ROBERT A. HEINLEIN “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag.” Novella. First published in Unknown Worlds, October 1942. Collected in The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag (Gnome Press, hardcover, 1959). Reprinted in 6 x H (Pyramid G642, paperback original, 1961), among others.

   Jonathan Hoag hires the husband-and-wife team of Randall & Craig, Confidential Investigation to solve the mystery of the dirty fingernails. The nails are his. Under them is a dried brownish blood-like substance. The doctor who analyzes it throws him out of his office, and Hoag discovers that he does not know what he does all day.

   The solution, as he sees it, is to have himself shadowed.

   But this is no mere detective story, but a powerful fantasy that creates doubts as to the reality of the world around us. Unfortunately is might have been a better story as a mystery, except that the explanation dies have to transcend the limits of everyday detection.

   Still, it is too easy to throw away the beginning for the less restrictive.

Rating: ****

ROBERT BLOCH “Is Betsey Blake Still Alive?” First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, April 1958. First collected in Blood Runs Cold (Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1961). First reprinted in Ellery Queen’s Murder—in Spades!, edited by Ellery Queen (Pyramid, paperback, 1969). Reprinted and collected many other times since, often with changes in the title. (See Comment #5.) TV adaptation: Alfred Hitchcock Presents (March 27, 1960) as “Madame Mystery,” with Audrey Totter as the title character.

   This small chiller of a story takes place in Hollywood, where a writer turns down the chance offered him by a live-wire PR agent to help him publicize a movie star’s latest and possibly final film by building up a huge campaign on her life after her assumed death in a motorboat accident. When I say huge, I mean the works. Ads and magazine stories galore. Is she alive? And if so, where is she?

   All is going well, extremely well, when … you probably guessed it – [Plot Alert] the lady shows up. All that work? For next to nothing? Usually this is as far as I’d go in telling you about a story, but since you’ve been warned, I will let you know the lady disappears again. In all likelihood this time she is as dead as she can be. [End Plot Alert.] But of course that is not the end of the story.

   Author Robert Bloch tells the story as smoothly as he ever did, and maybe even more. Once started you are not likely to put this one down. And yes, the very last line is a small masterpiece.

RAY BRADBURY “Gotcha!” First published in Redbook, August 1978. Collected in The Stories of Ray Bradbury (Knopf, 1980). Reprinted in The Year’s Finest Fantasy Volume 2, edited by Terry Carr (Berkley, 1979) and A Century of Horror 1970-1979, edited by David Drake & Martin H. Greenberg (MJF Books, 1996). TV Adaptation: Ray Bradbury Theater, February 20, 1988 (Season 2, Number 4). [See comment #15.]

   There are authors whose work you can easily recognize – or even more easily, make a pretty good guess – by reading only the first paragraph or two, even if it’s a game you’re playing and it’s hidden from you. Case in point:

   
   Well, what do you think?

   On the particular night that this story takes place, the lady suggests they play a game. In bed. One called Gotcha, she says. He hesitates but then he agrees, That’s when things get scary. Very very scary.

   It gets scarier. You may want to leave the light on tonight when you go to bed, whether alone or with someone else. The ending is not quite as effective as what has come before, but it’s good enough:

ELLERY QUEEN “The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats.” Ellery Queen. First published in The Adventures of Ellery Queen (Stokes, hardcover, 1934). Reprinted in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, January 2016, the opening story in the first month of the magazine’s year-long 75th anniversary celebration.

   Ellery stops at a pet store thinking perhaps to buy a dog and ends up solving a very strange case involving cats, seven of them, all black, all purchased from the store at a rate of one a week by a bedridden older lady named Euphemia Tarkle, who is known to hate cats. Ellery’s curiosity is aroused. What is going on?

   The owner of the story is one Marie Curleigh, young and very pretty. Realizing he needs assistance in any sort of investigation to follow, Ellery asks: “Miss Curleigh, I’m an incurable meddler in the affairs of others. How would you like to help me meddle in the affairs of the mysterious Tarkle sisters?”

   And of course she does. The story that follows is meticulously planned out, and will be a lot of fun to read by any mystery fan who likes, no loves, following along with the clues. One negative note should be mentioned, however. The culprit at the end can easily be discerned by the judicious process of elimination. Too few suspects there are, that is. (Not that I did, but I could have, and should have.)

   And if asked, I could come up with a couple of other notes. The superintendent of the building where Miss Tarkle lives is named Harry Potter. And Miss Curleigh is such an agreeable assistant in this case that one wishes she might have appeared as well in other tales in Queen canon. I don’t believe she did. She should have.

GERALD KERSH “The Ambiguities of Lo Yeing Pai.” Vara the Tailor #4. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, July 1968, Not known to have been reprinted,

   I have not read much of the novels and other short fiction of Gerald Kersh, but based on what I have read, including this one, he was a magnificent writer – a man born to write. His Wikipedia page is here:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Kersh

   Even better, here’s the first page of another summary of his life and career, as posted by SF writer Harlan Ellison, champion of his writing like none other:

      https://harlanellison.com/kersh/index.htm

   Assuming you have now gone and come back, I will now be content to talk only about this one short tale. It’s a minor piece in many ways, and yet a completely fascinating one. Vara is a tailor, plying his trade somewhere in Manhattan, and as the tale begins, he is busy declining the advances of a salesman offering a fantastic deal on a neon sign for his shop.

   To further his explanation of why he is not interested in the offer, Vara tells the salesman and another man (who may be Kersh himself) a story of a murder, that of one of two Chinese partners in the ownership of their own shop, also somewhere in Manhattan – but one that was close by.

   As I say, it’s any ordinary tale, a mystery, one with a happy ending, more or less, a puzzle of words, you might say. The magic is in the telling, though, a magical way of talking about events that had already happened. What it was that made me smile every so often were the diversions that Vara takes his listeners along upon.

   I shan’t say more. If you ever happen to pick up this particular issue of EQQM, make sure you read this one. Don’t pass it by. It’s the last story in the issue; make sure you read it before setting the magazine down for good.
   

      The Vara the Tailor series —

The Incorruptible Tailor (The Ugly Face of Love and Other Stories, 1958)
The Geometry of the Skirt (EQMM, 1965)
Old Betsey (The Hospitality of Miss Tolliver and Other Stories, 1965)
The Ambiguities of Lo Yeing Pai (EQMM, 1968)

PATRICIA McGERR “Match Point in Berlin.” Novelet. Published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 1968. . Winner of the MWA contest sponsored by EQMM the preceding year. Not known to have been reprinted. [This statement is incorrect. It was the basis of Chapters 1-3 of Mead’s fixup novel Legacy of Danger. See Comment #3, by Mike Grost.] Drawing below by Austin Briggs.

   Selena Mead was at one time (the 60s) what might be called a hot item. As one of the few female espionage agents in the business, she appeared in some 25 short stories, one novel, and one collection (cleverly disguised as a novel), Before the lady’s first  appearance in 1963, her creator, Patricia McGerr, had been the author of a number of traditional mysteries, but with several based on gimmicks, shall we say, that few other authors would have been hard pressed to even imagine.

   As an example, one of these, Pick Your Victim, reviewed by Bill Deeck earlier on this blog, involves case in which “the murderer is known but the victim is not.” Here’s the link:

         https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=24770

   Mrs. Mead had already been around for a while when “Match Point in Berlin” was published, but it goes way back in her career, in fact before she even had a career. It begins when she was a young woman who is waiting for a train in Berlin as the first step in returning her to a life back in Washington DC, one that she believes she wants. It is a totally mundane one, or it would be, especially compared to one she ends up really having.

   But a man, recognizing her as an American, gives her a list of – she doesn’t know, but he is quite serious about it not falling into the wrong hands.

   It is hidden in a box of matches, or is it? Through a series of mishaps (or are they?) a chase ensues, taking her through all sorts of areas of Berlin where a young naive woman should perhaps not know about, including one moment I jumped at a recognition – no, a realization – that took me by surprise, brilliantly disguised.

   The story is very atmospheric, well choreographed, and filled with enough twists and turns that make it impossible to stop reading. Guaranteed.

   The Internet page below tells the story of a TV series to be called Selena Mead that almost ended up being made, but it was canceled at the last minute. Only a short pilot film was ever made. Actress Polly Bergen was cast as the show’s series character.

         https://www.tvobscurities.com/articles/selena_mead/

WILLIAM BRITTAIN “The Zaretski Chain.” First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 1968. Not known to have been reprinted.

   William Brittain, the author of this small rather obscure tale, was known for a long list of detective and mystery fiction published over the years, most of them appearing in EQMM. Many of them were locked room or impossible crime mysteries. A list of them, along with a good deal of in-depth analysis, can be found here:

https://mikegrost.com/laterimp.htm#Brittain

   In “The Zaretski Chain,” a wealthy man with a fondness for the strange and unusual sets up a confrontation between a PI and a famous escape artist named Wrenn. The former has been on the trail of of the latter for a long time, as that gentleman may also have been responsible for many unusual thefts over the years.

   The challenge presented is this: Wrenn is to be secured with his wrists in cuffed on either side of a flagpole, a chain connecting them on the other side, with a horizontal spar across the pole toward the top. With personal incentives offered to each party, the winner of the contest will be determined on whether Wrenn can escape his confinement within the hour, a captive to be left alone during the allotted time.

   But before the hour is up, the man servant of their host announces that a robbery has taken place. Rushing to the scene of Wrenn’s captivity, he is still there, obviously having escaped and having come back to the place in which he had been trussed up.

   I can think of few stories that take as much time to set up and explain as this one does, but Brittain was a good writer, and it is with some fascination that the devoted reader of such tales (such as I) follows along with quite a bit of interest.

   Even more, the solution to this chronicle about the rather excessive need of someone who is a Problem Solver to unravel it (note the capital letters) is well worth the journey.

EDWARD D. HOCH “The Theft of the Toy Mouse.” Nick Velvet #3. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, June 1968. Collected in The Thefts of Nick Velvet (Mysterious Press, 1978).

   Of the several series characters created by Ed Hoch over his long writing career, I think Nick Velvet, professional thief, is my favorite. Not only is he always hired to steal something outrageous (a complete baseball team, the water from a swimming pool), with all the intricate care that’s required, but he almost always endeavors to learn why anyone would hire him to steal that particular item.

   In this story, which falls early in his early days in his unique line work, he is given $20,000 to steal a toy mouse which, when wound up, runs in circles. It is the focus of a modern film being shot in France, just outside of Paris, a setting which certainly boosts the story’s sense of place. (He does manage to convince his girl friend Gloria to stay home.)

   The story rambles comfortably along and is a lot of fun to read. Unfortunately the location of toy mouse is in a building which has been built (by Hoch) to make it, on reflection, an easy task to steal. And the reason behind the caper is rather mundane. But not, of course while, the story is rambling on.

   Overall, the tale is a bit of a letdown. Being “lot of fun to read” does manage to make up for a good portion of that, though.

PAT CADIGAN “The Sorceress in Spite of Herself.” First published in Isaac Asimov’s SF, December 1982. Reprinted in Isaac Asimov’s SF-Lite, edited by Gardner Dozois (Ace, 1993). Collected in Dirty Work (Mark Ziesing, 1993).

   Pat Cadigan has had a long career as a SF writer, mostly shorter fiction, starting in the late 70s, but she’s produced a handful of well-regarded novels, plus an even longer list of movie and TV tie-in’s.  (These I knew nothing about until I looked up what I could learn about her online just now.) In spite of her long resume, this is the first of her work that I’ve read.

   So, based on very little, or perhaps even on nothing, I’ve assumed she’s been involved solely with what’s called cyberpunk fiction, or perhaps stories centered on near future concepts such as virtual reality. “The Sorcerer in Spite of Herself” proves how wrong I was about that.

   It involves a young woman, married perhaps for half a year, who’s been plagued her whole life by her habit of losing things. She doesn’t know why or how, and when she finally breaks down and tells her husband, he doesn’t believe her. As she explains at some length, he begins to change his mind, gradually of course, but eventually so much so that he begins to wonder how they might cancel out this curse she’s been under for so long.

   It all works out, in a most logical fashion, in a climax that is as funny, say, as it is chilling. A minor work, but one most nicely done.

WAYNE D. DUNDEE “The Judas Target.” PI Joe Hannibal. First published in An Eye for Justice: The Third Private Eye Writers of America Anthology, edited by Robert J. Randisi (Mysterious Press, hardcover, 1988).

   Of the various authors included in this third PWA Anthology, Wayne Dundee is probably the least well known. But when you’re included in a book that also includes original stories by authors such as Lyons, Lutz, Grafton, Estleman and Pronzini, I’d have been pumped if it were me, and I’ll bet Dundee was too.

   His primary PI character was a fellow named Joe Hannibal, and although it’s been a while since he’s made an appearance, over the years he’s been featured in a couple of dozen short stories and eight or do novels. His stomping ground is, of all places, Rockford, Illinois, a place which if you’re a PI in, you’re probably the only PI in town.

   In “The Judas Target” it’s his good buddy, bar owner Bomber Brannigan, whose life has been threatened – twice before he lets Joe know about it, and once after the Joe talks him into letting him help.

   The case develops slowly but assuredly from that point on, ending in one slam bang of a finish. It’s difficult to learn much about a character after reading just one short story about him, but I can safely say that if someone were after me, for reasons unknown, I’d sure like to have someone like Joe Hannibal on my side.