Stories to Be Whispered
by Cornell Woolrich· 2016
The short story was Woolrich’s métier. Each of the tales in this treasury is a taut, tough, sometimes terrifying example of Woolrich’s ability to mix murder and mood with dashes of agonizing suspense. Characters are on desperate, fear-fueled journeys through urban underbellies and dark alleyways. “After Dinner Story” involves several men trapped in an out-of-control elevator where a murder has just been committed. “An Apple A Day,” “Cigarette,” and “The Heavy Sugar” take the reader on sinister sojourns through dark city streets, each about a character desperate to hunt down a telltale clue linking him to a dastardly crime. “Detective William Brown” chronicles the rise and fall of a brilliant but vicious detective, whose uncontrollable ambition leads to murder and a truly twisted redemption. Suspicion and paranoia play out in “The Case of the Killer Diller,” as the songstress in a jazz troupe struggles to solve the murder of one of her bandmates; each member of the group has an airtight alibi at the time of the killing. “Guillotine” is a classic exercise in tension, as a condemned killer meticulously crafts a plot to keep his head from rolling—by executing his executioner. “All At Once, No Alice” is vintage Woolrich: a young newlywed sweats blood as he searches for his bride, who disappears after spending the night in a sleazy hotel—with no evidence that she even existed.
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The short story was Woolrich’s métier. Each of the tales in this treasury is a taut, tough, sometimes terrifying example of Woolrich’s ability to mix murder and mood with dashes of agonizing suspense. Characters are on desperate, fear-fueled journeys through urban underbellies and dark alleyways. “After Dinner Story” involves several men trapped in an out-of-control elevator where a murder has just been committed. “An Apple A Day,” “Cigarette,” and “The Heavy Sugar” take the reader on sinister sojourns through dark city streets, each about a character desperate to hunt down a telltale clue linking him to a dastardly crime. “Detective William Brown” chronicles the rise and fall of a brilliant but vicious detective, whose uncontrollable ambition leads to murder and a truly twisted redemption. Suspicion and paranoia play out in “The Case of the Killer Diller,” as the songstress in a jazz troupe struggles to solve the murder of one of her bandmates; each member of the group has an airtight alibi at the time of the killing. “Guillotine” is a classic exercise in tension, as a condemned killer meticulously crafts a plot to keep his head from rolling—by executing his executioner. “All At Once, No Alice” is vintage Woolrich: a young newlywed sweats blood as he searches for his bride, who disappears after spending the night in a sleazy hotel—with no evidence that she even existed.