Alfred Hitchcock's Tales to Send Chills Down Your Spine

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

Introduction

Do you like to be agitated? Shocked? Jarred? Do you like your reading disquieting, turbulent, icy? Do you like it to shake you up? To pack a wallop? To fill you with fear and trembling? This fifth anthology in the new series of stories from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine--with each of the first eighteen years of the magazine (1956-1973) represented by at least one story--provides the kind of chill-causing excitement you've come to expect from the Master of Suspense.

Here are stories from Patricia Highsmith (who wrote Strangers on a Train), Robert Bloch (who wrote Psycho), and 27 others whose spine-tingling fiction has earned them the warm support of Alfred Hitchcock fans for years.

Genres: Short Stories, Mystery, Horror, Fiction, Anthologies, Short Story Collection, Classics

348 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (13 August 1899 - 29 April 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.

Reviews

[Cindy]

This was published in 1979. The 29 stories are from the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Starting in 1956 & the last one in 1973. They're all good, solid stories. Not a clunker in the bunch. Although I hadn't read this book in many years, I still remembered a lot of the stories, which is the sign of a good book for me. I think the story that truly sent "chills down my spine" was "Go To Sleep, Darling". The kind of story that's every parent's nightmare.

[Sarah]

3,5 ⭐
Nach meinem letzten Roman habe ich ein eher kurzes und schnell lesbares Buch gebraucht. Was eignet sich da besser als Kurzgeschichten? Die 9 Geschichten, präsentiert von Alfred Hitchcock, sind wirklich spannend und unterhaltsam. Es handelt sich um kleine Mini Krimis, mit einer sehr düsteren Grundstimmung. Das Lesen hat auf jeden Fall Spaß gemacht. Ich habe nur leider prinzipiell ein Problem mit Kurzgeschichten. Ich wünschte, dass die Storys einfach länger und tiefgehender wären. Aber das ist eine generelle Genre Problematik, wofür wohl keiner viel kann.

[Richp]

People who have watched the reruns of his half hour tv show (or the originals) may not recognize these individual stories, but will certainly recognize the type of stories: crime fiction with a twist, sometimes humerous, sometimes horrifying. As collections go, this was definitely well above average, which should not be too surprising given that one or two stories a year were selected from his magazine.

[R. David]

Light ... going to sleep reading.

[NK]

A good assortment of short stories that represent 1956 to 1973 in Mystery magazine. Macabre. It holds your interest.

[Mimi]

So much fun! A great collection with memorable stories! Runs the gamut from crime to speculative fiction to Southern(?) tall tale. Some poignant, but most tongue-in-cheek with whip-crack endings.

Includes:

A Bottle of Wine by Borden Deal
The Glass Bridge by Robert Arthur
Luck Is No Lady by Robert Bloch
The Exit Was a Wall by Evans Harrington
An Interlude For Murder by Paul Tabori
Peephole by Henry Slesar
Death Overdue by Eleanor Daly Boylan
The Best-Friend Murder by Donald E. Westlake
Man Bites Dogs by Donald Honig
Go to Sleep, Darling by James Holding
Murder is Dominant by Glenn Andrews
A Reform Movement by Donald Martin
Remote Control by Jean Garris
The Bond by Bob Bristow
The Seeing Eye by Warren Donahue
Never Trust an Ancestor by Michael Zuroy
Anyone For Murder? by Jack Ritchie
Death by Misadventure by Wenzell Brown
With a Smile For The Ending by Lawrence Block
Don't Hang Up by Michael Wilson
Another War by Edward D. Hoch
Pressure by Roderick Wilkinson
The Running Man by Bill Pronzini
Sparrow on a String by Alice Scanlan Reach
The Clock is Cuckoo by Richard Deming
Esther's Dress by Donald Olson
A Gallon of Gas by William Brittain
Night of the Twisters by James Michael Ullman
Variations on a Game by Patricia Highsmith

Favorites:
*Luck Is No Lady
*The Exit Was a Wall
*Go To Sleep, Darling
*Death By Misadventure
*The Clock is Cuckoo

although they're, really, all good.

[Jimmy]

Judging it alongside other Hitchcock anthology books, I give this one a medium rating. Of its 29 crime short stories (from 1956-1973) a few are pretty mediocre (including, surprisingly, Variations On A Game by Patricia Highsmith of Strangers On A Train).  Some stand out as really superior though: The Glass Bridge by Robert Arthur is a mystery worthy of Lieutenant Columbo.  Luck Is No Lady by Robert Bloch (of Psycho fame)  is a strangely atmospheric story of a small-time gambler whose run of good luck seems to be connected to a mysteriously silent female companion recently appeared out of nowhere. Peephole, a 1959 story by Henry Slesar, involves a spying store detective who falls in love with a beautiful blonde he regularly observes in the dressing room in the act of shoplifting. The story's erotic undertones would appeal to Hitchcock, who allegedly had a spying fetish, preferably when it involved cool criminal blondes. Go To Sleep, Darling  is a scary piece about a beautiful stylish woman stranger who offers to drive a little girl home in her convertible and is gradually revealed to be insane, and James Holding's The Clock Is Cuckoo is another worthwhile mystery.

[Shannah]

I enjoyed the book. The stories were interesting, and the characters perfectly defined. At the end of each story you weren’t left wanting more, but instead it was a sense of contentment. It’s hard to summarize the entire book since there are so many stories but the overall prevailing theme was murder. Basically every story had someone die in it and usually it was at the fault of the protagonist. Theres not much to say if you enjoy a quick read and want some suspenseful and spooky stories for Halloween then I suggest this book.

[Adam Shelp]

Fun collection of thrillers from the 50’s-70’s. Nearly all have some kind of twist ending. Some of my favorites were:

Luck is no Lady - Robert Bloch
Peephole - Henry Slesar
Go to sleep, Darling - James Holding
Murder is Dominant - Glenn Andrew’s
Death by Misadventure - Wenzell Brown
Sparrow on a String - Alice Scanlon Reach
Esther’s Dress - Donald Olson

[John Sargent]

Some duds but most were gems

[Linda Fallows]

Although the stories are quite dated they capture the flavour of the times.

[Belle Meade School]

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