Death on Television: The Best of Henry Slesar's Alfred Hitchcock Stories

Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989. R4 - A hardcover book in very good condition in very good dust jacket that is mylar protected. Dust jacket has small open tear on the bottom left corner of the spine, small patch chipped with wrinkling on the bottom right corner of the spine, dust jacket and book have some lightly bumped corners, light discoloration and shelf wear. Introduction by Henry Slesar. Although not marked in any way, this copy comes from the personal collection of Otto Penzler, legendary editor and founder of the Mysterious Press, an award-winning icon in the genre. 8.25"x6.25". 259 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Old Sadie Grimes had put her house up for sale five years ago, right after her son died. Although she was asking seventy-five thousand dollars for property worth ten, an out-of-towner now seemed determined to buy her home. He visited Sadie to persuade her to take less. She wouldn't budge and the stranger agreed to her price. Sadie served the lemonade and told him about the house. Her son had hidden stolen cash somewhere in the house before his partner killed him while trying to recover it. She knew the killer would return and want the house . . . at any price. "All I had to do was wait until I found the man willing to pay much too much for an old lady's house," she said as the stranger's head began to spin from the lemonade. Henry Slesar wrote "The Right Kind of House" and more than 40 other stories chosen for the classic television show, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Irony, not suspense, is the key ingredient in the nineteen stories by Slesar offered in this collection edited by Francis M. Nevins, Jr. and Martin H. Greenberg. Irony often seems a by-product of cynicism. Anatole France called it "the last phase of disillusion." For Hitchcock and his writers, irony, not just suspense, was the basis of their storytelling, along with its two constant companions: humor and pity. Hitchcock first spotted Slesar's work in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The story, entitled "M Is for the Many," became an episode called "Heart of Gold." A lonely, orphaned young man just out of prison calls on the family of his cellmate. They "adopt" him and he is happy for the first time in his life - until he learns that their kindness is directed toward finding out where his cellmate hid the money he stole. Once again, irony and pity combine for the dominant theme. An attitude that smiled, sometimes a bit sadly, on the frailties of the human personality dictated which stories Hitchcock chose for his program. The story always came before sensationalism, humor before fright, in Hitchcock's presentations. In his introduction Henry Slesar says: "Hitchcock always appreciated a good joke. He also appreciated a good story. I have never needed a more gratifying commendation than the fact that he liked the ones in this book." . Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.