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Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents More Stories for Late at Night
CONTENTS
"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby
"Lady's Man" by Ruth Chatterton
"The Sound Machine" by Roald Dahl
"Pieces of Silver" by Brett Halliday
"The Whispering Room" by William Hope Hodgson
"Told for the Truth" by Cyril Hume
"The Fly" (novelette) by George Langelaan
"The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry
"Finger! Finger!" by Margaret Roman
"A Cry from the Penthouse" by Henry Slesar
"The People Next Door" by Pauline C. Smith.
"It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby
"Lady's Man" by Ruth Chatterton
"The Sound Machine" by Roald Dahl
"Pieces of Silver" by Brett Halliday
"The Whispering Room" by William Hope Hodgson
"Told for the Truth" by Cyril Hume
"The Fly" (novelette) by George Langelaan
"The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry
"Finger! Finger!" by Margaret Roman
"A Cry from the Penthouse" by Henry Slesar
"The People Next Door" by Pauline C. Smith.
207 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1962
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118 people want to read
About the author
Alfred Hitchcock
1,145 books772 followersSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) was an iconic and highly influential film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.
Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.
Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.
Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.
Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.
Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 24, 2017
More Stories for Late at Night is the 1961 follow up to 12 Stories for Late at Night; both volumes were originally published as a single hardcover, and this second volume was also reprinted in 1971 as Skeleton Crew. Like its predecessor, More Stories has a strong focus on horror rather than the usual crime/suspense focus of most AH anthologies and makes for a nice change of pace. The stories date form 1927 to 1959 and are culled from a variety of sources.
In "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, a young boy who can read minds and alter reality terrorizes his family and neighbors. Familiar, right? It was adapted into an excellent episode of Twilight Zone some time later.
Ruth Chatterton's "Lady's Man" is odd in that it's told as if it was a true story (maybe it is, what do I know?) about the author's ghostly encounter while staying the evening at the home of Noel Coward. I found it a bit artificial and tedious.
"The Sound Machine" by Roald Dahl is next, and you can pretty much read "by Roald Dahl" as "excellent". A man invents a machine that can hear things far outside the normal human range, and what he hears is horrifying.
Brett Halliday is known for the P.I. character Mike Shayne, but in "Pieces of Silver" he spins an enjoyable yarn about a mild mannered fellow living amongst the natives in Mexico who must contend with a brutish American who has less than noble designs on his daughter.
William Hope Hodgson's "The Whistling Room" is a tale about his occult detective character Carnaki, in which the stoic hero investigates a castle room infested by an ancient evil.
In "Told for the Truth" by Cyril Hume, a young man is infatuated and repelled at the same time by his friend's strangely primal new wife.
I had no idea "The Fly" was a novella before it was a film, by the French writer George Langelaan. You already know the story, I'm sure. It was very good and very creepy.
"The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry is a very short tale about an attempted mugging by some street punks that goes horribly wrong. Nothing supernatural in this one, but still quite unsettling.
In "Finger! Finger!" by Margaret Ronan, a young serving girl is is menaced by her creepy mistress.
Henry Slesar pops up in these AH anthologies a lot, and he rarely if ever lets the reader down. "A Cry from the Penthouse" is a great hardboiled one about a fella who gets locked out on the terrace of a penthouse in sub-zero degree weather by his enemy, and what he has to do to survive.
Finally, in Pauline C. Smith's nicely understated "The People Next Door" a wife recovering from a nervous breakdown is the only witness to her neighbor's increasingly suspicious behavior.
Highlights: "The Sound Machine", "The Fly", "The Mugging", "A Cry from the Penthouse", and "The People Next Door".
In "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby, a young boy who can read minds and alter reality terrorizes his family and neighbors. Familiar, right? It was adapted into an excellent episode of Twilight Zone some time later.
Ruth Chatterton's "Lady's Man" is odd in that it's told as if it was a true story (maybe it is, what do I know?) about the author's ghostly encounter while staying the evening at the home of Noel Coward. I found it a bit artificial and tedious.
"The Sound Machine" by Roald Dahl is next, and you can pretty much read "by Roald Dahl" as "excellent". A man invents a machine that can hear things far outside the normal human range, and what he hears is horrifying.
Brett Halliday is known for the P.I. character Mike Shayne, but in "Pieces of Silver" he spins an enjoyable yarn about a mild mannered fellow living amongst the natives in Mexico who must contend with a brutish American who has less than noble designs on his daughter.
William Hope Hodgson's "The Whistling Room" is a tale about his occult detective character Carnaki, in which the stoic hero investigates a castle room infested by an ancient evil.
In "Told for the Truth" by Cyril Hume, a young man is infatuated and repelled at the same time by his friend's strangely primal new wife.
I had no idea "The Fly" was a novella before it was a film, by the French writer George Langelaan. You already know the story, I'm sure. It was very good and very creepy.
"The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry is a very short tale about an attempted mugging by some street punks that goes horribly wrong. Nothing supernatural in this one, but still quite unsettling.
In "Finger! Finger!" by Margaret Ronan, a young serving girl is is menaced by her creepy mistress.
Henry Slesar pops up in these AH anthologies a lot, and he rarely if ever lets the reader down. "A Cry from the Penthouse" is a great hardboiled one about a fella who gets locked out on the terrace of a penthouse in sub-zero degree weather by his enemy, and what he has to do to survive.
Finally, in Pauline C. Smith's nicely understated "The People Next Door" a wife recovering from a nervous breakdown is the only witness to her neighbor's increasingly suspicious behavior.
Highlights: "The Sound Machine", "The Fly", "The Mugging", "A Cry from the Penthouse", and "The People Next Door".
January 22, 2026
(I found the Dell paperback edition pictured with a cover price of 50 cents at the thrift shop.)
What an entertaining collection of 11 short stories!
They're all suspenseful, many or most involving horror, but some are crime-based and not supernatural at all (for example, "The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry and "A Cry from the Penthouse" by Henry Slesar and "The People Next Door" by Pauline C. Smith).
One unexpected highlight was the story (or "novelette" as it's called in the TOC) "The Fly" by French-British writer George Langelaan. This story was first published in the June 1957 issue of "Playboy" magazine! It was adapted to the big screen first in 1958 ("The Fly" starring Vincent Price) and again in 1986 (with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis). This was my first time reading the story, and it was pretty good! It still holds up well, even though it's now nearly 70 years old!
The first story of the collection — "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby — really sets the bar pretty high in the weird department. I loved how the story doesn't tell you what's going on, but leaves it to you, the reader, to figure it out little by little, and the suspense and horror grow and grow. Effective and memorable. I understand it was later the basis of an episode of "The Twilight Zone."
Good writing from start to finish!
What an entertaining collection of 11 short stories!
They're all suspenseful, many or most involving horror, but some are crime-based and not supernatural at all (for example, "The Mugging" by Edward L. Perry and "A Cry from the Penthouse" by Henry Slesar and "The People Next Door" by Pauline C. Smith).
One unexpected highlight was the story (or "novelette" as it's called in the TOC) "The Fly" by French-British writer George Langelaan. This story was first published in the June 1957 issue of "Playboy" magazine! It was adapted to the big screen first in 1958 ("The Fly" starring Vincent Price) and again in 1986 (with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis). This was my first time reading the story, and it was pretty good! It still holds up well, even though it's now nearly 70 years old!
The first story of the collection — "It's a Good Life" by Jerome Bixby — really sets the bar pretty high in the weird department. I loved how the story doesn't tell you what's going on, but leaves it to you, the reader, to figure it out little by little, and the suspense and horror grow and grow. Effective and memorable. I understand it was later the basis of an episode of "The Twilight Zone."
Good writing from start to finish!
August 12, 2021
There were a couple of really good ones in here. Many of them are written in the style that leaves the radar the pieces that need to be out together to figure out what just happened. I particularly liked The Fly. I remember seeing the movie when I was younger and enjoyed reading the story it was based on.
May 27, 2021
"The Fly" is even more gruesome than I had remembered!
September 13, 2013
Some of the stories will leave you thinking the entire night. Some with abrupt endings, some with a predictable ending but all of them are so real and detailed that you feel that you are a part of the story.
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July 29, 2010Alfred Hitchcock Presents Stories for Late at Night by Alfred Hitchcock (1961)
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews