Murder Most Postal: Homicidal Tales that Deliver a Message (2001) is part of Martin H. Greenberg’s “Murder Most…” series. I’ll be reviewing a couple more anthologies in this series in the weeks ahead. You can read my review of Murder Most Medieval here.
The most chilling story in Murder Most Postal is Lawrence Block’s “Like a Bone in the Throat” which deals with a serial killer and the brother of one of his victims. Greenberg includes the classic Poe mystery, “The Purloined Letter,” and August Derleth puts a slight spin on it with Solar Pons investigating “The Adventure of the Penny Magenta.”
I also enjoyed the Evan Hunter (aka, Ed McBain) Christmas story, “Deadlier Than the Mail,” about the thefts of mailed checks in New York City. When is the last time you’ve written a letter? GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Introduction / John Helfers — vii
Like a bone in the throat / Lawrence Block — 1
The purloined letter / Edgar Allan Poe — 27
An act of violence / William F. Nolan — 45
The Corbett correspondence / “Agent No. 5 and Agent No. 6” — 53
Agony column / Barry N. Malzberg — 67
Graduation / Richard Christian Matheson — 77
Someone who understands me / Matthew Costello — 93
Letter to the editor / Morris Hershman — 101
The coveted correspondence / Ralph McInerny — 107
A nice cup of tea / Kate Kingsbury — 131
Letter to his son / Simon Brett — 143
The poisoned pen / Arthur B. Reeve — 161
A literary death / Martin H. Greenberg — 181
The adventure of Penny Magenta / August Derleth — 185
Letter from a very worried man / Henry Slesar — 199
Pure Rotten / John Lutz — 203
Computers don’t argue / Gordon R. Dickson — 209
A letter to Amy / Joyce Harrington — 225
The adventure of the one-penny black / Ellery Queen — 243
Make yoursleves at home / Joan Hess — 263
Deadlier than the mail / Evan Hunter — 279
Contributors — 297
Copyrights and Permissions — 305
Sadly, other than my yearly Christmas letter, most of the personal letters I write these days are in condolence cards. In fact, I just saw the obituary yesterday of the man who was married to my mother’s best friend, so I’ll be writing a letter to her this weekend for sure.
Deb, you remember what the great Yogi Berra (supposedly) said: “Always go to other people’s funerals so they’ll come to yours. “
Deb, I still have a few close friends that I correspond with a couple times a year. Email is my preferred mode of “letter writing.”
Funny, because we were discussing a few days ago how no one writes letters these days. I can’t remember the last time I wrote one. Back in the pre-internet days, however, it was a different story. I had a good friend in Kentucky and we exchanged hundreds of letters, many about books and movies. I still have his letters in folders, as well as carbon copies of my responses.
As for this book, it obviously escaped my notice. Sounds like something I would definitely read, though. When we get home today I will check it out.
Jeff, I’m enjoying the Greenberg MURDER MOST… series and have a couple more handy. Letter writing seems to be a dying art.
Really miss Ed McBain.
Patti, I have a handful of Ed McBain/Evan Hunter novels still to read. I’m trying to make them last a few more years before I’ve read them all.
Me too. I read all his series books, but I have 5 or 6 non-series to read.
I’ve yet to read a fully good story of any length from Lombino/Hunter/McBain, etc. What might qualify as your favorites?
Whatever you do, don’t read MARY, MARY.
This looks like a good selection of authors to try in short story form.
I like Barry Malzberg’s “Agony Column”…haven’t yet read most of not all the others, aside from the utter chestnuts (the Poe).