Happiness Is a Warm Corpse: Mini-Review

Happiness Is a Warm Corpse (1969) is a collection of short stories presented as "personally selected by Alfred Hitchcock." These collections of stories Hitchcock's name and include introductions ostensibly written by the director, but it is generally agreed that Hitchcock had little, if any, involvement in the books. Such collections were plentiful in my school libraries and I soon made my way through all that were available. This may well have been one of them--if so, I did not record it in my book log and I have long forgotten it. As a collection, it is--as most collections are--a mixed bag. There are several excellent stories...from "Once Upon a Bank Floor," the tale of a foiled bank robbery that yielded loot for one of the criminals much later, to "The Egg Head" in which a young scientist wins the respect of his police chief father-in-law by helping to solve an unsolved murder to "IQ-184" which produces a most surprising murderer, indeed. And "Kill If You Want Me" is a very chilling story of cold-blooded murder. But there are a few stories that are either a bit confusing ("The Sweater," for instance) or which fall just a bit flat in the telling. Overall, a solid mystery collection--just right for a cozy October evening of reading. ★★★

This counts for the "Short Story Collection" square on the Silver Vintage Bingo card.