He is one of the best-kept secrets of crime and dark suspense. Mystery writer Lawrence Block wrote glowingly about him. If you've ever gotten your hands on an Alfred Hitchcock story anthology, you have probably seen his name. His work has seen few adaptations probably because he was almost exclusively a short story writer (although his short story "Green Heart" was adapted into the film A New Leaf starring Walter Matthau). Regardless, Jack Ritchie could effortlessly give other crime short story masters like Bill Pronzini a run for their money.
Stark House Press has been reprinting stories by Manhunt Magazine and they reprinted all of Jack Ritchie's contributions in The Best of Manhunt #4: the Jack Ritchie Stories. These tales can be described as noir, mystery, dark suspense, crime, and horror. Let's take a brief dive and see what this book has to offer:
In "Solitary", we have a newly-released prisoner being released on parole. He has spent too much time in solitary while doing time and nobody suspects how much it twisted his mind until we see it spill out. In "Ripper Moon", we see a psychologist exploiting a patient who think's he's Jack the Ripper's descendant. Ritchie takes advantage of English pastoral horror in "The Devereux Monster" about a family monster and how the protagonist's life is wrapped up in it. Many of his stories are set in the modern and mundane, such as "You Should Live So Long", the story of an insidious pimp and the lengths that he goes to in order to keep a woman in his employ. "Rainy Afternoon" is a hard-hitting short about a husband pushed over the edge when he and his wife are being victimized by a couple of crooks. "Anniversary of Death" reads like a condensed novel of brutal revenge and is a satisfying piece. I would also recommend classics like "Fair Play", "The Queer Deal", and "Deadline Murder".
If Jack Ritchie sounds like your speed, I also highly recommend his collection A New Leaf and Other Stories, which has been re-released as an ebook after decades of being unavailable. In that one, you'll find other macabre classics like "Remains to be Seen" and "For All the Rude People". I recently read a story that was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "What Frightened You, Fred?" a clever, diabolical story of misdirection that involves a character who can't keep himself out of prison. Is he scared of living in society, having become fully institutionalized or is there a method to it all? Both collections also have Ritchie's trademark story "Shatterproof" about a man who must outthink a hitman who was sent by his wife to kill him.
Jack Ritchie wrote effective, uncompromising stories that often employ a well-timed twist. He isn't well known in the mystery field but if you like snappy, efficient crime fiction then you need to give him a try.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
Stark House Press has been reprinting stories by Manhunt Magazine and they reprinted all of Jack Ritchie's contributions in The Best of Manhunt #4: the Jack Ritchie Stories. These tales can be described as noir, mystery, dark suspense, crime, and horror. Let's take a brief dive and see what this book has to offer:In "Solitary", we have a newly-released prisoner being released on parole. He has spent too much time in solitary while doing time and nobody suspects how much it twisted his mind until we see it spill out. In "Ripper Moon", we see a psychologist exploiting a patient who think's he's Jack the Ripper's descendant. Ritchie takes advantage of English pastoral horror in "The Devereux Monster" about a family monster and how the protagonist's life is wrapped up in it. Many of his stories are set in the modern and mundane, such as "You Should Live So Long", the story of an insidious pimp and the lengths that he goes to in order to keep a woman in his employ. "Rainy Afternoon" is a hard-hitting short about a husband pushed over the edge when he and his wife are being victimized by a couple of crooks. "Anniversary of Death" reads like a condensed novel of brutal revenge and is a satisfying piece. I would also recommend classics like "Fair Play", "The Queer Deal", and "Deadline Murder".
If Jack Ritchie sounds like your speed, I also highly recommend his collection A New Leaf and Other Stories, which has been re-released as an ebook after decades of being unavailable. In that one, you'll find other macabre classics like "Remains to be Seen" and "For All the Rude People". I recently read a story that was adapted for Alfred Hitchcock Presents called "What Frightened You, Fred?" a clever, diabolical story of misdirection that involves a character who can't keep himself out of prison. Is he scared of living in society, having become fully institutionalized or is there a method to it all? Both collections also have Ritchie's trademark story "Shatterproof" about a man who must outthink a hitman who was sent by his wife to kill him.
Jack Ritchie wrote effective, uncompromising stories that often employ a well-timed twist. He isn't well known in the mystery field but if you like snappy, efficient crime fiction then you need to give him a try.
Written by Nicholas Montelongo
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