My favorite story in Murder for Halloween (1994) is Edward D. Hoch’s clever Nick Velvet heist, “The Theft of the Halloween Pumpkin.” Nick Velvet only steals worthless items so when a woman wants to hire him to steal a Halloween pumpkin, Velvet accepts. Only later does Velvet learn that sometimes a Halloween pumpkin can be more than a pumpkin.

I also enjoyed Ellery Queen’s “The Adventure of the Dead Cat” where a game at a Halloween Party turns deadly. Steven Saylor, who specializes in crime-solving in the Roman Empire, delivers “The Lemures,” a story about lemures (aka, the unquiet dead) and murderous deception.

It was fun to reread Robert Bloch’s “The Cloak,” a story he wrote back in 1939. Vampires are involved. Gahan Wilson, best known for his cartoons, made me laugh with “Yesterday’s Witch,” with a witch named Miss Marbles (a sly nod to Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple).

Murder for Halloween offers a variety of stories with various settings and characters. If you’re in the mood for Halloween stories with an edge, Murder for Halloween certainly provides some memorial tales! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PREFACE — xiii

Monsters / Ed McBain — 1

The lemures / Steven Saylor — 9

The adventure of the dead cat / Ellery Queen — 43

The odstock curse / Peter Lovesey — 65

The theft of the Halloween pumpkin / Edward D. Hoch — 81

Hallowe’en for Mr. Faulkner / August Derleth — 99

Deceptions / Marcia Muller — 111

The black cat / Edgar Allan Poe — 135

Omjagod / James Grady — 147

The cloak / Robert Bloch — 173

What a woman wants / Michael Z. Lewin — 191

Yesterday’s witch / Gahan Wilson — 211

Walpurgis night / Bram Stoker — 221

Trick or treat / Judith Garner — 237

One night at a time / Dorothy Cannell — 243

Night of the goblin / Talmage Powell — 267

Trick-or-treat / Anthony Boucher — 279

Pork pie hat / Peter Straub — 297

ABOUT THE EDITORS — 363

After the 29-25 loss to the New England Patriots, the Bills now face a much better team on Thursday Night Football. Despite the loss at Foxboro, Vegas has the Buffalo Bills as an 8 1/2 point favorite over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After playing three terrible games in a row, this is Make-It-Or-Break-It time for the Bills in their Playoff quest. Go Bills!

Paula Guran’s 2012 anthology, Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful, provides a broad survey of stories involving women with magical powers. One of my favorite stories is Tanith Lee’s “Mirage and Magia” where a powerful witch uses her powers to steal the sight and thoughts of young men in her domain.

Neil Gaiman’s “The Witch’s Headstone”–a short story that Gaiman later included as a chapter in his The Graveyard Book–opens new depths to witchery. Madeleine L’Engle–best known for her classic A Wrinkle in Time–delivers a powerful story about a young boy who discovers a witch living in his neighborhood, but only he knows she’s there. “Skin Deep” by Richard Parks explores witchcraft and love.

If you’re looking for an entertaining anthology of stories to get you into the Halloween spirit, give Witches: Wicked, Wild & Wonderful a try! GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Introduction / Paula Guran — 7

Walpurgis afternoon / Delia Sherman — 11

Nightside / Mercedes Lackey — 34

The cold blacksmith / Elizabeth Bear — 50

Basement magic / Ellen Klages — 59

Mirage and magia / Tanith Lee — 85

Lessons with Miss Gray / Theodora Goss — 101

The world is cruel, my daughter / Cory Skerry — 127

Ill met in Ulthar / T.A. Pratt — 138

The witch’s headstone / Neil Gaiman — 157

Boris Chernevsky’s hands / Jane Yolen — 180

Bloodlines / Silvia Moreno-Garcia — 188

The way wind / Andre Norton — 199

Poor little Saturday / Madeleine L’Engle — 227

The only way to fly / Nancy Holder — 242

Skin deep / Richard Parks — 248

The robbery / Cynthia Ward — 270

Marlboros and magic / Linda Robertson — 276

Magic carpets / Leslie What — 294

The ground whereon she stands / Leah Bobet — 307

Afterward / Don Webb — 320

April in Paris / Ursula K. Le Guin — 328

The goosle / Margo Lanagan — 339

Catskin / Kelly Link — 352

About the Authors & Acknowledgements — 376

Diane and I enjoyed watching Frasier during the 1990s. Although the series lasted until 2004, the Millennial Frasier episodes were NOT “Must See TV.” Now, nearly 20 years later, Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as Frasier Crane and returns to Boston to accept a professorship at Harvard University. One Big Difference between the old Frasier and this new Frasier is the absence of David Hyde Pierce as Frasier’s brother, Niles.

After watching the two episodes shown on CBS (now the series shifts to Paramount+), you have to wonder if you can really go home again after decades in Seattle. One of Frasier’s motives for returning to Boston is to develop a better relationship with his son, Frederick. One of the several areas of conflict between Frasier and Frederick is that Frederick dropped out of Harvard…to become a fire fighter. The elite mentality of Frasier finds this move incomprehensible…and idiotic.

But, in order to establish closeness with his son, Frasier buys the apartment building Frederick lives in…and moves into the apartment across the hall from his son’s apartment. This promises to be a flashpoint for the series.

Will this new iteration of Frasier draw enough of an audience to survive? Do today’s streaming audiences want to see a 1990s format sitcom? We’ll see. Were you a fan of Frasier? GRADE: Incomplete (but trending towards a B)

I loved Airplane! when I first saw it in 1980! It was silly and snarky and uproariously funny. I have watched Airplane! several times over the decades and it still makes me laugh.

The film directors, David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, who brought Airplane to the silver screen, deliver an uproarious account of the making of their ground-breaking film, which, in the words of Abrahams, elevated “stupidity to an art form.”

This clever book, like Airplane! and many other ZAZ productions, is multilayered and full of surprises. The authors tell how they created the sketch comedy group Kentucky Fried Theater in Wisconsin before moving the operation to Los Angeles and gaining a wide following. They also write about their beginnings in filmmaking, including their relationship with director John Landis.

Surely You Can’t Be Serious features numerous photographs, stills from Airplane!, published reviews, and comments from David Letterman, the creators of South Park, and other comedians and actors who react to the massive significance of Airplane!  I forgot about the role the strait-laced and largely forgotten airline drama Zero Hour! had on the structure and spoofs of  Airplane! 

Even more astounding was how the young, virtually unknown trio of would-be directors and screenwriters convinced actors like Robert Stack, Peter Graves, and Lloyd Bridges to keep playing it straight while uttering their ridiculous lines. The authors recount tales of their adventures with Paramount Studios, how Airplane! changed the public perception of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the lasting fondness for the film’s stars, particularly their longtime colleague Stephen Stucker.

I really appreciated the detailed backstory of ZAZ’s journey from Milwaukee to Hollywood and the process of getting Airplane! to Paramount and in theaters despite many problems. If you’re a fan of Airplane! you’ll enjoy the backstory of how the iconic movie got made. Highly recommended! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION — 1

The premiere — 3

“Get me Rex Kramer!” — 5

Kentucky Fried Theater — 18

Bob and Julie — 36

Madison — 50

Leslie. — 58

Dial-A-Fart — 66

Hollywood — 76

Stucker — 90

The Tonight Show — 112

Zero Hour! — 123

Landis — 132

Kentucky Fried Movie — 148

Beaver’s Mom — 158

The movie business — 169

Back to the drawing board — 178

The studios — 190

Michael Eisner — 198

Paramount — 213

Howard — 238

Kareem — 246

Culver City Studios — 259

There are no rules — 283

Postproduction — 303

Success at last — 321

EPILOGUE — 338

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 344

The 4-2 Buffalo Bills travel to Foxboro to take on the 1-5 New England Patriots. The Bills are 8 1/2 point favorites. In the last six games with the Patriots, the Bills have a 5-1 record against their AFC East foes. Rumors swirl around the fate of Head Coach Bill Belichick who is in his 24th year with the Patriots. How will your favorite NFL fare today?

Diane and I saw Mary Chapin Carpenter in concert at Melody Fair (in the round) in the 1990s. We own and listen to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s CDs frequently. We never saw Shawn Colvin live before tonight, but we have listened to her CDs, too.

When you read the concert poster and see “Together On Stage” that is exactly what you’re getting: two singers with their guitars on the stage. No backup band or singers.

Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin chattered between songs. Some people like that.

The less than sold-out audience applauded each song. Some of the ardent fans screamed, “We love you!” I was mildly entertained, but tomorrow I’ll have to listen to Mary Chapin Carpenter’s CDs and Shawn Colvin’s CDs to get the full musical experience. GRADE: B

SET LIST:

1. The End of the Innocence(Don Henley cover)Play Video
2. Catch the Wind(Donovan cover)Play Video
3. Someday(Steve Earle cover)Play Video
4. Chasing What’s Already Gone(Mary Chapin Carpenter cover)Play Video
5. Passionate Kisses(Lucinda Williams cover)Play Video
6. Shotgun Down the Avalanche(Shawn Colvin cover)Play Video
7. This Shirt(Mary Chapin Carpenter cover)Play Video
8. Sunny Came Home(Shawn Colvin cover)Play Video
9. Twilight(Robbie Robertson cover)Play Video
10. The Hard Way(Mary Chapin Carpenter cover)Play Video
11. Girl And Her Dog Play Video
12. One Cool Remove(Greg Brown cover)Play Video
13. Cry Like an Angel(Shawn Colvin cover)Play Video
14. I Feel Lucky(Mary Chapin Carpenter cover)Play Video
15. I Want It That Way(Backstreet Boys cover)Play Video

ENCORE:

“GUILTY PLEASURES:

1. I Want It That Way(Backstreet Boys cover)Play Video
2. I’ll Be Back(The Beatles cover)Play Video
3. Close to You (The Carpenters cover)

Gary Lovisi, best known for his excellent publication Paperback Parade (started in 1986), has written about paperbacks and paperback writers for decades. In A Mystery, Crime & Noir Notebook, Lovisi collects dozens of articles he’s published over the past 40 years. A Mystery, Crime & Noir Notebook is a Graduate class in the history of paperbacks featuring articles on book covers (over 140 examples of classic paperback artwork grace the pages of this book), authors (some Lovisi knew personally), and book collecting.

I especially enjoyed reading Lovisi’s articles on some of my favorite paperback writers: quirky Michael Avallone, James Hadley Chase, Bruno Fischer, Richard Jessup, and the King of the Caper Novel–Lionel White.

Although you might think you know a lot about paperbacks and paperback writers and artists, Gary Lovisi knows more…way more! A Mystery, Crime & Noir Notebook is a must-buy for those who love paperback mysteries, crime novels, and Noir classics. Have fun reading about the paperback genres and learn a lot at the same time! Highly recommended! GRADE: A

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 7

INTRODUCTION By Gary Lovisi — 11

About Mystery, Crime & Noir

The Noir Trap: Money, Women, Love, Sex & Fame — 13

The Hardboiled Way — 17

Various Authors & Books

Collecting Vintage Mystery Paperbacks — 23

Avon Books: Centerpieces of Vintage Mystery & Crime — 32

Dell Mapback Mysteries — 37

Three Daring Divas of Paperback Pulp Fiction — 44

Lion Books: Noir Paperback Icons — 54

A Trio of Lion Books: Book Three — 60

Hardboiled Paradise: Books to Remember — 65

Crime and Mystery One-Shot Wonders — 73

Mob Hits: True Crime Mafia & Gangster Paperbacks — 83

Crime To Die For — 93

A Closer Look At Falcon Books — 98

Sex & Savagery in Pulp Paperback Crime Cover Art — 104

Specific Authors & Books:

Georges Arnaud: Rediscovering The Wages of Fear — 111

Michael Avallone: A Giant Passed Our Way — 116

Stephen Becker (aka Steve Dodge): Shangai Incident And Others — 118

Charles Beckman, Jr.: Honky-Tonk Girl and I — 122

Jazz Meets Murder on Honky-Tonk Street — 124

Lon Cameron: Angels’ Flight: Cool Jazz & Hot Murder — 128

Fiction Too Tough: James Hadley Chase — 135

William L. Coons (aka Dell Holland): Sin Town — Sleaze Noir at Its Best! — 145

N. R. DeMexico: A Look at Marijuana Girl — 150

Norman Firth: Borrowed Love: Romance as Dark Noir — 155

Bruno Fischer: A Writer We Should Remember — 163

Rediscovering Bruno Fischer — 166

Hardboiled Paradise: Al Fray — 170

Gardner F. Fox (aka Rod Gray): That Lady From L.U.S.T. — 178

Charles Fritch: Negative of a Nude With Murder — 183

Otis Hemingway Gaylord, Jr. (aka G. H. Otis): The Search for Otis — 185

C. J. Henderson, Jack Hague and Me — 190

E. Howard Hunt (aka Robert Dietrich): The Seve Bentley Thrillers — 196

Kermit Jaediker: Hero’s Lust, A Top Crime Noir Sleeper — 211

Richard Jessup: A Cop Called Wolf — 215

Barry Lake (aka Joe Barry): The Elusive Joe Barry –217

I read “Homicide Hotel” — 224

Lyon Mallet: The Taffin Series — 227

Nick Marino: A Ride Down One Way Street — 233

Marijane Meaker (aka Vin Packer): Vin Packer: The Return — 237

Harold Q. Masur (aka Hal Masur): Scott Jordon: The Hard-Boiled Lawyer — 243

Paul S. Meskil: Falling Into The Sin Pit — 240

Fan Nichols: A Noir Unknown: One By One — 248

James Ross: One-Shot Wonder: They Don’t Dance Much — 257

Don Tracy and Deadly to Bed — 258

Blackout is a Knockout! — 260

Lionel White: Seven Hungry Killers on the Run — 264

Ennis Willie: Fortune: Tough Guy Hero as Noir Poetry — 268

Too Late to Pray — 272

Bibliography — 273

BIOGRAPHY — 275

Back in 1990, Time-Life brought out a 2-CD set called Guitar Rock. I can’t discern any real difference between the songs on DISC A and those songs on DISC B. Some artists like Rod Stewart and Eric Clapton show up on both CDs. I’m familiar with all the songs on these CDs. Obviously, Time-Life played it safe and selected songs that reached the top of the BILLBOARD charts and proved to be favorites on Oldies radio stations.

How many of these songs do you remember? Any favorites? GRADE: B (for both)

Guitar Rock Disc A TRACK LIST:

1	The Jimi Hendrix Experience–	Purple Haze
2	Bad Company (3)–	Feel Like Makin’ Love
3	T. Rex–	Bang A Gong
4	Bachman-Turner Overdrive–	You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet
5	Mott The Hoople–	All The Young Dudes
6	The Kinks–	You Really Got Me
7	Elton John–	The Bitch Is Back
8	The Doobie Brothers–	China Grove
9	Grand Funk Railroad–	We’re An American Band
10	Eric Clapton–	I Shot The Sheriff
11	Foreigner–	Hot Blooded
12	Rick Derringer–	Rock And Roll, Hoochie Koo
13	Rod Stewart–	Maggie May
14	Mountain–	Mississippi Queen
15	Lynyrd Skynyrd–	Sweet Home Alabama
16	The Bobby Fuller Four–	I Fought The Law
17	The Allman Brothers Band–	Ramblin’ Man
18	Peter Frampton–	Show Me The Way
19	Derek & The Dominos–	Layla

Guitar Rock Disc B TRACK LIST:

1	The Moody Blues–	I’m Just A Singer	4:15
2	Rod Stewart–	I’m Losing You	3:41
3	Deep Purple–	Smoke On The Water	3:57
4	Eric Clapton–	After Midnight	2:53
5	Golden Earring–	Radar Love	5:06
6	Brownsville Station–	Smokin’ In The Boys’ Room	2:58
7	Alice Cooper–	Eighteen	2:57
8	Joe Cocker–	She Came In Through The Bathroom Window	2:39
9	Stephen Stills–	Love The One You’re With	3:06
10	The Allman Brothers Band–	Whipping Post	5:21
11	The Guess Who–	American Woman	3:53
12	Cream (2)–	Sunshine Of Your Love	4:12
13	Canned Heat–	On The Road Again	3:25
14	Free–	All Right Now	3:48
15	The Yardbirds–	Heart Full Of Soul	2:28
16	Bachman-Turner Overdrive–	Takin’ Care Of Business	4:53
17	Joe Walsh–	Rocky Mountain Way	5:12
18	James Gang–	Funk #49	3:55
19	Lynyrd Skynyrd–	Free Bird	4:41

Edward D. Hoch, who wrote nearly a 1000 short stories, featured a number of characters in stories: Simon Ark (who might be a 1000 years old), Dr. Sam Hawthorne, Nick Velvet (the thief who steals worthless objects), Captain Leopold, Susan Holt, and many others.

The Ripper of Storyville collects 14 Ben Snow mystery stories. In his Introduction, Hoch explains how a series about a man many people think is Billy the Kid evolved into a character involved in a presidential assassination, a serial killer investigation, a locked room murder, and a mission into Mexico. The stories span 1882 to 1935 as Ben Snow travels around the West.

Hoch warns readers that some of the Ben Snow stories, written early in his writing career, don’t have the craftsmanship of his later stories. Even in the early 1960s, Hoch displays his talent in these Ben Snow stories. I enjoyed them and so will you! Marvin Lachman’s informative “Long Way From Home: The Travels of Ben Snow,” traces the history of the Ben Snow stories and their settings. I also appreciated the chronology of the Ben Snow stories that Marv provides. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION By Edward D. Hoch — 9

Frontier street — 13

Valley of arrows — 27

Ghost town — 39

Flying man — 52

Man in the alley — 65

Ripper of Storyville — 82

Snow in Yucatan –101

Vanished steamboat — 117

Brothers on the beach –130

500 hours of Dr. Wisdom — 144

Trail of the bells — 158

Phantom stallion — 171

Sacramento waxworks — 185

Only tree in Tasco — 197

Long way from home: the travels of Ben Snow / Marvin Lachman — 209