Yes, I’m that George Kelley who wrote the INTRODUCTION to this new Stark House edition of Harold R. Daniel’s The Girl in 304. Thank you Greg Shepard, Editor and Publisher of Stark House, for inviting me to be part of the Black Gat Books series!

I discovered Harold R. Daniel’s work in the early 1970s when I bought plenty of old Dell paperbacks back then and found Daniel’s first novel, In His Blood (1955), full of suspense and surprises. In His Blood was nominated for an Edgar for Best First Novel.

The Girl in 304 was Daniel’s second novel, also published by Dell, and featured the investigation of the murder of Lucy Carter, a carhop (remember them?), who had been stabbed to death and whose stripped body was dumped near the side of the road. Sheriff Ed Masters delves into Lucy’s troubled life and discovers perplexing questions. Why did Lucy suddenly quit her job at Benny Zurich’s drive-in? What was Lucy’s connection to Lieutenant Cox, a dirty cop who shook down working girls who lived in the same hotel that Lucy did?

The Girl in 304, with its hints of deadly secrets and hidden motives, takes the reader to dark places and sinister schemes.

Norman R. Daniel’s wrote a series of excellent mysteries and hopefully Stark House will reprint more of them for a new audience. GRADE: A

HAROLD R. DANIEL’S NOVELS:

In His Blood (Dell, 1955)

The Girl in 304 (Dell, 1956)

The Accused (Dell, 1958)

The Snatch (Dell, 1958)

For the Asking (Fawcett, 1962)

The House on Greenapple Road (Random House, 1966; Dell 1969)

This compilation of Number One hits from the 1980s varies widely from a song from a movie like Ray Parker Jr.’s “Ghostbusters” to a “gimmick” song like the Bangles’s “Walk Like An Egyptian.” The hits display the tastes and buying habits of audiences from that era.

How many of these hits do you remember? Any favorite songs here? GRADE: B+

TRACK LIST:

1-1	The J. Geils Band–	Centerfold
1-2	Billy Idol–	Mony Mony
1-3	Huey Lewis & The News–	The Power Of Love
1-4	Blondie–	The Tide Is High
1-5	Kim Carnes–	Bette Davis Eyes
1-6	Duran Duran–	The Reflex
1-7	Paula Abdul–	Straight Up
1-8	Simple Minds–	Don’t You (Forget About Me)
1-9	Culture Club–	Karma Chameleon
1-10	John Waite–	Missing You
1-11	Sheena Easton–	Morning Train (Nine To Five)
1-12	Poison (3)–	Every Rose Has Its Thorn
2-1	Rick Springfield–	Jessie’s Girl
2-2	Bonnie Tyler–	Total Eclipse Of The Heart
2-3	Toto–	Africa
2-4	Daryl Hall & John Oates–	Maneater
2-5	Mr. Mister–	Broken Wings
2-6	Starship (2)–	We Built This City
2-7	Bruce Hornsby And The Range–	The Way It Is
2-8	Paul Young–	Every Time You Go Away
2-9	Bangles–	Walk Like An Egyptian
2-10	Cheap Trick–	The Flame
2-11	Bad English–	When I See You Smile
2-12	Rick Astley–	Never Gonna Give You Up
2-13	Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam–	Head To Toe
2-14	Ray Parker Jr.–	Ghostbusters
2-15	Exposé–	Seasons Change
2-16	Mr. Mister–	Kyrie

I started reading Cornell Woolrich stories and novels in the 1970s. All in all, I preferred Woolrich’s short stories to his novels. He was a master of generating angst and suspense. Just sample some of the classic stories in Nightwebs by Cornell Woolrich  (Author), Francis M. Nevins Jr. (Editor).

The problem with Maxim Jakubowski’s Black Is the Night: Stories in Tribute to the Author Who Inspired Hitchcock’s Rear Window involves setting the bar for the stories at the Cornell Woolrich level. That’s really high! To me, the only two stories that reach Woolrich’s quality are Martin Edwards’s “The Woman Who Never Was” and Bill Pronzini’s “The Long Road Down.”

Edwards’s “The Woman Who Never Was” starts with two grifters who are squatting in an apartment in an abandoned building. The woman leaves, saying she’ll be back in 5 minutes. But, she disappears. Her lover searches for her and discovers a world shifting Reality. A very Cornell Woolrich-type story.

Bill Pronzini’s “The Long Road Down” amps up the stress and tension as a man with a dead body in the trunk of his vehicle is trying to reach the work site where he plans to bury the body. Of course, he’s stopped by a policeman despite all his caution. Woolrich would have loved this story!

However, there are more misses than hits in Black Is the Night. There was only one Cornell Woolrich. This tribute volume is proof that his style of storytelling is rare indeed. GRADE: B-

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION / Maxim Jakubowski — 1

Why cornell Woolrich matters / Neil Gaiman — 4

The black window / Joel Lane — 6

Missing sister / Joe R. Lansdale — 8

A thin slice of heaven / Vaseem Khan — 12

Two wrongs / Brandon Barrows —  29

The husband machine / Tara Moss — 38

Black window / Kim Newman — 45

The man in the sailor suit / Nick Mamatas — 51

People you may know / Mason Cross — 84

The woman who never was / Martin Edwards — 75

First you dream, then you die / Donna Moore — 82

Eyes without a face / James Grady — 102

The case of Baby X / Lavie Tidhar — 115

The phantom gentleman / Barry N. Malzberg — 130

Parkview / James Sallis — 133

The lake, the moon and the murder / A.K. Benedict — 139

The jacket / Warren Moore — 151

The woman at the late show / Max Décharné — 162

The bride hated champagne / Paul Di Filippo — 178

Institutional memory / M.W. Craven — 188

Sleep! Sleep! Beauty bright / Charles Ardai — 202

The invitation / Susi Holliday — 221

The long road down / Bill Pronzini — 234

Our opera singer / Kristine Kathbryn Rusch — 244

What happens after the end / Maxim Jakubowski — 262

A shade darker than gray / Joseph S. Walker — 274

Trophy wife / Samantha Lee Howe — 288

Blue moon over Burgundy / O’Neil de Noux — 298

Red / David Quantick — 309

Looking for you through the gray rain / Ana Teresa Pereira — 325

New York blues redux / William Boyle — 338

ABOUT THE EDITOR / 383

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS / 386

Lesley Manville plays book editor Susan Ryeland who gets drawn into a web of intrigue and murder when she receives Alan Conway’s unfinished manuscript of an Atticus Pünd mystery. Based on an Anthony Horowitz mystery novel of the same name, Magpie Murders is a PBS series that follows the death of best selling Alan Conway and the repercussions on Susan Ryeland and her publishing company. Horowitz wrote the scripts to the six episodes.

Ryeland’s publishing company is about to be acquired, but the deal hinges on Alan Conway’s last mystery novel, Magpie Murders, projected to be a best seller like his previous mysteries. Ryeland discovers her manuscript is lacking the final chapter. That could ruin her chances of being CEO of the publishing company and threaten her career as an editor. So Ryeland starts investigating Alan Conway’s death and decides it’s not a suicide as the police think it is. Ryeland thinks Conway–an arrogant, narcissistic prig–was murdered by one of the many people who hated him. And the missing final chapter may reveal who murdered Alan Conway.

Like the novel, Magpie Murders runs on two tracks: Susan Ryeland investigating Alan Conway’s death, and Conway’s fictional detective, Atticus Pund, investigating the beheading of Sir Pye. The story within a story format might annoy some viewers especially when Ryeland speaks to the fictional Pund. I’ve watched three of the six episodes and I’m enjoying what I’m seeing. Are you a fan of Anthony Horowitz and his mysteries? GRADE: B (so far)

It’s hard to believe the 5-1 Buffalo Bills are 10 1/2 point favorites over the 3-4 Green Bay Packers. The Packers have lost three games in a row and look dispirited and inept. Aaron Rodgers has never been a double digit underdog since he arrived in the NFL. But, he is tonight. How will your favorite NFL team perform today?

Richard Laymon’s wild Halloween novel, Once Upon a Halloween (2000), mixes the malevolence of a death cult with the trick-or-treat fun of families and little kids. The action starts at the old–some say haunted–Witherspoon house at the end of a dead-end street.

Laura and Shannon moved into the old Witherspoon house three years ago. They plan to dress up and celebrate Halloween with friends after giving out candy to the costumed kids who ring their doorbell.

A desperate young man named Hunter rushes into Laura and Shannon’s house and claims he’s being chased by robed cultists who intend to sacrifice him, and others, at midnight in the nearby graveyard.

As you can imagine, Laura and Shannon deal with Hunter’s story with vast skepticism…until the robed cultists–armed with swords, knives, and hatchets–show up.

If you’re in the mood for a wacky Halloween rampage, give Once Upon a Halloween at try!!! GRADE: B

Edward L. Ferman changed the format of The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction with the 22nd volume. All the previous volumes consisted of short stories and novelettes. But in The Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, 22nd Series Ferman includes other material that could be found in a typical issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Ferman includes a brilliant Algis Budrys book review/essay on the history of Science Fiction. Ferman also includes “Competition” samples from the many readers who participated (I could do without them). He includes Baird Searles’s movie review column and an essay, “Thinking About Thinking” by Isaac Asimov who wrote dozens of science essays for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction during those years.

My favorite story in this volume is John Varley’s “In the Bowl” where a wayward geologist encounters a brilliant young girl on Venus and the pair embark on a search for valuable blast jewels. I also enjoyed Robert Bloch’s comic “A Case of the Stubborns” where Grandpa refuses to believe he’s dead. Richard Cowper’s “The Hertford Manuscript,” a time-travel tale to the Plague Years proves harrowing.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• 1 • Introduction (The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction 22nd Series) • (1977) • essay by Edward L. Ferman
• 3 • The Hertford Manuscript • [H. G. Wells’ Time Machine Universe] • (1976) • novelette by Richard Cowper
• 53 • From Competition 2: Blurbs in Excess • (1972) • essay by Ralph C. Glisson
• 55 • A Case of the Stubborns • (1976) • short story by Robert Bloch
• 80 • Where We Are and Where We Came From • (1976) • essay by Algis Budrys
• 97 • From Competition 4: Story Leads from the Year’s Worst Fantasy and SF • (1973) • essay by James Sutherland [as by James E. Sutherland]
• 97 • From Competition 4: Story Leads from the Year’s Worst Fantasy and SF • (1973) • essay by Bob Leman
• 99 • My Boat • [Cthulhu Mythos] • (1976) • short story by Joanna Russ
• 125 • In the Bowl • [Eight Worlds] • (1975) • novelette by John Varley
• 173 • From Competition 6: Bawdy SF Limericks • (1973) • essay by Margaret O. Ablitt
• 173 • From Competition 6: Bawdy SF Limericks • (1973) • essay by Janice Leffingwell
• 175 • This Offer Expires • (1976) • short story by Liz Hufford
• 187 • The Fantastic Ten • (1977) • essay by Baird Searles
• 195 • The Women Men Don’t See • (1973) • novelette by James Tiptree, Jr.
• 237 • The Ghastly Priest Doth Reign • [Southern Appalachia] • (1975) • short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• 252 • Dress Rehearsal • (1974) • short story by Harvey Jacobs
• 252 • From Competition 7: A Lexicon from an Alien Language • (1974) • essay by Bob Leman
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Reid Powell
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Terry Naylor
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by R. Tyler Sperry, II
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Mark R. Kelly [as by Mark Robert Kelly]
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Joe Haldeman
• 252 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by F. M. Busby
• 261 • San Diego Lightfoot Sue • (1975) • novelette by Tom Reamy
• 327 • Out of Dickinson by Poe, or The Only Begotten Son of Emily and Edgar • (1976) • poem by Ray Bradbury
• 329 • Sanity Clause • (1975) • short story by Edward Wellen
• 337 • Thinking About Thinking • [Asimov’s Essays: F&SF] • (1975) • essay by Isaac Asimov
• 353 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Ken Scott (I)
• 353 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by Carolyn Appleman
• 353 • From Competition 8: Near-Miss SF Titles • (1974) • essay by David A. Wilson
• 355 • Mute Inglorious Tam • (1974) • short story by C. M. Kornbluth and Frederik Pohl
• 370 • Old Uncle Tom Cobleigh and All • (1973) • novelette by Reginald Bretnor

TRACK LIST:

Bach, J S: Toccata & Fugue in D minor, BWV565 Work length 9:19

• Philadelphia Orchestra
• Eugene Ormandy

Saint-Saëns: Danse macabre, Op. 40 Work length 7:31

• Philadelphia Orchestra
• Eugene Ormandy

Gounod: Funeral March of a Marionette Work length 4:06

• Boston Pops Orchestra
• Arthur Fiedler

Mussorgsky: A Night on the Bare Mountain Work length 11:59

• Philadelphia Orchestra
• Eugene Ormandy

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 – Marche au supplice Work length 4:43

• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Georges Prêtre

Grieg: Peer Gynt: In the Hall of the Mountain King Work length 2:48

• Philadelphia Orchestra
• Eugene Ormandy

Liszt: Mephisto Waltz No. 1 Work length 11:19

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Fritz Reiner

Dukas: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice Work length 10:24

• Philadelphia Orchestra
• Eugene Ormandy

Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14: Songe d’un nuit de sabbat Work length 9:32

• Boston Symphony Orchestra
• Georges Prêtre

“When I was a boy, Ray Bradbury picked stories from his books of short stories he thought younger readers might like, and he published them as R Is for Rocket and S Is for Space. Now I was doing the same sort of thing, and I asked Ray if he’d mind if I called this book M Is for Magic. (He didn’t.)” (p. xii)

I’m a big fan of Neil Gaiman’s work and for anyone who is looking for a place to sample Gaiman’s work, M Is for Magic (2007) would be a great place to start. The 11 stories in this collection range from science fiction to fantasy to suspense. I love “The Witch’s Headstone, ” a cunning story with a great ending. I’m also fond of “How to Sell the Ponti Bridge” where a group of con artists listen to a stunning variation on the old selling the Brooklyn Bridge scam. The Ponti Bridge is located on another planet and it consists of gems and diamonds and other precious stones held together by Magic.

M Is for Magic showcases stories with humor, wit, and occasional darkness. And, a great book to read around Halloween! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

• Introduction — ix
• The case of the four and twenty blackbirds — 3
• Troll bridge — 24
• Don’t ask Jack — 44
• How to sell the Ponti Bridge — 49
• October in the chair — 75
• Chivalry — 100
• The price — 125
• How to talk to girls at parties — 138
• Sunbird — 164
• The witch’s headstone — 205
• Instructions — 256