Edward D. Hoch
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Edward D. Hoch | |
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Born | Edward Dentinger Hoch February 22, 1922 Aquinas Institute of Rochester (?–1947) |
Alma mater | University of Rochester (1947–1949) |
Period | 1955–2008 |
Genre | Detective fiction |
Edward Dentinger Hoch (February 22, 1930 – January 17, 2008) was an American writer of detective fiction. Although he wrote several novels, he was primarily known for his vast output of over 950 short stories. He was one of the few America fiction writers of his generation who supported himself financially through short story publication, rather than novels or screenplays.[1]
Early life and career
Hoch (pronounced hoke) was born in
Hoch began writing in the 1950s; his first story appeared in 1955 in
Other magazines Hoch wrote for included
Hoch was a master of the classic detective story, emphasizing mystery and deduction rather than suspense and fast action; EQMM has called him "The King of the Classical
Let prejudice speak. My concern is with who and how and seldom with why. Therefore, in one person's opinion, the prize should go to the very first story, "Murder Offstage," a short-short by Edward D. Hoch; Satan himself could be proud of its ingenuity.[9][10][5]
Hoch also published magazine stories under the names "Stephen Dentinger", "R. L. Stevens", "Pat McMahon", "Anthony Circus", "Irwin Booth", "R. E. Porter", "Mr. X" and the House Name "Ellery Queen". In many cases, he also had a story under his own name in the same magazine issue. Hoch also wrote a novel published as Ellery Queen, under the supervision and editing of Manfred Lee, half of the writing partnership known as Ellery Queen.
In 2001, Hoch was named a
Hoch, a Catholic,[11] died at home in Rochester of a heart attack, aged 77. His wife, née Patricia McMahon, was his only immediate survivor.[12]
Series stories
The overwhelming majority of Hoch's stories feature series characters. He has created at least a dozen different series of stories for EQMM alone. His Captain Leopold series reached over 100 stories.
Nick Velvet
Nick Velvet is a professional thief for hire, with a peculiar specialty: for a flat fee, he steals only objects of negligible apparent value. Since his first appearance in EQMM in September 1966, he has stolen such things as an old spiderweb (which he was then obliged to replace), a day-old newspaper, and a used teabag. His original fee for a theft was $20,000. In 1980 he raised it to $25,000 at the urging of his long-time girlfriend Gloria (who met Nick in 1965 when he was burgling her New York apartment); in the 21st century his fee has risen to $50,000. Unlike many fictional thieves, Nick usually works alone on his thefts—in fact, until 1979 Gloria believed that Nick worked for the U.S. government.
The Nick Velvet
A Nick Velvet story, "The Theft of the Circus Poster" in May 1973, began Hoch's unbroken string of monthly appearances in EQMM. Another story, "The Theft of the Rusty Bookmark" in January 1998 featured the real-life Mysterious Bookshop of New York City, and its real-life owner (and Edgar-winning publisher and editor),
Captain Leopold
Captain Jules Leopold is a police detective, the head of the Violent Crimes Squad of the police department for the fictional city of Monroe,
The Leopold stories best illustrate one of the attractions of Hoch's series tales: The characters age and alter realistically with time. In the course of the series, Leopold has divorced, remarried, retired, returned to work, and retired a second time. Lieutenant Fletcher has been promoted to captain to replace him, and Connie Trent has been promoted to Lieutenant. In some of the recent stories, the focus is on Fletcher and Trent, with Leopold only acting as a respected adviser.
Leopold first appeared as a subsidiary character in a 1957 story. In "The Theft of Leopold's Badge" in March 1991, Hoch brought Captain Leopold and Nick Velvet together in the same story.
EQMM has published the majority of the Leopold stories, but a number have appeared in AHMM as well. The
Dr. Sam Hawthorne
Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a retired family practitioner who is also a specialist in impossible murders. His tales are told as reminiscences of his small-town medical practice in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Sam Hawthorne tries to live a quiet life in the fictional New England town of Northmont, but wherever he goes someone always seems to die in a most improbable way.
First appearing in 1974, the Dr. Sam Hawthorne stories are carefully researched historical pieces, rich with period details about Sam's cars, medical practices of the times, politics, and clothing. The stories of this series are among Hoch's most humane tales: Sam himself is a cheerful fellow and tells his tales with humor, but his first-person narratives give readers a close look at his distress at the murders he investigates and his sympathy for the survivors. Because most of the tales take place in a single small town, the series has a larger-than-usual cast of recurring minor characters.
Each Hawthorne story is a "
The earlier tales of the series include one peculiar device: Each one ends with a hint about the next story's central puzzle, and each one begins with a reference to the previous story's hint. Such a device is sometimes inserted when stories are anthologized, to make them seem more like a continuous narrative, but it is very unusual in the initial publication of independent stories in a series.
In "The Problem of Suicide Cottage" (EQMM, July 2007), it is revealed old Sam is 80 years old, and has a daughter named Samantha. He is telling his stories in 1976, and was born in 1896.
Rand
Jeffery (sometimes Jeffrey) Rand is a code and cipher expert, formerly with the Department of Concealed Communications of British intelligence. The Rand stories take place in exotic locations around the world, and frequently feature secret messages or codes. After he left Concealed Communications, many of his stories involved his half-Egyptian, half-Scots wife, Lella Gaad, who Rand met in "The Spy and The Nile Mermaid". Rand met another Hoch character, Michael Vlado, in "The Spy and the Gypsy".
Simon Ark
Simon Ark was the protagonist of Hoch's first published story and ultimately featured in 39 short stories, which Hoch first collected in 1984.
The Simon Ark stories have supernatural occult themes, although the crimes in them are always found to have been committed by mundane means. In the introduction to his 1984 collection, Hoch left the matter of Simon Ark's real nature a matter for the reader to ponder. The 1984 volume presents what Hoch deemed to be the nine best of the 39 stories that he devoted to Simon Ark; it concludes with a list of all 39 stories, giving details of their original publications. (There were 39 stories as of 1984. He wrote others subsequently.)
Ben Snow
Ben Snow features in a series of
The first Ben Snow series appeared in 1961 in The Saint Mystery Magazine; the series has since been continued in EQMM.
Stanton and Ives
Walt Stanton and Juliet Ives are two Princeton graduates turned international couriers that have appeared in newer stories, beginning with "Courier and Ives" in November 2002. The pair are often sent to pick up or retrieve an item, and end up picking up the mystery around it.
Sir Gideon Parrot
Sir Gideon Parrot (pronounced parroe) is Hoch's humorous tribute to the detectives of the Golden Age of mystery fiction, particularly Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and John Dickson Carr's Dr. Gideon Fell. These stories are gentle parodies of classic mystery devices, the ones so overused they have become cliches.
Michael Vlado
Michael Vlado is the young king of a
Alexander Swift
Alexander Swift, one of Hoch's later creations, is an intelligence agent for General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. The stories comprise more nearly a serial than a series, as Swift probes ever deeper into rumors that the fort of West Point, commanded by General Benedict Arnold, houses a traitor who will betray the fort to the British Army. In the last Swift story, "Swift Among the Pirates", Swift travels to England, to discover Benedict Arnold is dead.
Barney Hamet
Barney Hamet is a mystery writer who stumbles into real mysteries when he attends mystery conventions. Hamet also featured in Hoch's 1969 novel The Shattered Raven.
Susan Holt
Susan Holt is a minor executive, in charge of promotions for a department store chain.
Interpol
The Interpol stories are an apparently discontinued series from the 1970s and 1980s. Interpol officers Sebastian Blue and Laura Charme investigated cases of international crime in Europe.
Al Darlan
Al Darlan (originally Al Diamond; Hoch decided to change the character's name after the earliest stories to avoid confusion with radio/TV detective Richard Diamond) is a private investigator whose appearances have been sparse. His last appearance was in the May 2008 issue of EQMM.
Novels
- The Shattered Raven, 1970. ISBN 0709112300
Barney Hamet investigates a murder at the Mystery Writers of America. - The Blue Movie Murders, 1973. ). "Trouble shooter" Mike McCall investigates the murder of a film producer.
Science fiction detective stories
These three science fiction novels, set in the mid-21st century, feature Carl Crader and Earl Jazine of the Computer Investigation Bureau, nicknamed the "Computer Cops".
- The Transvection Machine, 1971. ISBN 0802755399
- The Fellowship of the Hand, 1973. ISBN 0802755534
- The Frankenstein Factory, 1975. ISBN 0446768618
Short story collections
- City of Brass and Other Simon Ark Stories (Simon Ark), 1971, ISBN 0843900296
- The Judges of Hades (Simon Ark), 1971, Leisure Books. ISBN 0843900334
- Ellery Queen Presents the Spy and the Thief (Rand / Nick Velvet), ed. Queen, 1971, Davis Publications. LCCN 72099895
- The Thefts of Nick Velvet (Nick Velvet), 1978, ISBN 0892960353
- The Quests of Simon Ark (Simon Ark), 1984, Mysterious Press. ISBN 0892961139
- Leopold's Way (Captain Leopold), ed. Nevins & Greenberg, 1985, ISBN 0809312336
- The Spy Who Read Latin and Other Stories (Rand), 1990, Mysterious Press.
- The Night, My Friend (non-series), ed. Nevins, 1992, ISBN 0821410113
- Diagnosis: Impossible (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 1996, ISBN 1885941021
- The Ripper of Storyville and Other Ben Snow Tales (Ben Snow), 1997, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1885941196
- The Velvet Touch (Nick Velvet), 2000, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1885941420
- The Old Spies Club and Other Intrigues of Rand (Rand), 2001, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1885941609
- The Night People (non-series), 2001, Five Star Publishing. ISBN 0786231467
- The Iron Angel and Other Tales of the Gypsy Sleuth (Michael Vlado), 2003, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1885941919
- More Things Impossible (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2006, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1932009493
- The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch, (Sherlock Holmes), 2008, Mysterious Press.
- Nothing Is Impossible (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2014, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363038
- The Future Is Ours, The Science Fiction Stories of Edward D. Hoch, ed. Steven Steinbock, 2016, ISBN 1479407305
- All but Impossible (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2017, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363224
- Challenge the Impossible (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2018, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363291
- Hoch's Ladies (Susan Holt, Libby Knowles, Annie Sears), 2019, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363429
- Funeral in the Fog (Simon Ark), 2020, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363488
- Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Mysteries (Alexander Swift, Gideon Parrot), 2022, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 193636364X
- The Killer Everyone Knew and Other Captain Leopold Stories (Captain Leopold), 2023, Crippen & Landru. ISBN 1936363771
Collections edited by Hoch
- Dear Dead Days, 1972, ISBN 0575017732
- Best Detective Stories of the Year, 1976 through 1981, Dutton
- All But Impossible! An Anthology of Locked Room & Impossible Crime Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of America, 1981, ISBN 0709007795
- The Year's Best Mystery and Suspense Stories, 1982 through 1995, Walker & Co.
- Murder Most Sacred: Great Catholic Tales of Mystery and Suspense, 1989, ISBN 0517061597
- Twelve American Detective Stories, 1997, ISBN 0192880640
Awards
- 1968 The Saint Mystery Magazine, July 1967
- 1998 Anthony Award (EQMM, November 1997
- 2001 Anthony Award (Bouchercon): "The Problem of the Potting Shed", EQMM, July 2000
- 2007 EQMM, June 2007
- Lifetime Achievement Award (Private Eye Writers of America), 2000
- Grand Master (Mystery Writers of America), 2001
- Lifetime Achievement Award (Bouchercon), 2001
References
- ^ Otto Penzler, editor (2014). The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries. NY: Vintage/Black Lizard, ISBN 0307743969
- ^ a b Clune, Henry W. (April 18, 1965). "Seen and Heard: Young Old Pro". Democrat and Chronicle. p. 3M. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "Deaths: Hoch". Democrat and Chronicle. August 17, 1955. p. 21. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ "New York, County Marriages, 1847-1848; 1908-1936," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKJM-7TZV : 9 March 2021), Earl George Hoch, 5 Jun 1928, Monroe, New York, United States; citing ref. ID 6201, county clerk offices from various counties, New York; FHL microfilm 831,370.
- ^ ProQuest 311422767.
Hoch's writing style was penny-plain. [...] What mattered was the quality of the puzzle or problem he presented with every story he wrote, whether it was simply concerned with who killed the victim, or whether it was a case of 'How the devil did the murderer escape without leaving a single trace?' It's no surprise that Hoch was always proud of a remark about his work by his idol John Dickson Carr, who once commented that 'Satan himself would be proud of his ingenuity'. Edward Dentinger Hoch (pronounced "Hoke") was born in Rochester, upstate New York, in 1930. His father was a banker who survived the Wall Street crash and the subsequent Depression. [... Hoch] enrolled in the University of Rochester in 1947 but dropped out after two years, taking a researcher's job at the local library. He enlisted in the US army in 1950 and after basic training became a military policeman at Fort Jay, close to Manhattan, where he began attending the monthly meetings of the newly formed Mystery Writers of America (MWA). In 1952 he joined the paperback publishers Pocket Books and began to write - and get rejected - a year or so later taking a copywriter's job with the Hutchins agency back in Rochester.
- ^ "Aquinas Graduates Who Received Diplomas". Democrat and Chronicle.
- ^ McLellan, Dennis (February 4, 2008). "Obituaries: Edward D. Hoch". The Los Angeles Times. p. 21. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Francis M. Nevins Jr., "Hoch, Edward D(entinger)", in Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers, edited by James Vinson and D.L. Kirkpatrick. St. James Press, 1985. pp. 452-60.
- ^ Carr, John Dickson (January 1971). "The Jury Box". Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. p. 82. Retrieved September 19, 2023.
- LCCN 75--11580.
- ^ ""Memories of Ed" (by Doug Greene)". Somethingisgoingtohappen.et. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
- ^ Fox, Margalit (January 24, 2008). "Edward D. Hoch, Writer of Over 900 Mystery Stories, Is Dead at 77". The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-03-12.
- ISBN 0892961139)