Forgotten Books: Charlotte Armstrong Night Call & Other Stories
New from Crippen & Landru
I first read Charlotte Armstrong after seeing a 1952 movie called "Don't Bother To Knock." The stars were Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. Monroe plays a seriously disturbed young woman asked to babysit the child of Widmark and his wife. Monroe is terrific--terrifying. Will she kill the kid?
I'd seen the name Charlotte Armstrong on the metal paperback racks. She always seemed to have a new paperback out. And she was in Ellery Queen a lot. I tracked down Mischief which the Monroe movie was based on and became an Armstrong fan for life.
If she was not as phantasmagoric as Dorothy B. Hughes sometimes was or as Elizabeth Sanxay Holding almost always was, Armstrong, as a critic recently noted, updated the gothic tropes of the previous generation and made of them tart and contemporary popular art.
No critic of the time was a bigger promoter of Armstrong's work than Anthony Boucher. He noted that she was the creator of "suburan noir" and he was right.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
New from Crippen & Landru
I first read Charlotte Armstrong after seeing a 1952 movie called "Don't Bother To Knock." The stars were Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe. Monroe plays a seriously disturbed young woman asked to babysit the child of Widmark and his wife. Monroe is terrific--terrifying. Will she kill the kid?
I'd seen the name Charlotte Armstrong on the metal paperback racks. She always seemed to have a new paperback out. And she was in Ellery Queen a lot. I tracked down Mischief which the Monroe movie was based on and became an Armstrong fan for life.
If she was not as phantasmagoric as Dorothy B. Hughes sometimes was or as Elizabeth Sanxay Holding almost always was, Armstrong, as a critic recently noted, updated the gothic tropes of the previous generation and made of them tart and contemporary popular art.
No critic of the time was a bigger promoter of Armstrong's work than Anthony Boucher. He noted that she was the creator of "suburan noir" and he was right.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
Though she used the tropes of what was dismissively called "women's fiction" she took them into a nether realm that was riveting and terrifying.
Editors Rick Cypert and the late Kirby McCauley have collected here a collection of short and long stories that are a tribute to the Armstrong finesse and darkness.
None of the pieces here have ever been collected before and there is also unpublished material.
Everything in the book is packed with excellent storytelling but my favorite has to be the long novelette "Man in The Road") about a "career woman" (yes that was how they were divided from "real women" :) ) who returns home to a small bleak desert town only to find herself accused of a sinister mysterious hit-and-run. I'll pay this the highest compliment I can--this is the kind of twisty crime story Richard Matheson excelled at. It would have been perfect for the long form "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
My favorite of the shorter pieces is "The Cool Ones" which concerns the kidnapping of grandmother and makes as contemporary a statement as the Flower Power era she wrote it in.
This is not only a major collection of a major writer (thanks to Sarah Weinman for bringing so many overlooked women writers back to our attention) but is also the most beautifully jacketed and produced book Crippen & Landru has ever published.
Sergio Angelini, THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF STYLE, Gilbert Adair
Joe Barone, SHADOWS ON A MAINE CHRISTMAS, Lea Wait
Brian Busby, MEURTRE A WESTMOUNT, David Montrose
Bill Crider, PLUGGED NICKEL, Robert Campbell
Martin Edwards, MYSTERY IN WHITE, T. Jefferson Farjeon
Curt Evans, TOPER's END, G.D.H. and Margaret Cole
Rick Horton, THE BLACK FLEMINGS, Kathleen Norris
Jerry House. ADVENTURES IN HEAVEN, Charles Andoff
Randy Johnson, HOLLYWOOD AND LEVINE, Andrew Bergman
Nick Jones, DANGER IN THE DARK, Patricia Carlon
George Kelley , THE MILLENNIUM EXPRESS, Robert Silverberg
Margot Kinberg, MURDER AT HONEYCHURCH HALL, Hannah Dennison
B.V. Lawson , DEATH OF A DUTCHMAN, Magdalen Nabb
Evan Lewis , THE TAG MURDERS, Carroll John Daly
Steve Lewis/David Vineyard, THE WATCHERS, Jon Steele
Todd Mason, BENCHMARKS CONT. Algis Budrys; THE DREAM OUR STUFF IS MADE OF, Thomas M Disch
Neer , NEITHER FIVE NOR THREE, Helen MacInnes
J.F. Norris , POISON IS A BITTER BREW, Anne Hocking
James Reasoner, TEXAS HOLD 'EM, Kinky Friedman
Kelly Robinson, THE POTHUNTERS, P.G. Wodehouse
Richard Robinson, THE JEWEL THAT WAS OURS, Colin Dexter
Gerard Saylor, A DEDICATED MAN, Peter Robinson
Ron Scheer, OVER THE BORDER, Herman Whitaker
Kevin Tipple/Patrick Ohl, THE HOUSE OF SILK, Anthony Horowitz
Prashant Trikanna, Popular Fiction by 20 Best-selling Authors
Zybahn, THE MAGIC BOONDOCKERS, Frank Scott York
11 comments:
I have never read anything by Charlotte Armstrong and Mr. Gorman's review makes me want to sample her work right away.
I have the book waiting (with many others) on my shelf. When a master of the short story like Ed Gorman recommends something this highly you should pay attention.
I agree about MISCHIEF though my favorite Armstrong book is probably A DRAM OF POISON.
Jeff M.
Some of these earlier stories of suspense were just outstanding.
Patti, my fine introduction to the essay I should still write is now up!
http://socialistjazz.blogspot.com/2014/09/sf-in-world-and-world-is-changed.html
BENCHMARKS CONTINUED by Algis Budrys; THE DREAMS OUR STUFF IS MADE OF by Thomas M. Disch
What a great variety as always, Patti. Thanks. And you've made me want to read some Charlotte Armstrong. Oh, and thanks for including my post.
I'm really looking forward to raading this collecton.
The Himes book was from last week. Please change my post to the one below.
Poison Is a Bitter Brew by Anne Hocking
Thanks, Patti.
Sounds great - can;t wait to get my hands on a copy - thanks Patti.
The spell Armstrong wove is irresistible; I don't think she ever wrote a less-than-good book and many of her books were superb. My favorite, though, has to be the short story "The Enemy."
Managed a very late entry, if you're able to add it. Thanks so much!
http://bookdirtblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/book-review-pothunters-by-p-g-wodehouse.html
nice post..
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http://www.criterion.com/lists/254590-hd-walking-dead-season-5-episode-1-watch
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