Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbinders in Suspense (book)

US hardback

Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbinders in Suspense

• published in 1967 in the USA by Random House (hardback)
• edited by Robert Arthur
• illustrated by Harold Isen
• 206 pages

Contents

1. The Chinese Puzzle Box by Agatha Christie
2. The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell
3. The Birds by Daphne du Maurier
4. Puzzle for Poppy by Patrick Quentin
5. Eyewitness by Robert Arthur
6. Man from the South by Roald Dahl
7. Black Magic by Sax Rohmer
8. Treasure Trove by F. Tennyson Jesse
9. Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch
10. The Treasure Hunt by Edgar Wallace
11. The Man Who Knew How by Dorothy L. Sayers
12. The Dilemma of Grampa Dubois by Clayre Lipman and Michel Lipman
13. P. Moran, Diamond-Hunter by Percival Wilde

Inner Page

These are mystery-suspense stories. Some will keep you on the edge of your chair with excitement. Others are calculated to draw you along irresistibly to see how the puzzle works out. I have even included a sample or two of stories that are humorous, to show you that humor and mystery can also add up to suspense.

So here you are, with best wishes for hours of good reading.

Alfred Hitchcock

Introduction

A BRIEF MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

If you have been keeping pace with this series of books that I have been bringing you, you know that in the past I have gathered for your enjoyment tales of ghosts, spooks and spirits. I have given you a group of ingenious solve-them-yourself mysteries. I have paraded before your eyes a collection of monsters who took my fancy. This time I have assembled for your entertainment a choice group of stories of suspense.

But what, indeed, is suspense? I prefer the simplest definition — suspense is that quality in a story which makes you want to keep on reading it to find out what happens. By this definition any good story, of course, has suspense in it. A love story can have suspense — does it end happily? A mountain climbing story can have suspense — does the hero get to the top or does he slip and fall over a cliff?

I can assure you, however, that you will find neither love stories nor mountain-climbing stories in this collection. These are mystery-suspense stories. Some will keep you on the edge of your chair with excitement. Others are calculated to draw you along irresistibly to see how the puzzle works out. I have even included a sample or two of stories that are humorous, to show you that humor and mystery can also add up to suspense.

So here you are, with best wishes for hours of good reading from your perennial host—

ALFRED HITCHCOCK

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Notes

• The UK edition published by Max Reinhardt Ltd replaced The Chinese Puzzle Box with Agatha Christie's The Veiled Lady

Links

• Open Library - available to borrow as an eBook
• WorldCat

Image Gallery

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