Witches' Brew edited/presented by Alfred Hitchcock

 

(pb; 1965: crime anthology)

From the back cover

“Hitchcock loves little old ladies. . . especially when they have stringy hair, warts on their noses, broomsticks at the ready, and cauldrons bubbling over.  That’s why he’s dedicated this collection of terror treats to them. Here is sufficient horror to make a hag shout hurrah and enough evil to make a bride of Satan go on a second honeymoon. For all the rest of us, it’s the macabre most in bone-chilling magic. . .”

 

Overall review

Excellent anthology with good-to-great entries, presented by Hitchcock, worth owning.

 

Review, story by story

“Premonition” – Charles Mergendahl: A woman (Martha Ricker) with “queer feelings” about impending, certain-to-happen events becomes convinced she’ll be the next victim of a killer whose M.O. involves neckties. Entertaining, highly visual story with a solid-twist finish.

 

“A Shot from a Dark Night” – Avram Davidson: A popular businessman and politician (James Calvin “Jaysey” William) is jarred out of his comfortable life when an oddly familiar stranger (James “Jemmy” Buxton) shows up in Williams’s small town. Excellent story about secrets, guilt and small town life, one of my favorite entries in this story collection.

 

“I Had a Hunch. . .” – Talmage Powell: A murdered woman’s spirit (Janet) haunts a cop (Joe) investigating her death, trying to influence him to her end for what it was, and arrest the culprit. Effective twists in this emotionally involving story.

 

“A Killing in the Market” – Robert Bloch: An employee (Albert Kessler) of a Wall Street firm seeks out a highly successful investor for investment tips and finds himself in a world of deception and trouble. Intriguing story that plays with familiar tropes.

 

“Gone, as by Magic” – Richard Hardwick: A year after a man (Frank Pilcher) disappears in a small, can’t-stop-talking-about-it town (Garrison), his best friend (Burt Webb) recounts, to the reader, the events leading up to Pilcher’s disappearance and its aftermath. Good, fun story.

 

“The Big Bajoor” – Borden Deal: Clever, waste-no-words piece about a gypsy (Vanya) whose swindles of an old woman goes darkly, humorously awry.

 

“The Gentle Miss Bluebeard” – Nedra Tyre: Miss Mary Anne Beard, sixty-five, begins killing people to help them in her peculiar way. Solid, “gentle” (as the title says) story.

 

“The Guy That Laughs Last” – Philip Tremont: A gangster (Big Freddy), fond of practical jokes and paranoid that he’s being set up by his underlings, prepares for a supposed rendezvous with a pretty, young woman (Margo). The ending to this is blunter than I’d hoped, but it’s still a solid piece with good foreshadowing.

 

“Diet and Die” – Wenzell Brown: Told in the first person to a police psychiatrist, a fine-food connoisseur admits to homicide, and his reasons for doing so are less than common. Fun, smart story.

 

“Just for Kicks” – Richard Marsten: Charlie Frank, a successful advertising executive who gets no thrills out of life, tries murder for sport. The ending, not surprising, is striking and effective.

 

“Please Forgive Me” – Henry Kane: A cop (Paul Matthew) becomes concerned that his eighteen-year-old son (Billy) has become a criminal lifestyle. Good story and emotional content, character focused.

 

“A Crime Worthy of Me” – Hal Dresner: An employee sets out to rob his employer (Mr. Cumberly of Bainesville Home Finance and Loan Company), using a fictional detective story as his modus operandi.

 

“When Buying a Fine Murder” – Jack Ritchie: A hitman is hired for a job by Walter Brandt, a man who’s never met him. The hitman’s target: himself. In trying to find out why Brandt wants him dead, the killer discovers things about those around him (including his “gorgeous” wife, Helen). Entertaining, sharply written, and clever—almost to the point of being disingenuous— tale (it barely works as short story, but in reality, a pro might not go to such lengths to correct certain issues).