RENDEZVOUS IN BLACK is my favorite Woolrich novel and I am
about halfway through writing a long post on that novel. If
only every day life would slow up a little so I can finish
it!
NIGHTWEBS is not a bad introduction to Woolrich's shorter
work, especially given the lengthy material by Mike Nevins on
his career.
There is a bewildering number of Woolrich/Irish short story
collections with overlaping contents. The Woolrich collection
NIGHTMARE had a fairly recent Dell paperback and should be
fairly easy to find. It has the classic "Three O'Clock" which
Hitchcock directed a television adaptation (called "One
Hour") which starred E.G. Marshall and I remember it vividly
despite the five plus decades since viewing it.
SOMEBODY ON THE PHONE (aka DEADLY NIGHT CALL) by William
Irish includes several notable stories including "Momentum"
(aka "Murder Always Gathers Momentum") from 1940 is one of
his more effective stories of a man hell-bent for destruction
and "Boy With Body" (aka "The Corpse and the Kid") which is
from 1935 and Woolrich's first use of third person, past
tense after turning to crime fiction in 1934. The collection
also includes "The Room with Something Wrong" (aka "Murder in
Room 913") which many consider one of his best stories. The
title story is a rare Woolrich short-short and its pretty
good as well. So I would rate this one of the best
collections if you can find a copy. There was a Graphic
paperback which includes fewer stories than the hardback but
all the ones mentioned above. Woolrich (or the book editor)
certainly improved on the titles the stories carried in their
original pulp appearances.
I would not recommend ANGELS OF DARKNESS (Mysterious Press
1978) which came just before the Woolrich revival of the
1980s. The introduction by Harlan Ellison very frankly states
that with one exception this is not Woolrich at his best.
Wish I had read that before plunking down money for the
limited edition. But the one story he singled out for praise
"For the Rest of Her Life" from the May 1968 issue of Ellery
Queen Mystery Magazine demonstrates that even at the end of
his life, Woolrich could work his old magic.
Richard Moore
--- In
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, <funkmasterj@...>
wrote:
>
> I am currently reading Nightwebs. I really enjoy his
short stories.
I didn't like Waltz into Darkness, which so far is the only
of his novels I've read.
>
> What collections of his short stories and which
novels are best? How
is the Bridge Wore Black vs. Rendezvous in Black?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jordan
>
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