Murder — His and Hers

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I share with my wife a love for the twist ending, and I suppose our short stories tend to be a little old-fashioned... though in a good way.

Recently I co-edited (with Jeff Gelb) a collection of short stories (Flesh and Blood) that included a cross-section of writers in the mystery/suspense genre, from old pros to young punks. I liked all of the stories — or I wouldn’t have bought them! — but several stood out. Writers like Ed Hoch and Don Westlake (to name just two longtime professionals who contributed to that anthology) crafted the kind of well-made story we don’t see much these days. Every nut, every bolt, in its proper place, every screw turn of the plot perfectly tightened... with a final pay-off that provided a smile, or a tingle at the back of the neck... or both.

These days, we see some very interesting stories — unusual ones, daring ones, rule- and ground-breakers. But we rarely see the kind of perfectly fashioned story that used to be, well, fairly commonplace in our popular culture. The great weekly “slick” magazines — Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s come to mind — and the wonderful pulps — Black Mask anyone? — are long gone; so are the half-hour radio and TV dramas. I grew up on Tales from the Crypt and other great comic books (mostly EC’s); and — while HBO mined those ancient ghoulish funnies for several seasons a while back — those are long gone, too.

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