These suspenseful stories all appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, and in the words of Hitch himself, they "are guaranteed to chill and unnerve." Bill Pronzini contributes "The Arrowmont Prison Riddle," Margaret B. Maron has "A Very Special Talent," Barry M. Malzberg offers "A Home Away from Home," and Patricia Matthews chronicles "The Fall of Dr. Scourby." Meet a girl who stalks Jack the Ripper, a clairvoyant writer of newspaper obituaries, a homicidal partygoer in a sanatorium, and a police detective who lives vicariously through the exploits of one of his most notorious suspects: they all populate these frightening pages. Caution: not recommended for late-night reading--except for the very brave CONTENTSKilled by Kindness ..... Nedra TyreJust a Minor Offense ..... John F. SuterA Home Away From Home ..... Robert BlochDeath of a Derelict ..... Joseph Payne BrennanThe Arrowmont Prison Riddle ..... Bill PronziniThe Dettweiler Solution ..... Lawrence BlockThe Whitechapel Wantons ..... Vincent McConnorCora's Raid ..... Isak RomunLife or Breath ..... Nelson deMilleA Private Little War ..... William BrittainHave You Ever Seen This Woman? ..... John LutzJoe Cutter's Game ..... Brian GarfieldA Cabin in the Woods ..... John CoyneThe Long Arm of El Jefe ..... Edward WellenKid Cardula ..... Jack RitchieCareer Man ..... James HoldingThe Perfidy of Professor Blake ..... Libby MacCallSea Change ..... Henry SlesarThe Blue Tambourine ..... Donald OlsonGraveyard Shift ..... William P. McGivernA Bottle of Wine ..... Borden DealMan Bites Dog ..... Donald HonigNever Trust an Ancestor ..... Michael ZuroyAnother War ..... Edward D. HochSparrow on a String ..... Alice Scanlan ReachThe Missing Tattoo ..... Clayton MatthewsThe Fall of Dr. Scourby ..... Patricia MatthewsThe Loose End ..... Stephen WasylykThat So-called Laugh ..... Frank SiskA Very Special Talent ..... Margaret B. MaronThe Joker ..... Betty Ren WrightThe Very Hard Sell ..... Helen NielsenThe Tin Ear ..... Ron GoulartThe Time Before the Crime ..... Charlotte EdwardsAfter the Unfortunate Accident ..... Barry N. MalzbergThe Grateful Thief ..... Patrick O'KeeffeThe Inspiration ..... Talmage PowellDeath is a Lonely Lover ..... Robert ColbyThe Witness was a Lady ..... Fletcher FloraScheme for Destruction ..... Pauline C. SmithTo the Manner Born ..... Mary BraundBlack Disaster ..... Richard O. LewisThe Marrow of Justice ..... Hal EllsonInnocent Witness ..... Irving SchifferWe're Really Not That Kind of People ..... Samuel W. TaylorPocket Evidence ..... Harold Q. MasurThe Death Desk ..... S.S. RaffertyA Left-handed Profession ..... Al NussbaumSecond Spring ..... Theodore MathiesonBank Night ..... Arthur PorgesThe Contagious Killer ..... Bryce WaltonBad Actor ..... Gary BrandnerFree Advice, Incorporated ..... Michael BrettThe Real Criminal ..... James M. GilmoreThe Hard Sell ..... William DolanThe Prosperous Judds ..... Bob BristowThe Dead Indian ..... Robert W. AlexanderThe China Cottage ..... August Derleth

    As everyone knows, he is a specialist in the macabre and bizarre. Askes to explain his approach to fictional crime, he wrote:"The blunt instrument, the gang murder, the paid assassin have always seemed to me positively indelicate. Murder is a fine art and needs the embellishment of a sophisticated imagination. The true aficionado prefers to have his nerves ruffled by the implied thread--the Borgias rather than the Syndicate. What is more delightful than a domestic crime, when it is executed with subtlety and imagination? I leave to other more pedestrian talents materials based on newspaper accounts. True crimes, ugh! Alas, most of them are dull and give no evidence of the careful planning and loving thought that should go into any human activity as rewarding as murder."

    There are those who will argue that this title could apply to any of the various tomes of terror, sagas of suspense, or groupings of grue which I have, from time to time, gathered together for the delectation of my readers. And indeed the point is well taken.For I am not a man to cater to the nervous. If you are in the habit of chewing your fingernails, jumping from your chair when a door slams, or swooning when someone playfully shouts "Boo!" in your ear, I have only two words of advice--pass on.If, however, you have nerves which are under good control, nerves which are pleasantly tickled by a touch of terror or agreeably stimulated by a soupçon of suspense, then I invite you to join me.Take a seat, any seat, and start wherever you wish. Break for an intermission whenever you choose and return when you are ready. Informality rules in your enjoyment of this smörgåsbord of stories. There is, I think, something for every taste.Except, that is, for the nervous.And now my sixty seconds are up.-Alfred HitchcockIn this collection:"To the Future" by Ray Bradbury"River of Riches" by Gerald Kersh"Levitation" by Joseph Payne Brennan"Miss Winters and the Wind" by Christine Noble Govan"View from the Terrace" by Mike Marmer"The Man with Copper Fingers" by Dorothy L. Sayers"The Twenty Friends of William Shaw" by Raymond E. Banks"The Other Hangman" by Carter Dickson"Don't Look Behind You" by Fredric Brown"No Bath for the Browns" by Margot Bennet"The Uninvited" by Michael Gilbert"Dune Roller" by Julian May"Something Short of Murder" by Henry Slesar"The Golden Girl" by Ellis Peters"The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes" by Margaret St. Clair"Walking Alone" by Miriam Allen deFord"For All the Rude People" by Jack Ritchie"The Dog Died First" by Bruno Fischer"Room with a View" by Hal Dresner"Lemmings" by Richard Matheson"White Goddess" by Idris Seabright"The Substance of Martyrs" by William Sambrot"Call for Help" by Robert Arthur"Sorry, Wrong Number" by Lucille Fletcher and Allan Ullman

    It includes the entire text of John Wyndham's novel of alien invasion, Out of the Deeps, and 24 short stories by American or British authors, all written in the 20th century. Authors represented include T. H. White, Donald E. Westlake, Theodore Sturgeon, Thomas M. Disch, Ellis Peters, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Margaret St. Clair, Algis Budrys, and Gerald Kersh.

    MacDonald, were selected from the hundreds that originally appeared in the immensely popular pulp magazines of the late 1940s. Superb entertainment from one of crime's most famous and accomplished writers. 'The stories share MacDonald's love of a buzz ending and the biting setup' Chicago Sun-Times

    These tales come from the pen of many well-known writers in the field, including Michael Gilbert, Edward Wellen, Edward D. Hack, Bill Bronzini, Lawrence Treat, and Francis Nevins, Jr. Whether it’s “The Unfriendly Neighbor,” or a “Class Reunion,” “A Recipe for Revenge,” or “An Exercise in Insurance,” these stories are sure to keep you up all night, puzzling over their possible solutions. Each one has its own particular and irresistible appeal: an unexpected twist, a delectable puzzle, a devastating revelation, or perhaps even a refreshing display of pernicious spit

    Hijack by Robert L. Fish 2. Tomorrow and ... Tomorrow by Adobe James 3. Funeral in Another Town by Jerry Jacobson 4. A Case for Quiet by William Jeffrey 5. A Good Head for Murder by Charles W. Runyon 6. The Invisible Cat by Betty Ren Wright 7. Royal Jelly novelette by Roald Dahl 8. Light Verse by Isaac Asimov 9. The Distributor by Richard Matheson 10. How Henry J. Littlefinger Licked the Hippies' Scheme to Take Over the Country by Tossing Pot in Postage Stamp Glue by John Keefauver 11. The Leak by Jacques Futrelle 12. All the Sounds of Fear by Harlan Ellison 13. Little Foxes Sleep Warm by Waldo Carlton Wright 14. The Graft Is Green novelette by Harold Q. Masur (This is volume 1 of Stories to Be Read with the Door Locked. It should not be combined with volume 2, or with the complete work.)

    When he kidnaps Sarah, his evil reaches new heights.

    Now the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series has collected for the first time his award-winning, spine-tingling stories of suspense -- stories that will widen your eyes and stretch your imagination. A beautiful woman goes to extremes to rid herself of her stalker; a daughter begs her father not to go fishing in an area where there have been a series of brutal killings; a contemporary of the playwright William Shakespeare vows to avenge his family's ruin; and Jeffery Deaver's most beloved character, criminalist Lincoln Rhyme, is back to solve a chilling Christmastime disappearance. Diverse, provocative, eerie and inspired, this collection of Jeffery Deaver's best stories exhibits the amazing range and signature plot twists that have earned him the title "master of ticking-bomb suspense" (People). With nods to O. Henry and Edgar Allan Poe, these beautifully crafted pieces, never before compiled in one volume, pulse with subtle intrigue and Deaver's incomparable imagination.

    Including "The Red-Headed League" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; "The Treasure in the Cave" by Mark Twain; "Jimmy Takes Vanishing Lessons" by Walter R. Brooks; "The Forgotton Island" by Elizabeth Coatsworth; "The Water Ghost of Harrowby Hall"; and more. Illustrations by Fred Banbery.

    The only kind of fairy tales that brought a smile to his childish lips had the ogres and dragons winning, and instead of wanting to know about the birds and the bees, he kept asking about the vipers and the vultures. Since then, Hitchcock's taste for terror and appetite for evil has more than made his parents' nightmares come true. And now he's out to share his satanic knowledge and pleasure with you in these thirteen super-shivery spellbinders by:John Collier - Gerald Kersh - F. Scott Fitzgerald - Andrew Benedict - Grace Amundson - Robert Arthur - Shirley Jackson - George Hitchcock - George Mandel - Jane Rice - Don Stanford - Richard Matheson - Richard Edward Wormser

    In "The New Daughter," a father comes to suspect that a burial mound on his land hides something very ancient, and very much alive; in "The Underbury Witches," two London detectives find themselves battling a particularly female evil in a town culled of its menfolk. And finally, private detective Charlie Parker returns in the long novella "The Reflecting Eye," in which the photograph of an unknown girl turns up in the mailbox of an abandoned house once occupied by an infamous killer. This discovery forces Parker to confront the possibility that the house is not as empty as it appears, and that something has been waiting in the darkness for its chance to kill again.

    Kelley.  "The very best of what crime fiction should deliver." -New York Journal of BooksThe latest Mystery Writers of America story collection, featuring surprising, page-turning twists on the genre from some of the top bestsellers and award winners in crime fictionIt’s been said that all great literature boils down to one of two stories—a man takes a journey, or a stranger comes to town. While mystery writers have been successfully using both approaches for generations, there’s something undeniably alluring in the nature of a stranger: the uninvited guest, the unacquainted neighbor, the fish out of water.No matter how or where they appear, strangers are walking mysteries, complete unknowns in once-familiar territories who disrupt our lives with unease and wonder. In the newest collection of stories by the Mystery Writers of America, each author weaves a fresh tale surrounding the eerie feeling that comes when a stranger enters our midst, featuring stories by prolific mystery writers such as Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz and Joe Hill.

    The remaining four stories in the collection are all miniature masterpieces of suspense.

    J. Box.C. J. Box , #1 New York Times best-selling author of the hugely popular Joe Pickett series, selects the best short mystery and crime fiction of the year in this annual “treat for crime-fiction fans” (Library Journal).