|
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. ==Biography== Hoch (pronounced ''hoke'') was born in Rochester, New York and began writing in the 1950s; his first story appeared in 1955 in ''Famous Detective Stories'' and was followed by stories in ''The Saint Mystery Magazine''. In January 1962 he began appearing in ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine''. In December 1962 he kicked off his most successful collaboration, with the appearance of his first story in ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''; in the years since ''EQMM'' has published over 450 of Hoch's stories, roughly half of his total output. In May 1973 ''EQMM'' began publishing a new Hoch story in every monthly issue; as of May 2007 the author had gone an astonishing 34 years without missing a single issue. Other magazines Hoch wrote for included ''Adventure'', ''Double-Action Detective'', ''Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine'', ''Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine'', ''The Magazine of Horror'' and ''Web Detective Stories''.〔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.〕 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 Whodunit." His stories are very well written and are usually tightly plotted puzzles, with carefully and fairly presented clues, both physical and psychological. He was particularly partial to "impossible crime" tales, where to all appearances the crime (usually a murder) could not have been committed at all; he invented numerous variants on the locked room mystery popularized by John Dickson Carr and others. For instance, in "The Second Problem of the Covered Bridge", a man is shot at close range while alone on a covered bridge, while crowds of witnesses watch both ends of the bridge. Hoch cited Graham Greene, John Dickson Carr, Ellery Queen and Jorge Luis Borges as influences on his fiction.〔 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 Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, the first time a Grand Master was known primarily for short fiction rather than novels. Hoch, a Catholic, died at home in Rochester of a heart attack, aged 77. His wife, née Patricia McMahon, was his only immediate survivor. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edward D. Hoch」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|