stories, from whodunnits to first person accounts. Almost all sound dated, even Murder, 1990, which is set in the far-off future. To keep it simple, I've segregated my reactions to each one with a checkmark (I liked it), an X (hated it), and a dash (it was ok):

Check
1) Final Arrangements by Lawrence Page - Nifty ending, but as a fan of comic books House of Mystery and House of Secrets, one I saw coming a mile away.
2) Countdown by David Ely - Here's one ending I didn't see coming.
3) She is Not My Mother by Hilda Cushing - A tad disturbing, but plausible, in this day and age. Netflix can actually flip this.
4) A Degree of Innocence by Helen Nielsen - This reminded me of the early 1960s romantic comedies.
5) The Man We Found by Donald Honig - A redux of The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry.
6) Killed by Kindness by Nedra Tyre - Funny, sweet, and sad.
7) Just a Minor Offense by John Suter - Predictable, but still worth the short ride.
8) The Long Terrible Day by Charlotte Edwards - Fast-paced storytelling that leads to a conclusion that leaves us wanting more. Like some of the marriage-centric tales in the bunch, this was written by a woman.
9) You Can't Blame Me by Henry Slesar - This had a laugh-out loud ending. What now?
10) Death of a Derelict by Joseph Payne Brennan - From the onset, the story gave a strong whiff of the Holmes-Watson dynamic and banter, making this one of the most eloquently written stories in the anthology.
11) The Third Call by Jack Ritchie - All's well that ends well for the protagonists, and we are confident of this because the story is set light years away from today.
12) A Home Away from Home by Robert Bloch - Trust the writer who gave us Psycho to give us the only truly scary, disturbing story, delivered in less than ten pages.
13) Panther, Panther in the Night by Paul W. Fairman - One of the most engrossing stories for me, and the one I'm likely to remember from this collection.

Dash
1) Spook House by Clark Howard - So-so, it vaguely reminds me of Stephen King's Joyland.
2) Death a la Newburgh by Libby MacCall - Another story of marriage dynamics by a woman writer.
3) A Cold Day in November by Bill Pronzini - One of the whodunnits here that could have aspired to a screenplay, with Peter Falk playing the lead.
4) A Try for the Big Prize by Borden Deal - A conclusion that served its karmic desserts would have given this more oomph.
5) Winter Run by Edward D. Hoch - A tale that sounds like one of those story within a story Stephen King usually veers off to, in his novels set in Derry.
6) Present for Lona by Avram Davidson - Not much to marvel at this short tale, except that it would have worked better as a comic book episode on House of Mystery or House of Secrets.
7) The Handyman by Clayton Matthews - Visual storytelling, predictable fare.
8) Murder, 1990 by C.B. Gilford - Sci-fi fare. Memorable only for its representation of futuristic 1990. Books have long been banned and destroyed. But Caressing Booths are very much de riguer.

X
1) The Pursuer by Holly Ruth
2) Second Chance by Robert Cenedella
3) The Last Witness by Robert Colby
4) Night on the Beach by Wenzell Brown
5) Scott Free by Miriam lynch
6) A Very Cautious Boy by Gilbert Ralston
7) Cicero by Edward Wellen
8) Murdered #2 by Jean Potts
9) Nothing But Human Nature by Hillary Waugh - How this ends: "We had the murder, so one look at the woman next door was all I needed to know the whole story. It was her shorts, her halter, and her bleached hair." And written by a woman, mind you.

My retention for stories is not the same as it was when I was a teenager, and I'm bound to forget all but a handful of the tales I've just written about here. Two and a half stars.

[Jason McGathey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had this for over 20 years and finally got around to reading it. I thought 4 of the stories were awesome - David Ely, Helen Nielsen, Borden Deal, and Robert Bloch. The rest were mediocre to bad. One of these (Lawrence Page) won a “story of the year” type prize, which I really don’t get at all.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is copyright 1976. All short stories appearing in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Late 50s, early 60s. I saw one 1966.

I've had this book forever & this is a reread. It's been so long since I read it last I didn't remember any of these stories. Some were pretty good. I didn't think any were stinkers.
All are murder mysteries.

[Richard Tolleson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here are 30 stories in the spirit of the Master of Suspense. These are stories that were originally published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and most are probably otherwise out of print. The stories vary both in length and quality, but all are entertaining. As Hitchcock once said, "I think everyone enjoys a nice murder, provided he is not the victim."

[Bunny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as the first Hitchcock collection I read. That collection featured only stories with fantastic twist endings, while this one had similar stories, but generic mystery stories as well. I was less interested in those.

The ones that were good were excellent, though. Scott Free was by far my favorite.

[Max Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book was awesome, but even more awesome, I am the first person to review this version on Goodreads 😎