BEST DETECTIVE STORIES OF THE YEAR

by David C.- Ed. Cooke ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 1958

The annual autopsy of periodicals (Manhunt, This Week, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, etc.,) permits a second coming in book form (for some a third- television)... William Campbell Gault returns to the prize ring; Stuart Palmer's schoolteacher sleuth, Hildegarde Withers, flushes a missing man; these with Craig Rice and Leigh Brackett represent the best known names. There's a bludgeon of brutality in Max Franklin's The Geniuses (two boys direct their high IQ's at a perfect crime); in Margaret Manners' The Last Dark Step- a man kills his alibi; there's domestic horror in Charles Mergendahl's Secret Recipe. Not the distinction of the Ellery Queen collections, but by now- in its 13th year- there should be a reliable reception.

Pub Date: July 1, 1958

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1958

Categories: FICTION