Edward D. High

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward Dentinger Hoch (born February 22, 1930 in Rochester , New York , † January 17, 2008 there ) was an American crime and science fiction author. Although he has also written several novels , he is best known for his countless short stories .

life and work

Edward D. Hoch studied at the University of Rochester from 1947 to 1949 , was a librarian in a public library and served in the US Army from 1950 to 1952 . He then worked for Pocket Books and in advertising before setting up as a freelance writer in 1968.

Hoch began writing in 1950; its first story appeared in Famous Detective Stories in 1955, and more stories followed in The Saint Mystery Magazine . From January 1962 he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine (AHMM). His most successful collaboration began in December 1962 with the appearance of his first story in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ; Since then, over 450 stories by Hoch have been published in the EQMM , around half of his total oeuvre. From May 1973 the magazine published a new story by the author in each monthly issue, and by May 2004 he was featured in each issue for an astonishing 31 years.

Hoch was a master of classic detective history , with an emphasis more on solving mysteries than on suspense and action; EQMM called him "The King of the Classical Whodunit " (king of the classic search for perpetrators). His stories usually have a tight plot with carefully and fairly presented references, both tangible and psychological. He has a particular preference for "impossible crimes" (mostly murders) that apparently could not have been committed; he invented numerous variants of locked rooms , such as those made famous by John Dickson Carr . One example is The Second Problem of the Covered Bridge , where a man is shot dead at close range alone on a covered bridge while both exits of the bridge are watched by crowds of witnesses.

Other names Hoch has published stories under are "Stephen Dentinger", "RL Stevens", "Pat McMahon", "Anthony Circus" and "Mr. X ". In many cases he also had a story under his own name in the same issue of the magazine.

In 2001, he received the US crime writer's highest honor, the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America . He was the first Grand Master best known for his short stories rather than novels.

Series

In the vast majority of his stories, Hoch uses recurring characters. He has created at least a dozen series for the EQMM alone . His series with Captain Leopold now has over 100 episodes.

Nick Velvet

Nick Velvet is a professional contract thief with a peculiarity: for a lump sum he only steals items of apparently negligible value. Since his first appearance at the EQMM in September 1966, he has stolen things like an old spider web (which he had to replace again), a day old newspaper and a used tea bag. He originally charged $ 20,000  for a theft. In 1980 he increased the amount to $ 25,000 at the urging of his longtime girlfriend Gloria (whom Nick met in 1965 when she broke into her New York apartment); in the new millennium , his fee rose to $ 50,000. Unlike many literary thieves, Nick usually works alone - in fact, until 1979, Gloria believed that Nick worked for the US government.

The Nick Velvet thief stories usually combine an almost impossible theft with the mystery of why someone pays $ 20,000 to have an apparently worthless item stolen. Although Nick Velvet may seem as uninspiring as his goals are valuable, circumstances usually force him to find the true motives of his clients, making him as much a detective as Hoch's more traditional characters. Most of the Nick Velvet stories are loosely written and funny, reminiscent of the early Simon Templar stories by Leslie Charteris . The fact that Nick's chosen profession is profoundly immoral is often offset by the greater justice that results from his detective work.

With the Nick Velvet story The Theft of the Circus Poster , Hoch's uninterrupted chain of monthly contributions to the EQMM began in May 1973 . The Theft of the Rusty Bookmark from January 1998 is about the real- life Mysterious Bookshop in New York City and the real owner Otto Penzler. All Nick Velvet stories, like most of Hoch's stories, are told in the third person; The only exception is The Theft of Gloria's Greatcoat (May 1998), which describes the first encounter between Nick and Gloria and is told from Gloria's point of view.

Captain Leopold

Captain Leopold is a criminal investigator and head of the violent crime division of the police force in an unnamed Connecticut city. He, Lieutenant Fletcher, and Sergeant Connie Trent are some of Hoch's traditional characters. Superficial are the police crime stories that show the police officers working together in their investigative work, but the crimes are mostly unusual and show Hoch's skillful development of actions and setting of clues. The cases are usually resolved through the conclusions of Leopold and his comrades and not through simple police work. Impossible crimes and locked rooms are also part of it.

The Leopold stories are the best way to see what makes Hoch's series stories so appealing: the characters age and change over time as they do in reality. Over the course of the series, Leopold divorced, remarried, retired, returned to work, and retired a second time. Lieutenant Fletcher was promoted to captain and took up his post, Connie Trent was promoted to lieutenant. In the more recent stories, Fletcher and Trent are in the foreground and Leopold only plays the valued advisor.

Leopold first appeared as a minor character in a story in 1957. In The Theft of Leopold's Badge from March 1991, Hoch brought Captain Leopold and Nick Velvet together in one story. The majority of the Leopold stories appeared in the EQMM , some more also in the AHMM .

Dr. Sam Hawthorne

Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a retired family doctor who also specializes in "impossible murders". His stories are told as memories of the 20s, 30s and 40s when he practiced in a small town. Sam Hawthorne tries to lead a quiet life in the fictional town of Northmont, New England, but wherever he goes, somebody always seems to die in the most impossible way.

The Sam Hawthorne Stories, published since 1974, are carefully researched historical works full of contemporary details about Sam's car, treatments at the time, politics and fashion. The stories in this series are some of Hoch's most humane narratives: Sam himself is a happy person and tells his stories with humor, but his first-person narration gives the reader a close look at his concern for the investigated murders and his compassion for the bereaved. Since most of the stories take place in the same small town, the number of recurring supporting characters is larger than normal.

The early stories of the series contain a special feature: each ends with an allusion to the central puzzle of the next story, and this clue is referred to at the beginning of each story. Sometimes such a stylistic device is added afterwards for an anthology to create consistency, but this is very unusual for the first publication of independent stories in a series.

Simon Ark

Simon Ark is Hoch's first detective and has appeared in more than sixty more melancholy than lurid stories since the mid-1950s. He is a two-thousand-year-old magician and Coptic priest who finds the "earthly" solutions to seemingly supernatural crimes and is confronted with satanists, werewolves and witches.

Further

  • Jeffery Rand, encryption key and cipher intelligence expert
  • Sir Gideon Parrot, a parodying mix of Dr. Gideon Fell ( John Dickson Carr ) and Hercule Poirot ( Agatha Christie )
  • Michael Vlado, a young Eastern European gypsy king
  • Alexander Swift, George Washington's secret agent in the American Revolutionary War
  • Barney Hamet, a crime novelist
  • Ben Snow, who investigated surreal criminal cases in the Wild West between 1992 and 1908
  • Susan Holt adds a detective to Hoch's work, she works in the personnel department of a department store chain

There are also some Interpol stories and three science fiction thrillers.

Awards

Works

  • as Ellery Queen: The Shattered Raven. Novel. 1969 (German shot from the microphone. Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Vienna 1970).
  • The Transvection Machine. Novel. 1971 (German The Computer Cops. Bergisch Gladbach 1974).
  • The Judges of Hades And Other Simon Ark Stories. Narrative collection 1971 (German shock at midnight. Rastatt 1975, anthology with Simon Ark stories).
  • City Of Brass. Collection of stories about Simon Ark. 1971.
  • The Fellowship Of The Hand. Novel. 1973.
  • The Quests Of Simon Ark. Collection of stories about Simon Ark. 1984.
  • Leopold's Way. Collection of stories about Captain Leopold. 1985.
  • The Frankenstein Factory. Roman 1975 (German Frankenstein's factory. Zurich 1987).
  • The Thefts Of Nick Velvet. Collection of stories about Nick Velvet. 1978.
  • The Night My Friend. Collection of stories. 1991.
  • Diagnosis Impossible. Collection of stories about Sam Hawthorne. 1996.
  • The Ripper Of Storyville And Other Ben Snow Tales. Collection of stories about Ben Snow. 1997.
  • The Velvet Touch. Collection of stories about Nick Velvet. 2000.
  • The Old Spies Club. Collection of stories about Jeffery Rand. 2001.
  • The Night People. Collection of stories. 2001.
  • The Iron Angel And Other Tales Of The Gypsie Sleath. Collection of stories about Michael Vlado. 2003.

Hoch's main work comprises an estimated 900 short stories, most of which have appeared in magazines and anthologies. He has also written several dozen novels.

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME High, Edward D.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES High, Edward Dentinger (full name); Booth, Irwin (pseudonym); Dentinger, Edward (pseudonym); Hoch, Edward H. (pseudonym); Hoh, Edvard D. (pseudonym); Stevens, RL (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American crime novelist
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochester (New York)
DATE OF DEATH January 17, 2008
Place of death Rochester (New York)