Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read With the Door Locked
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read With the Door Locked
- published in 1975 in the USA by Random House (hardback)
- 368 pages
Tagline
- Murder and Suspense That Will Chill, Excite, or Even Occasionally Amuse.
Contents
- Introduction by Alfred Hitchcock
- Hijack by Robert L. Fish
- Tomorrow and ... Tomorrow by Adobe James
- Funeral in Another Town by Jerry Jacobson
- A Case for Quiet by William Jeffrey
- A Good Head for Murder by Charles W. Runyon
- The Invisible Cat by Betty Ren Wright
- Royal Jelly novelette by Roald Dahl
- Light Verse by Isaac Asimov
- The Distributor by Richard Matheson
- How Henry J. Littlefinger Licked the Hippies' Scheme to Take Over the Country by Tossing Pot in Postage Stamp Glue by John Keefauver
- The Leak by Jacques Futrelle
- All the Sounds of Fear by Harlan Ellison
- Little Foxes Sleep Warm by Waldo Carlton Wright
- The Graft Is Green novelette by Harold Q. Masur
- View by Moonlight by Patricia McGerr
- There Hangs Death! by John D. MacDonald
- Lincoln's Doctor's Son's Dog by Warner Law
- Coyote Street by Gary Brandner
- Zombique by Joseph Payne Brennan
- The Pattern by Bill Pronzini
- Pipe Dream by Alan Dean Foster
- Shottle Bop novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
- The Magnum by Jack Ritchie
- Voices in the Dust by Gerald Kersh
- The Odor of Melting by Edward D. Hoch
- The Sound of Murder by William P. McGivern
- The Income Tax Mystery by Michael Gilbert
- Watch for It by Joseph N. Gores
- The Affair of the Twisted Scarf novelette by Rex Stout
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read With the Door Locked - Volume 1
- published in January 1977 in the USA by Dell Publishing (paperback)
- 219 pages
Tagline
- You can't hide from horror when Hitchcock comes with his skeleton keys!
Contents
- Hijack by Robert L. Fish
- Tomorrow and ... Tomorrow by Adobe James
- Funeral in Another Town by Jerry Jacobson
- A Case for Quiet by William Jeffrey
- A Good Head for Murder by Charles W. Runyon
- The Invisible Cat by Betty Ren Wright
- Royal Jelly novelette by Roald Dahl
- Light Verse by Isaac Asimov
- The Distributor by Richard Matheson
- How Henry J. Littlefinger Licked the Hippies' Scheme to Take Over the Country by Tossing Pot in Postage Stamp Glue by John Keefauver
- The Leak by Jacques Futrelle
- All the Sounds of Fear by Harlan Ellison
- Little Foxes Sleep Warm by Waldo Carlton Wright
- The Graft Is Green novelette by Harold Q. Masur
Inner Page
WHO'S THAT PEEKING THROUGH THE KEYHOLE?
Is it a nasty voyeur, looking for illicit views of depraved sensuality?
Is it a special agent of the CIA hunting for a sinister enemy operative?
Is it some tabloid snoop trying to uncover new Washington scandals?
No, Dear Reader, it's you—squinting with delicious dread at the houseful of horrors that Alfred Hitchcock has designed for your shivery delight. It's a nice place to look at—from a safe distance. But you wouldn't want to die there.
Stories to Be Read with the Door Locked
Fourteen skeletons in the closet
Acknowledgements
- The editor gratefully acknowledges the invaluable assistance of Harold Q. Masur in the preparation of this volume
Introduction
Good evening.
I trust that you have been profitably occupied since our last meeting. My unemployed Uncle Albert often told me that idle hands lead one to mischief. So I myself have been busy in the interim preparing this new collection for your reading pleasure.
As you well know, I am in the business of entertainment, and in all the long years of relentlessly searching for likely material one's appetite is apt to become jaded. So the discovery of original stories, stories that can excite or delight, that will chill or perhaps even kill, provides a rare gratification.
Now the word "kill" may of course be somewhat of an exaggeration. The printed page is not generally fatal. On the other hand, no foundation or trust that I know of has ever financed any research into this area. It is not beyond the realm of possibility. It is a biological fact that excitement makes the heart beat faster. And an accelerated heartbeat could conceivably pump an existing embolism into some critical artery. This has been known to stop the works completely.
Caution, then, is the watchword. If you are a candidate for so gruesome a fate you should not be here in the first place. This introduction is as far as you go. You should donate this book at once to some worthy charity. I suggest instead that you read Ferdinand the Bull or Little Women.
A final word.
Unlike television, the editing of this volume requires no sponsors. As a consequence, we do not have to waste time listening to peddlers hawking deodorants or denture fixatives that permit octogenarians to chew salt-water taffy. We can get right down to the business at hand.
So, if you please, make sure the door is locked, then doublelock it, turn the page and start to read.
Back Page
HITCHCOCK HAS YOU WHERE HE WANTS YOU
You've drawn the blinds against the night. You've taken the phone off the hook. You've double-locked every door. But if you think you are safe, you're dead wrong. There's no escape once you open this book, and let loose the evil which Alfred Hitchcock has personally packed inside. Here are the most fearsome visitors ever to destroy your defenses and haunt your imagination—in two nerve-twisting novelettes and twelve terror tales...
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Stories to Be Read With the Door Locked - Volume 2
- published in July 1977 in the USA by Dell Publishing (paperback)
- 251 pages
- Also published by Dell Publishing as Alfred Hitchcock Presents: I Want My Mummy
Contents
- View by Moonlight by Patricia McGerr
- There Hangs Death! by John D. MacDonald
- Lincoln's Doctor's Son's Dog by Warner Law
- Coyote Street by Gary Brandner
- Zombique by Joseph Payne Brennan
- The Pattern by Bill Pronzini
- Pipe Dream by Alan Dean Foster
- Shottle Bop novelette by Theodore Sturgeon
- The Magnum by Jack Ritchie
- Voices in the Dust by Gerald Kersh
- The Odor of Melting by Edward D. Hoch
- The Sound of Murder by William P. McGivern
- The Income Tax Mystery by Michael Gilbert
- Watch for It by Joseph N. Gores
- The Affair of the Twisted Scarf novelette by Rex Stout
Notes
- A Case for Quiet appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (September 1971)
- The Pattern appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (August 1971)
- A Good Head for Murder appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (November 1974)
Links
- Open Library - available to borrow as an eBook
- Casual Debris - An Alfred Hitchcock Anthology Bibliography
Image Gallery
Images from the Hitchcock Gallery (click to view larger versions or search for all relevant images)...