Fiction_L Archives Hitchcock collection short story Dates: 1/16/04,10:05 AM  through  1/16/04,1:16 PM  (4 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to January 2004 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: "Deborah T. Walsh" <[removed]@geneva.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 1/16/04, 10:05 AM

A recent obituary in a Chicagoland newspaper mentioned that Laurence M.
Grinnell, a former resident of our community (Geneva, IL) was, among other
things, a writer whose short story entitled "On Your Signature Only"
appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's collection of short stories.

What the obituary writer should have written was: "in one of the incredibly
prolific Alfred Hitchcock's many many collection(s) of short stories."

I've tried all the indices I can find, and Googled around the ss title and
Grinnell's name, but come up short. I've searched WorldCat hoping it would
pick up a contents note, but that didn't work either.

Of course, a current resident of our community is interested in finding this
short story, and we will try to accommodate the request with an ILL if we
can only figure out what to request. Does anyone have a better index to the
story collections of Alfred Hitchcock? Any help would be deeply
appreciated.

Deborah T. Walsh
Geneva Public Library District
Geneva, IL
[removed]@geneva.lib.il.us

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 1/16/04, 10:46 AM

According to MONTHLY MURDERS (see below), the story appeared in
ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE for January 1966. Grinnell
had a second story in the magazine, "Promisary Note," in the
issue for March 1970. I can't find any indication that either
of these stories was subsequently reprinted in any of the book
anthologies edited "by" Alfred Hitchcock (all of which were
actually ghost-edited for him), so I think the reference is to
the story in the AH magazine and the reporter got the wording
slightly wrong.

I'm afraid U of MN doesn't have a run of AHMM (nor do I).

For future reference:

Sources for mystery magazine and anthology indexing, for future
reference, include:

MYSTERY, DETECTIVE, AND ESPIONAGE FICTION: A CHECKLIST OF FICTION
IN U.S. PULP MAGAZINES, 1915-1974, by Michael L. Cook and
Stephen T. Miller (2 vols; Garland, 1988)

MONTHLY MURDERS: A CHECKLIST AND CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING OF FICTION
IN THE DIGEST-SIZE MYSTERY MAGAZINES IN THE UNITED STATES
AND ENGLAND, by Michael L. Cook (Greenwood, 1982)

INDEX TO CRIME AND MYSTERY ANTHOLOGIES, by William G. Contento
and Martin H. Greenberg (G.K. Hall, 1990)

and Contento's "Mystery Short Fiction: 1990-2003" website at

http://users.ev1.net/~homeville/msf/index.htm

**********
Cook/Miller, as subtitle indicates, index pulp-size/pulp-paper
magaazines published in the US (some of which later switched to
digest size, which I think explains that late "1974" date, as
virtually all real pulps (by magazine collecter definitions, not
by the sloppy modern usage of "pulp") had died by the mid-1950s.

MONTHLY MURDERS indexes the digest-size mystery magazines--the
first being ELLERY QUEEN'S in 1941--up through year 1980.

The Contento/Greenberg index covers mystery/crime multi-author
book anthology contents up through early 1990 (and does cite
original magazine or other appearance of stories reprinted in
such anthologies)--it doesn't do single-author collections, though.

The Contento website updates both the Contento/Greenberg book
index (by indexing anthologies from 1990 to date) and the MONTHLY
MURDERS book (by indexing mystery/crime magazines from 1980 to
date); it also indexes relevant single-author collections from
1990 to date.

There are a few other sources sometimes useful for mystery
magazine and anthology editing, but these are the "big four."

Aside from the two AHMM stories listed in MONTHLY MURDERS, which
I noted above, I didn't find any other Laurence Grinnell stories.

Now--favor swap. Could you supply me with a copy of the Grinnell
obit you mention, either emailed (if it's not too long) or
photocopied and snailmailed to me (if it is or you'd prefer)?
No rush, but I do know people (such as Contento) who maintain
data on obits, bio information, etc. on anyone publishing fiction
in these magazines.

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

At 10:05 AM 1/16/04 -0600, you wrote:
>A recent obituary in a Chicagoland newspaper mentioned that Laurence M.
>Grinnell, a former resident of our community (Geneva, IL) was, among other
>things, a writer whose short story entitled "On Your Signature Only"
>appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's collection of short stories.
>
>What the obituary writer should have written was: "in one of the incredibly
>prolific Alfred Hitchcock's many many collection(s) of short stories."
>
>I've tried all the indices I can find, and Googled around the ss title and
>Grinnell's name, but come up short. I've searched WorldCat hoping it would
>pick up a contents note, but that didn't work either.
>
>Of course, a current resident of our community is interested in finding this
>short story, and we will try to accommodate the request with an ILL if we
>can only figure out what to request. Does anyone have a better index to the
>story collections of Alfred Hitchcock? Any help would be deeply
>appreciated.
>
>Deborah T. Walsh
>Geneva Public Library District
>Geneva, IL
[removed]@geneva.lib.il.us
>
>
>......................................................................
>Need to subscribe, unsubscribe, search the archives?
>Everything Fiction_L: http://fictionl.webrary.org
>
>

FROM: Lynne Welch <[removed]@oplin.org>
REC'D: 1/16/04, 11:03 AM

Following up on Dennis's information, the Bowling Green University (Ohio)
Popular Culture Library http://www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/pcl/pcl.html
has the March 1970 (v.15n.3) issue of the magazine.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have the January 1966 (v.11n.1) issue.

You might be able to request a copy via interlibrary loan ~

Hope this helps,
Lynne

At 11:42 AM 1/16/2004, you wrote:
>According to MONTHLY MURDERS (see below), the story appeared in
>ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE for January 1966. Grinnell
>had a second story in the magazine, "Promisary Note," in the
>issue for March 1970.

Lynne Welch - Reference Librarian
Herrick Memorial Library - Wellington OH 44090
tel. 440-647-2120 fax 440-647-2103
email: <[removed]@oplin.org>
website: <www.wellington.lib.oh.us>

FROM: "Deborah T. Walsh" <[removed]@geneva.lib.il.us>
REC'D: 1/16/04, 1:16 PM

Thanks to Dennis and Linda for looking into this question so promptly and
with such satisfying results. I was able to contact the patron with the
information, and she indicated that "knowing" about the story was actually
more important than "having" the story. She was quite happy for your help,
too!
Thanks - we could surely not have found this using our own in-house
resources.

Deborah T. Walsh
Geneva Public Library District
Geneva, IL
[removed]@geneva.lib.il.us

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