Jeff Vorzimmer’s brilliant Introduction “Jack Ritchie By the Numbers” (p. 7-8) opens the new Stark House collection of 38 stories by the master short story writer, Jack Ritchie. Vorzimmer provides some eye-popping numbers that illustrate the success of Ritchie’s writing career. Ritchie published 345 short stories. Vorzimmer says 85 of those stories were reprinted in 142 anthologies. Amazing!

Vorzimmer supplies more astonishing Ritchie numbers: 117 stories published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 31 stories published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, 19 stories published in Mike Shayne Mastery Magazine, and 23 stories published in Manhunt. Ritchie was prolific but the quality of his stories is consistently high.

Of the 38 stories in The Crime Machine, 16 have never been reprinted. That’s a bonanza for Jack Ritchie fans!

At the end of The Crime Machine you’ll find this blurb: “Jackie Ritchie died in 1983 but his stories live on. This STARK HOUSE edition brings some of Richie’s best stories to a new audience. It you’re a fan of well crafted short stories, The Best of Manhunt 4: The Jack Ritchie Stories should be high your your list of books to read. GRADE: A“.

Those words might ring a bell because I wrote them here.

The Crime Machine: The Jack Ritchie Stories From Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (1957-1961 is the best reprint collection of the year. GRADE: A+