Buy them, Kent. You are unlikely to be too disappointed,
particularly at that price.
However, there are at least three kinds of ALFRED HITCHCOCK
anthologies. The one Doug mentions below, AH PRESENTS: THE
MASTER'S CHOICE, is I think the last of the anthologies
apparently edited by AH but actually ghost-edited by Robert
Arthur or Harold Masur (Masur in this case; I think Masur
inherited the job from Arthur); the first books in this
series may've been actually selected by AH, but they became a
franchise, drawing from many sources, and average very high.
Most of those were distinguished by being AH PRESENTS; Dell
published two-volume paperback reprints of the Random House
originals of this series. Dell also published best-ofs of
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE, and these were titled
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S NOOSE REPORT and similarly, always AH'S
[SOMETHING]. And then there were the young-readers'
anthologies ghost-edited by Robert Arthur, such as AH'S
HAUNTED HOUSEFUL and AH'S SINISTER SPIES.
AHMM published quite a lot of good material in the '70s as
well, from the perspective of this list...it got more
softboiled in the '80s, but till then featured tables of
contents full of occasionally surprising and usually reliable
writers. And even the "softer" AHMM still offers some good
material...I'm particularly happy with the late Charles
Sheffield's story in the current issue, and the reprint of
(the also late) Henry Slesar's first AHMM story isn't too
shabby, either. But ignore the awful cover story.
-----Original Message----- From: Doug Bassett [mailto:
dj_bassett@yahoo.com] Sent: Sunday, November 17, 2002
10:29 AM To:
rara-avis@icomm.ca Subject: RARA-AVIS: On Hitchcock
anthologies
Somehow I deleted the original request about Hitchcock
anthologies -- sorry.
Anyhow, I'd take a look at the contents of the books, and if
you recognize any names, pick them up. A lot of very
interesting authors published in AH Magazine, especially in
the Fifties and Sixties.
Right now I have ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS THE MASTERS CHOICE
in one of my to-be-read stacks, for instance, and a quick
look at the contents reveals stories by Robert Edmond Alter,
Lawrence Block, Robert L. Fish, Davis Grubb, John D.
Macdonald, Ross Macdonald, Richard Matheson, and Bill
Pronzini.
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