Alfred Hitchcock ponúka príjemné zimomriavky

Kniha bola v takejto podobe vydaná po prvýkrát v roku 1983 vo vydavateľstve Slovenský spisovateľ.

Hneď v úvode upozorňujem na skutočnosť, že ide o skutočne výborné čítanie. S menom Alfred Hitchcock som sa stretol ešte v detstve pri čítaní príbehov o Troch pátračoch. Hitchcock síce Troch pátračov nenapísal, ale jeho meno bolo použité kvôli zvýšeniu popularity prvých dielov tejto obľúbenej knižnej série. S menom Alfred Hitchcock sa vo svete literatúry spája aj iná knižná séria – séria antológií prevažne strašidelných príbehov. Kniha Alfred Hitchcock ponúka príjemné zimomriavky nám ponúka nasledujúce poviedky:

Mary Linn Roby – Pani Gillyová a gigolo
(Mrs. Gilly and the gigolo)
Robert Lloyd Fish – Únos
(Hijack)
William Brittain – Päť litrov benzínu
(A gallon of gas)
Helen Nielsen – Logika viny
(Pattern of guilt)
Gilbert Ralston – Výbuch treba načasovať
(Destruction is always arranged)
Charles Bernard Gilford – Vražda na svadobnej ceste
(Murder on the honeymoon)
Jack Ritchie – Zradné lietadlo
(Captive audience)
Fletcher Flora – Za vyplatený honorár
(For money received)
Charles West Runyon – Hlava dobrá na vraždu
(A good head for murder)
Waldo Carlton Wright – Líštičky spia v teple
(Little foxes sleep warm)
Joyce Harrington – Byt nad garážou
(The garage apartment)
Nedra Tyre – Vražda zo súcitu
(Killed by kindness)
Gerald Kersh – Hlasy v prachu
(Voices in the dust)
Fletcher Flora – IQ 184
(IQ 184)
Theodore Mathieson – Dokonalá sekretárka
(The compleat secretary)
Rex Stout – Zvinutý šál
(The affair of the twisted scarf)
Richard Hardwick – Marte in memoriam
(Martha: In memoriam)
Edward Hoch – Arbiter sporov
(Arbiter of uncertainties)
Jack Ritchie – Šampanské
(The magnum)
Henry Slesar – Krv nie je voda
(Thicker than water)
William Jeffrey – Ticho!
(A case for quiet)
Joseph Payne Brennan – Zombique
(Zombique)
Richard Hardwick – Škoda, že tu nie si
(Wish you were here)
Roald Dahl – Materská kašička
(Royal jelly)
Henry Slesar – Smrtiaci telefón
(The deadly telephone)
Ed Lacy – Komu bude Arthur chýbať?
(Who will miss Arthur)
Jonathan Craig – Autobus do Chattanoogy
(Bus to Chattanooga)
Hal Ellson – Starožitnosti
(Antique)
Alan Dean Foster – Ako dym z fajky…
(Pipe dream)
Mike Brett – Willie Betts, bankár
(Willie Betts, banker)
Richard O. Lewis – Slušný mladík
(The nice young man)

Poviedok v knihe je ozaj veľké množstvo a bolo by zdĺhavé vyjadrovať sa ku každej samostatne. Hitchcock síce žiadnu z uvedených poviedok nenapísal, ale vystupoval v roli zostavovateľa niekoľkých desiatok poviedkových zbierok. Keď som sa pokúšal zistiť o preklad ktorej konkrétnej zbierky ide, zistil som, že v tomto prípade ide o široký výber poviedok z rôznych originálnych zbierok. Iba na okraj uvádzam zoznam originálnych zbierok spolu s názvami poviedok, pričom poviedky uvádzané v knihe zvýrazňujem:

Games killers play:
(H. S. D. publications, 1967)
Alfred Hitchcock – Introduction
August Derleth – The China cottage
Nedra Tyre – Killed by kindness
James Holding – You can´t be too careful
Henry Slesar – Murder delayed
Helen Nielsen – Pattern of guilt
Duane Decker – Weighty problem
Michael Brett – Willie Betts, banker
Jonathan Craig – Bus to Chattanooga
Donald Edwin Westlake – The feel of a trigger
Jack Ritchie – Captive audience
Hal Ellson – Room to let
Robert Edmond Alter – Double trouble
Talmadge Powell – Heist in pianissimo
Richard Hardwick – Wish you were here

Happines is a warm corpse:
(H. S. D. publications, 1969)
Alfred Hitchcock – Introduction
James Holding Jr. – Once upon a bank floor…
Rog Phillips – The egg head
Robert Edmund Alter – Each night he pulled the trigger
Pat Stadley – The waiting game
Gilbert Ralston – Destruction is always arranged
John Cortez – The happy death
Richard O. Lewis – The sweater
Fletcher Flora – IQ 184
Richard Deming – Kill, if you want me
Hal Ellson – Antique
Mary Linn Roby – Mrs. Gilly and the gigolo
Jonathan Craig – This day´s evil
Diane Frazer – Private and confidential
Robert Colby – Never come back

Murderer´s row:
(H. S. D. publications, 1975)
Richard Deming – Nice guy
Frank Sisk – The bridge in Briganza
Henry Slesar – Thicker than water
William Brittain – The artificial liar
Fletcher Flora – For money received
Theodore Mathieson – The compleat secretary
Rog Phillips – The hypothetical arsonist
Ed Lacy – Who will miss Arthur
Edward Hoch – Arbiter of uncertainties
Richard Hardwick – Slow motion murder
Charles Bernard Gilford – Never marry a witch
David Alan Heller – A second thief
Richard O. Lewis – The nice young man
Arthur Porges – A message for aunt Lucy

Alfred Hitchcock presents: Stories to be read with the door locked:
(Random house, 1975)
Roald Dahl – Royal jelly
Robert Lloyd Fish – Hijack
Adobe James – Tomorrow and tomorrow
Jerry Jacobson – Funeral in another town
William Jeffrey – A case for quiet
Charles West Runyon – A good head for murder
Betty Ren Wright – The invisible cat
Issac Asimov – Light verse
Richard Matheson – The distributor
John Keefauver – How Henry J. Littlefinger licked the hippies scheme to take over the country by tossing pot in postage stamp glue
Jacques Futrelle – The leak
Harlan Ellson – All the sounds of fear
Waldo Carlton Wright – Little foxes sleep warm
Harold Q. Masur – The graft is green
Pat McGerr – View by moonlight
John Dann MacDonald – Ther hangs death
Warner Law – Lincoln´s doctor´s son´s dog
Gary Brandner – Coyote street
Joseph Payne Brennan – Zombique
Bill Pronzini – The pattern
Alan Dean Foster – Pipe dream
Theodore Sturgeon – Shottle bop
Jack Ritchie – The magnum
Gerald Kersh – Voices in the dust
Edward Dentinger Hoch – The odor of melting
William Peter McGivern – The sound of murder
Michael Gilbert – The income tax mystery
Joseph Nicholas Gores – Watch for it
Rex Stout – The affair of the twisted scarf

Having a wonderful crime:
(Davis publications, 1977)
Alfred Hitchcock – Introduction
Frank Sisk – A look at mother nature
James Holding – The moonlighter
Richard Deming – Honeymoon cruise
Donald Honig – A coffin for Bertha Stetterson
Edward Dentinger Hoch – The Jersey devil
Joyce Harrington – The garage apartment
Clayton Matthews – Attrition
Robert Colby – Another way out
Arthur Porges – The scientist and the stolen Rembrandt
Charles Bernard Gilford – Murder on the honeymoon
William Brittain – A gallon of gas
Henry Slesar – The deadly telephone
Richard O. Lewis – Ego boost
Richard Hardwick – Martha: In memoriam

Poznámka: Hoci ide o výber poviedok z rôznych antológií, po obsahovej stránke to knihe nijako na kráse neuberá. Vrelo odporúčam.

(Pôvodne uverejnené dňa 6. februára 2011 o 9:49)