The Night, My Friend: Stories of Crime and Suspense

by Edward D. Hoch

Mystery writer Edward Hoch's career has spanned three and a half decades and produced nearly seven hundred stories. His series characters--there are two dozen of them, including Simon Ark, an occult detective who claims to be two millennia old; Ben Snow, a Western drifter and possible reincarnation of Billy the Kid; Nick Velvet, professional thief, who specializes in stealing items of no value; Libby Knowles, ex-cop turned private bodyguard; and Dr. Sam Hawthorne, small-town New England physician and amateur sleuth--are familiar to mystery readers everywhere. This new collection brings together some of the best of Hoch's more than two hundred non-series stories. The cast of characters includes Johnny Nocturne, "creator of mood music for the night people"; Emerson, a U.S. government hit man operating in the jungle of post-World War Il Europe; and Harry Gordon, whose wife has an unsettling habit of coming back from the dead. As editor Francis M. Nevins, Jr. states in his introduction: "In The Night My Friend you will find a boxing story; a juvenile delinquency story; a prep school reunion story; more than one tale about the aftermath of World War Il..., a fable about a wandering minstrel and his harmonica; and several thrillers with a noir ambience reminiscent of one of the classic TV series of the years when these tales were written, The Fugitive. You will find unusually vivid and visual writing, off-trail settings, complex characterizations, emotions that run deep--in short, a side of Ed Hoch's literary personality that has escaped most readers' attention.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0821410113
• ISBN13: 9780821410110
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Ohio University Press
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 0.93 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Challenge to the Reader

Edward D. Hoch, whose stories have appeared in every issue of ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE since 1973, is a master of the puzzle story. His tales are reminiscent of the great Golden Age of mystery of the 1930's--the era of Ellery Queen, Agatha Christie, and John Dickson Carr. Yet his tales, especially in this collection, sometimes have a dark side, a realization that the puzzle cannot always be solved in a way that makes everything all right. But if you like short stories with genuine mystery, this collection is for you.