Tales to Take Your Breath Away

by Eleanor Sullivan (Editor), Alfred Hitchcock (Creator)

This is the second in this series of anthologies of stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. And starting with this anthology, the even-numbered volumes in the series will consist of stories the editors of AHMM believe to be the best published in the magazine the previous year.
In these pages, then, you will find the most dastardly of plots, the wittiest of contrivances, the most suspicious of circumstances, the strangest of fiction, and the direst of schemes concocted by the contributors to AHMM in 1976. Twenty-nine tales in all, and each of them calculated to leave you breathless -- the total collection rife with the rogues and roguishness you've come to expect from the Master of Suspense.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Horror, Mystery

373 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

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

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume opens with the excellent "Arrowmont Prison Riddle". The rest of the stories are fine, all with a typical bent towards humor. I have a feeling that every story published in the Hitchcock magazine eventually also made it into the numerous short story volumes. That's okay, I've never read a bad/boring one, but only a few are truly great. So, yes, in each of these volumes you'll find at least one great story.

[Angie S · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was alright. I can't say the tales took my breath away. For the most part they just had quirky twists, and for the most part the twists were telegraphed well in advance. Three stories stood out.

The first was The Arrowmont Prison Riddle by Bill Pronzini. It was about how a prisoner seemingly disappeared from the hangman's noose. It was also the first story in the book, so it made for a strong opener. But, after that, the stories were mostly just "alright".

The next one that stood out for me was Crook of the Month by Robert Bloch. It was a very quirky story lampooning the popularity of best selling, low brow, seedy pot-boilers. Seems like Bloch had a lot of fun writing this intentionally goofy, over-the-top tale. He references the infamous "Aristocrats" joke so his story still resonates in an edgy and satirical way today. It was my favorite in the whole book just for its camp goofiness.

The final story that stood out was kind of for the wrong reasons. It was Looking for Milliken Street by Joyce Harrington. I'd say it was the only story in the whole book that somewhat took my breath away, but that was only because the ending was so dark and horrible. I was enjoying the story up until then. I didn't like it, but it did stand out.

It wasn't a terrible volume, but, for the most part, it just wasn't that interesting.

[Jenny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, I'm just being a little picky about what I spend my time reading these days. I read the first few stories in this, but it wasn't anything exciting, and short stories need to be good to get me into them. The first one, The Arrowmont Prisoner Riddle, about the hanged prisoner who turned out to not be dead after all, was good but nothing outstanding. It could be that these were better stories back when they were originally published, and they just can't stand up 50 years later. Or, as another review noted, this compilation may have included ALL stories published in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and the editor simply wasn't very discerning.

[Noel · Rating 2 out of 5]

The best that can be said about the stories in this book is that they are clever. I expected this to be a horror anthology, but the stories in this book are thrillers, and that's a generous assessment. They didn't really take my breath away. The gimmick of just about every story was a sort of poetic justice, and reading one was mildly entertaining but trying to read all of them got old really quick.

[Mel]

A lot of the tales are more O. Henry vibes (man gets out of prison to find urban renewal has covered up the coveted spot that cool million was hidden) than they are mystery / suspense / thriller.

The opener, however, with an executed man on a dark and stormy night leading to a mysterious disappearance, encompasses all three, so is well chosen to sucker me right in.

[AMD · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn't take my breath away, but most of the stories are very fun.

[Rasma Haidri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite dated tales, most of which are far too simple to take any modern reader's breath away... except, perhaps, in the form of a yawn.

[R. David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad if you like a variety of mystery, short stories, and suspense along with a little drama. Light reading to go to sleep by.