Quiet Horror

by Stanley Ellin

Original title: Mystery Stories
A short story collection

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Stanley Bernard Ellin was a mystery writer of short stories and novels. He won the Edgar Allan Poe Award three times and the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere once, and in 1981 he was awarded with the Mystery Writers of America's highest honor, the Grand Master Award.

Reviews

[Steve Banes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A jaw-dropping collection of intensely awesome short stories that originally appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine from 1948 through 1956. "The Specialty of the House" is the story that put Ellin on the map with its uniquely styled "flavor", and the remaining 9 tales are just as strong and stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone else writing in the field of morbid mystery and the non-sci-fi Twilight Zone style weird thrills and suspenseful fiction at the time. There's also a fascinating intro from Ellery Queen himself, chronicling Stanley's award winning achievements in his first decade of story submissions. Signet Books followed up this collection a year later with The Blessington Method and Other Strange Stories, 10 more superb examples of Ellin's output from 1956 through 1964. Both highly recommended!

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stanley Ellin was perhaps the most consistently excellent writer of short stories in the mystery field. There are ten stories in Quiet Horror:

"The Specialty of the House"
"The Cat's Paw"
"Death on Christmas Eve"
"The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby"
"Fool's Mate"
"The Best of Everything"
"The Betrayers"
"The House Party"
"Broker's Special"
"The Moment of Decision"

All the stories originally appeared between 1948 and 1956. Several of them were filmed, mostly for Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

"Specialty" was Ellin's first published story. In Ellery Queen's introduction, he quotes Anthony Boucher calling it "a subtle masterpiece" and "the best first-published story I've ever read." It is an excellent story; the AHP adaptation, starring Robert Morley and Kenneth Haigh, is surely one of the most acclaimed episodes from that series.

Despite the title, only one of the stories is a traditional supernatural horror story. Still, it is hard to argue with Quiet Horror as a most appropriate title. (The book was originally published as Mystery Stories, which was an accurate but very unexciting title.)

There is only one story in here I don't particularly care for and a half a dozen that I think are terrific. One, "The House Party," won the Edgar Award for best short mystery story of the year.

I highly recommend all of Ellin's short story collections.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stanley Ellin’s first short story collection, it was published in 1959 with the title Mystery Stories. Later, the title was changed to Quiet Horror - more dramatic but perhaps misleading. The collection includes ten stories, originally published between 1948 and 1956 in the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. These are not horror stories of the blood and gore type and some may find them scarcely horror stories at all. They are a mixed bag of mysteries with elements of foreboding and dread or tales of murder (actual or intended) that tend to conclude with irony or some form of poetic justice. They are very well written and cleverly constructed to hold the reader’s attention. The endings are quite diverse. Some involve retribution, others irony, and a few are unsettling, strange or inconclusive. The stories are all products of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Several reflect the social conventions and mindsets of those times, while others deal with humanity's eternal interpersonal preoccupations and vexations. I enjoyed reading this collection and found the stories entertaining but not really exceptional. This may explain why the book hasn’t been republished since 1965. (3+ stars rounded up to 4)

"The Specialty of the House"..... 4
"The Cat's Paw"........ 4
"Death on Christmas Eve"......... 3
"The Orderly World of Mr. Appleby".. 4
"Fool's Mate"....... 3
"The Best of Everything"............ 4
"The Betrayers"................. 4
"The House Party"......... 3
"Broker's Special".......... 4
"The Moment of Decision".......... 3