Hang on to your tranquilizers and prepare yourself for a parade of diabolical plots that will keep you screaming on the edge of your seat. It's an insidious Alfred Hitchcock extravaganza, with one of the finest troupes of literary terrorists ever.

Room with a view / Hal Dresner --
Lemmings / Richard Mathieson --
White goddess / Idris Seabright --
Call for help / Robert Arthur --
View from the terrace / Mike Marmer --
Something short of murder / Henry Slesar --
The golden girl / Ellis Peters --
The boy who predicted earthquakes / Margaret St. Clair --
Walking alone / Miriam Allen Deford --
For all the rude people / Jack Ritchie --
Sorry, wrong number / Lucille Fletcher and Allan Ullman

Back in the 1970s I used to enjoy reading Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine as well as his anthologies that came out in paperback and hardcover. Many of the anthologies included reprints from his magazine but also included other classic suspense stories. This volume is actually the second part of an anthology that Hitchcock put out in hardcover in 1965: STORIES NOT FOR THE NERVOUS. The first part was published in paperback under the same name in 1966.

I thought this was overall a very good collection of murder and suspense tales that usually included a surprising twist or two at the end. I enjoyed almost all of these even though they were definitely dated. For example, Something Short of Murder was about a woman who had an addiction to betting on the horses. She would make 5 dollar bets and had run up a debt to the mob of a whopping 25 dollars that she couldn't repay. But of course she did find a way. . . This story was originally published in 1957 and things were a little cheaper then!

Included at the end of this collection was Louise Fletcher's novella Sorry Wrong Number. I remember reading this back in high school as part of a literature class. It's one of those stories that seemed to stick in my memory. It's about an invalid woman who overhears a murder plot when her phone wires get crossed with another line. Of course it turns out that the plot is intended for her murder and paid for by her husband who had married her for her money. The story goes on using a set time for the murder which makes it all the more suspenseful as time is running out. . . This was originally a play that aired in 1943 on the Suspense radio program. It was also made into a successful noir movie in 1948 with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster.

Adding to the Anthology/Short Story Bookbox. Hope someone will enjoy it.

Received, and released back to, the Anthology / Short Stories Collections bookbox, Fall-Winter 2023-24.

taken from the Anthology / Short Stories Collections bookbox, Fall-Winter 2023-24.