Hoch Since 2008, when this magazine lost one of its greatest contributors, Edward D. Hoch, we've been presenting occasional reprints of stories he sold to other publications. Most of the stories have not been typical of the sort of work Ed Hoch did for EQMM. His work for us was predominantly in the classical vein—fairly clued whodunits with series characters readers came to know intimately. Over the past four years we've tried to show, through these reprints, Ed Hoch's versatility. Here, for instance, we see that he was a master of the story with a twist in the tail. The plane, a silver bird dipping its wings to the far-off dawn, came in low over Jason Lean's farmland. Too low, he remembered thinking, for he'd seen so many hundreds on the airport approach that he almost at times felt he could fly one. Too low, with the rising sun in the pilot's eyes and the double row of power lines crossing the tip of the hill. He shouted something, to be heard only by the field birds and the indifferent cows, then screwed his face in a sort of horror as the great plane touched the unseen wires.There was a crackle of blue flame, no more than that of a match lit and suddenly dying, but it was enough to spell death to an airliner.
What do You think about Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 11/01/12 (2012)?
