Die Laughing: And Other Murderous Schtick

by S.S. Rafferty

Rafferty, S. S.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1985

About the author

Pseudonym of John J. Hurley.

John Jerome Hurley was an American writer who worked as a newspaper reporter for the Bridgeport Post Telegram and as an advertising executive, but during the 1970s, he began to prolifically write short stories for Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine – published under the name of "S.S. Rafferty." Over a ten year period, he produced more than fifty short stories and most of them starred either one of his two series-detectives, Chick Kelly or Captain Jeremy Cork.

Reviews

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fun collection of short stories featuring a stand-up comedian named Chick who gets wrapped up in mysteries, not to mention his ties to the mob and others out to get him including a homicide detective who wants to see Chick behind bars. To be honest, I totally picked this up from a local used and new book store for the cover. It totally sets the tone against the description on the back cover. My favorite of the 7 stories was the 1st which is called "Alectryon Slept". Chick's voice in the opening couple of pages is delightful and does a fantastic job of setting the tone for the rest of the collection. Unfortunately, the stories begin to lose steam as the collection goes on.