"The Intruders" by Evan Hunter, from Best Seller Mystery Magazine, March 1959
"Ed McBain" was the best-known pseudonym for Evan Hunter. I didn't have a copyof a McBain/Hunter book handy for this week's Forgotten Books tribute to that great writer, so I decided to go with one of his crime short stories.
Ovver the years I have read just about every book that Hunter published (the exeptions being two later novels -- 2002's The Moment She Was Gone by Hunter and Alice in Jeopardy by "McBain" -- and the questionable soft-core novels written as "Dean Hudson"). If I had to recommend a book by him, I'd probably go with the 87th Precinct novel Ghost, if only for the most horrifying two pages in a police procedural. Or maybe his early collection of crime and juvvenile delinquent stories, The Jungle Kids. Or perhaps one of his big mainstream novels like Second Ending, Last Summer, or Streets of Gold. Or I could go with any of his Matthew Hope novels, or his western novel The Chisholms, or one of his Winson "Adventures in Science Fiction" juveniles, or his thriller Scimitar, or...or you could just pipck up anything he has written, under any name, from any point in his long career -- I'm pretty sure you will be entertained and impressed.
In this meantime, sample this small tale:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri7ELVw9DA0
I'm sure you could have gotten one of his books from the library!
ReplyDeleteRichard, the library here is pretty poor (the county does not offer interlibrary loan, for example, and its selection is limited at best), plus I wasn't able to get a library card until today. So no Hunter books available.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that, my friend. A good library system is great to have. I'm amazed that a county library, as opposed to a small city library, would not be part of the inter loan system.
ReplyDelete