Wed 30 Mar 2022
Stories I’m Reading: EDWARD D. HOCH “The Theft of the Brazen Letters.â€
Posted by Steve under Stories I'm Reading[5] Comments
EDWARD D. HOCH “The Theft of the Brazen Letters.†Short story. Nick Velvet #4. First published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, November 1968 (their 300th issue). First collected in The Spy and the Thief (Davis, digest-sized paperback; 1st printing, December 1971).
The reason I like Hoch’s Nick Velvet series so much is that there’s always a twofold mystery to be solved in them. Nick’s fee is $20,000 per each commissioned theft he agrees to take on, and each time it is always for some insignificant object that no one would ever think worth stealing. Mystery number one: How does he mange to steal that very insignificant object? Mystery number two: Nick is also a very inquisitive guy, and of course he’s always also interested as to why he was asked to steal the item he does.
For example, from the introduction to this story in EQMM, previous thefts he’s taken as assignments include stealing a tiger from a zoo, water from a swimming pool and a toy mouse from the prop room of a movie studio. In “The Theft of the Brazen Letters,†he asked to steal three of seven neon letters from the outside of a commercial building. The seven letters are SATOMEX. I think you can deduce on your own which three letters Nick’s client wants stolen, but I don’t think you’ll have any more idea than I did as to why.
As is usual for Ed Hoch’s stories, this is purely a puzzle tale. Nothing more nor anything less, and that’s super fine for me. There’s even a bonus in this one, as Nick has the local cops to contend with, and as a surprise to me, he’s one up on them as well. The zinger at the end is simple, but a zinger nonetheless.
March 30th, 2022 at 5:12 am
Damn. Now I’ll spend the rest of the day trying to figure out those three letters.
March 30th, 2022 at 11:35 am
Dan, I don’t know if you’re funning with me or not, but I’ll assume you are and tell you that the real mystery has to do with the four letters that are left.
I see, though, that I didn’t give you or anyone enough information to solve it from here. I’ll add the info that Nick’s client is the law firm of Millings and Mota, and that they’re planning a big but totally fraudulent real estate deal.
Crossword enthusiasts may have a better chance than others in taking it from here.
Is this a real world scenario? Probably not.
March 30th, 2022 at 5:45 pm
Making A Long Story Even Longer:
I first read “The Theft Of The Brazen Letters” in its initial appearance in EQMM in 1968 – 54 years ago (I was newly graduated from high school).
In 1971, I got a job in downtown Chicago, to which I faithfully commuted until my (involuntary) retirement in 2013.
The Loop changed quite a bit in those 42 years …
It was just at the turn of the 2000s when a Certain Public Figure put up a huge, unattractive skyscraper just north of the Loop Elevated, where the Sun-Times building used to be; its main feature was its owner’s name on the front – in big, bold, Brazen Letters (the CPF said they were gold, but they were most likely brass, like the ones in Ed Hoch’s story).
After my retirement in ’13, I would come downtown at least once a week to check things out, and I’d have to view the CPF’s monument to himself, with his Brazen Name on the front (as on its branch outlets in other cities around the world), and my mind would go back to the Hoch story – and how the CPF’s building might look if Nick Velvet had stolen just one letter – the first letter – from that building … and how appropriate the result would be.
This was some years before the CPF decided to make a Bigger Name for himself, so to speak; to this point, he was simply an annoying egomaniac/publicity addict, fairly easy to ignore, and so I did, as I had for many years.
Who Knew what would happen?
Who could have figured?
Today, as I’m typing this, every day brings new revelations about the Certain Public Figure and his misadventures; he should have more to worry about than somebody swiping gilt signage from his properties … shouldn’t he?
I took down my old EQMM with the “Brazen Letters” story, which played in 1968 as a semi-comic vignette, which might have made an amusing Alfred Hitchcock Presents half-hour back in the day …
The Times, They Are A-Changin’ …
March 30th, 2022 at 8:02 pm
Mike, I love the stories you tell. I really do.
March 31st, 2022 at 9:23 pm
It’s all in the why.
I suppose you could complain the Velvet stories are pretty much gimmick stories, but they are such clever gimmick stories at such a consistent high level and Nick such pleasant company while enjoying them.
For a character whose life we only get glimpses of Nick is surprisingly well rounded in my inner view of him.