ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S GRAVE SUSPICIONS

Mostly from the 1960s pages of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine: a generous grab-bag of 28 stories, with nearly all the standouts involving a comic touch or two. The late, much-missed Jack Ritchie is represented by the great charm and dark humor of ""Piggy Bank Killer,"" in which a twelve-year-old boy puts out a hit-man contract ($27.50) on his mean uncle--but is really playing matchmaker for his widowed mother. Donald Honig supplies a Runyonesque lament by a would-be kidnapper, with a laugh-out-loud twist at the end. There are likable lesser amusements too: Helen Nielsen's ""Never Trust a Woman,"" about the much-delayed wedding night of a nosy, intuitive, amateur-sleuthing bride; the hapless teenage thieves of Henry Slesar's ""The First Crime of Ruby Martinson""; the saucy supernatural whimsy of C.B. Gilford's ""The Forgiving Ghost."" And elsewhere there's longwinded telepathy-dramatics (George C. Chesbro), a genuine chill or two (Talmage Powell's ""Till Death Do Not Us Part""), as well as the usual, largely humdrum tales of sheriff-sleuthing, damsels-in-distress, gothicky revelations, and courtroom drama. A so-so compilation, then, with extra treats for fanciers of the mystery-comedy genre.