The earliest story in this one is from 1959, the latest from 1973, and again, all were originally published in AHMM.
Things get underway with Jonathan Craig’s excellent “Yesterday’s Evil”. An old man visits the scene of his monstrous crime 50 years earlier, to find that vengeance has been waiting on him. A great opening story.
“Suspicion, Suspicion”, by Richard O. Lewis, is a short, tongue-in-cheek story in which the affable narrator outlines some “suspicious” deaths in town. Syd Hoff’s “Pep Talk” is short and is basically a “joke” story; that is, a story that builds solely to a punch line that’s not particularly memorable. Disappointing considering how much I liked Hoff’s story in DEATH-MATE.
Fortunately, Fletcher Flora is next with “The Tool”. This is a sly, witty story that starts with a girl who despises her step-father, and a man having an affair with the girl’s mother—and ends in murder. It’s curiously open-ended and thoughtful. Fletcher Flora was pretty much incapable of writing anything less than a terrific story.
“Who’s Innocent?” by Lawrence Treat is a decent story about a small-town doctor who falls in love with his neighbor, ultimately leading him to cover up what appears to be a murder she committed. Ed Lacy’s “Heir to Murder” is a rather standard-type P.I. story about an inheritance, an assumed identity, and violent death.
In “Beginner’s Luck” by Richard Hardwick, a timid guy discovers first-hand that blackmailing someone is a lot more complicated—and deadly—than he ever realized. Edward D. Hoch’s “Two Days in Organville” finds a reporter back in his hometown, hunting leads on the mysterious death of his predecessor. “The Sonic Boomer” by William Brittain is a Cold War tale about government agents trying to find out the truth about an Albanian scientist’s new secret weapon.
C.B. Gilford’s “No Escape” is one of this collection’s high points: a policeman patrolling an empty park in off-season grows suspicious about a couple of vehicles, and his suspicions grow when two punks come out of the woods, having possibly committed a horrible crime.
In Theodore Mathieson’s “The Chess Partner”, a socially-awkward type plans murderous revenge on the man who always beats him at chess—and who perhaps stole the affections of the woman he loves, to boot. Edwin P. Hicks “Dr. Zinnkopf’s Devilish Device” is remarkable similar to the earlier story, “The Sonic Boomer”, in that it involves spies and a secret weapon that can shatter anything glass within miles.
I was glad to see Robert Alan Blair next, with another Fat Jow story, “Fat Jow and the Dragon Parade”. In this one, our pragmatic Chinese herbalist is drawn into investigating the murder of a noted Chinatown crime boss, only to wind up rescuing a young girl sold into concubinage. A good, solid story.
And finally, Richard Deming’s “Calculated Alibi” has the standard young lovers planning to do away with her rich old husband, only to have things go typically wrong.
Stand-out stories: “Yesterday’s Evil”, “The Tool”, “No Escape”, and “Fat Jow and the Dragon Parade”.