Edward Dentinger Hoch (February 22, 1930 – January 17, 2008) was an American writer of

detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal investigation, investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around ...

. Although he wrote several novels, he was primarily known for his vast output of over 950 short stories. He was one of the few American fiction writers of his generation who supported himself financially through short story publication, rather than novels or screenplays.

Early life and career

Hoch (pronounced ''hoke'') was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, the son of Alice Ann Hoch (née Dentinger) and Earl George Hoch,Clune, Henry W. (April 18, 1965)
"Seen and Heard: Young Old Pro"
''Democrat and Chronicle''. p. 3M. Retrieved September 19, 2023. a banker who outlasted both the Wall Street Crash and subsequent Depression. Graduating from the Aquinas Institute of Rochester in 1947, Edward attended the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...

for two years before dropping out in 1949. He enlisted in the Army the following year, serving as a military policeman at

Fort Jay Fort Jay is a coastal bastion fort and the name of a former United States Army post on Governors Island in New York Harbor, within New York City. Fort Jay is the oldest existing defensive structure on the island, and was named for John Jay, a m ...

Governor's Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk Channel. The National Par ...

New York Harbor New York Harbor is a bay that covers all of the Upper Bay. It is at the mouth of the Hudson River near the East River tidal estuary on the East Coast of the United States. New York Harbor is generally synonymous with Upper New York Bay, ...

. After his discharge in 1952, Hoch remained in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for another year, working at Pocket Books, Inc.. Returning to New Rochelle, he began working at Hutchins Advertising Company as a copy and public relations writer, in which capacity he remained for roughly 15 years, until transitioning to strictly fiction writing in 1968. Hoch 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 The Saint is the nickname of the fictional character Simon Templar, featured in a List of works by Leslie Charteris, series of novels and short stories by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date other authors collaborat ...

''. In January 1962, he began appearing in ''

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine ''Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine'' (''AHMM'') is a bi-monthly digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime and detective fiction. ''AHMM'' is named for Alfred Hitchcock, the famed director of suspense films and television. History ''AH ...

''. In December 1962, he kicked off his most successful collaboration, with the appearance of his first story in ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fic ...

''; 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 An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

'', '' Double-Action Detective'', ''

Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine edited by Sheila Williams and published by Dell Magazines, which is owned by Penny Press. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac ...

'', '' 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 A ''whodunit'' (less commonly spelled as ''whodunnit''; a colloquial elision of "Who asdone it?") is a complex plot-driven variety of detective fiction Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an criminal ...

." His stories are regarded as 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 The "locked-room" or "impossible crime" mystery is a type of crime seen in crime and detective fiction. The crime in question, typically murder ("locked-room murder"), is committed in circumstances under which it appeared impossible for the perp ...

popularized by

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and ...

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 Henry Graham Greene (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English writer and journalist regarded by many as one of the leading novelists of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene acquired a re ...

, John Dickson Carr,

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1928 by the American detective fiction writers Frederic Dannay (1905–1982) and Manfred Bennington Lee (1905–1971). It is also the name of their main fictional detective, a mystery writer in New York City ...

and

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...

as influences on his fiction, and reportedly took great pride in the compliment Carr paid him in a review of the 1970 anthology, ''Ellery Queen's Grand Slam: 25 Stories from Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine''.

Let prejudice speak. My concern is with who and how and seldom with why. Therefore, in one person's opinion, the prize should go to the very first story, "Murder Offstage," a short-short by Edward D. Hoch; Satan himself could be proud of its ingenuity.

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 ''The Blue Movie Murders'' published as Ellery Queen, under the supervision and editing of Manfred Lee, half of the writing partnership known as Ellery Queen. In the early 1980s, Hoch outlined three paperback original mystery novels with

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is an American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Biography Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The Bronx at ag ...

which were then ghost-written by other authors. The novels were published without the detective's solution and offered a $15,000 cash prize to the first reader to solve the mystery. In 2001, Hoch was named a Grand Master by the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

, the first time a Grand Master was known primarily for short fiction rather than novels. While the vast majority of his output belonged to the mystery genre, Hoch also produced some crossover fantasy and science fiction, mainly in the form of the ''Simon Ark'' and ''Computer Cops''; early in his career, he also wrote a small number of non-series fantasy stories. An anthology of his SF stories was released in 2016. Hoch, a Catholic, died at home in Rochester of a heart attack, aged 77. His wife, née Patricia McMahon, was his only immediate survivor.

Series stories

The overwhelming majority of Hoch's stories feature series characters. He has created at least a dozen different series of stories for ''EQMM'' alone. His Captain Leopold series reached over 100 stories.

Nick Velvet

Nick Velvet is a professional thief for hire, with a peculiar specialty: for a flat fee, he steals only objects of negligible apparent value. Since his first appearance in ''EQMM'' in September 1966, he has stolen such things as an old spiderweb (which he was then obliged to replace), a day-old newspaper, and a used teabag. His original fee for a theft was $20,000. In 1980 he raised it to $25,000 at the urging of his long-time girlfriend Gloria (who met Nick in 1965 when he was burgling her New York apartment); in the 21st century his fee has risen to $50,000. Unlike many fictional thieves, Nick usually works alone on his thefts—in fact, until 1979 Gloria believed that Nick worked for the U.S. government. The Nick Velvet caper stories generally combine a near-impossible theft with the mystery of why someone would pay $20,000 to have an apparently valueless item stolen. Although Nick often appears as devoid of curiosity as his targets are of value, circumstances usually force him to identify his clients' true motives, making him as much of a detective as Hoch's more conventional characters. Most of the Nick Velvet stories have a light and humorous tone reminiscent of

Leslie Charteris Leslie Charteris (; born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin; 12 May 1907 – 15 April 1993), was a British-Chinese author of adventure fiction, as well as a screenwriter.the Saint. The fundamental immorality of Nick's chosen profession is frequently offset by the larger justice resulting from his detective work. A Nick Velvet story, "The Theft of the Circus Poster" in May 1973, began Hoch's unbroken string of monthly appearances in ''EQMM''. Another story, "The Theft of the Rusty Bookmark" in January 1998 featured the real-life Mysterious Bookshop of New York City, and its real-life owner (and Edgar-winning publisher and editor),

. "The Theft of Gloria's Greatcoat" (May 1998), which describes the first meeting of Nick and Gloria, is unusual in that it is told in the first person by Gloria; all of the other Nick Velvet stories (and indeed the majority of Hoch's stories) are

third-person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

Captain Leopold

Captain Jules Leopold is a police detective, the head of the Violent Crimes Squad of the police department for the fictional city of Monroe,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, a city apparently modeled on Hoch's own home town,

, in

Monroe County, New York Monroe County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, located along Lake Ontario's southern shore. As of 2022, the population was 752,035, according to Census Bureau estimates. Its county seat and largest city is Rochester. The county is ...

. Along with his colleagues Lieutenant Fletcher and Sergeant Connie Trent, he is one of Hoch's most conventional characters. The Leopold stories are

police procedurals The police procedural, police show, or police crime drama is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasises the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agency, law enforcement agencies ...

on the surface, showing the interaction of the officers as they investigate crimes, but the crimes themselves are frequently unusual and reflect Hoch's skill at plotting and placement of clues. The story outcomes usually depend on the deductive ability of Leopold and his comrades rather than on straightforward police work, and sometimes feature impossible crimes and locked rooms. The Leopold stories best illustrate one of the attractions of Hoch's series tales: The characters age and alter realistically with time. In the course of the series, Leopold has divorced, remarried, retired, returned to work, and retired a second time. Lieutenant Fletcher has been promoted to captain to replace him, and Connie Trent has been promoted to Lieutenant. In some of the recent stories, the focus is on Fletcher and Trent, with Leopold only acting as a respected adviser. Leopold first appeared as a subsidiary character in a 1957 story. In "The Theft of Leopold's Badge" in March 1991, Hoch brought Captain Leopold and Nick Velvet together in the same story. ''EQMM'' has published the majority of the Leopold stories, but a number have appeared in ''AHMM'' as well. The

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...

-winning "The Oblong Room", perhaps the most frequently reprinted Leopold story, was first published in ''The Saint Magazine''.

Dr. Sam Hawthorne

Dr. Sam Hawthorne is a retired family practitioner who is also a specialist in impossible murders. His tales are told as reminiscences of his small-town medical practice in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. Sam Hawthorne tries to live a quiet life in the fictional New England town of Northmont, but wherever he goes someone always seems to die in a most improbable way. First appearing in 1974, the Dr. Sam Hawthorne stories are carefully researched historical pieces, rich with period details about Sam's cars, medical practices of the times, politics, and clothing. The stories of this series are among Hoch's most humane tales: Sam himself is a cheerful fellow and tells his tales with humor, but his first-person narratives give readers a close look at his distress at the murders he investigates and his sympathy for the survivors. Because most of the tales take place in a single small town, the series has a larger-than-usual cast of recurring minor characters. Each Hawthorne story is a "

", where an impossible crime occurs, usually a murder. The earlier tales of the series include one peculiar device: Each one ends with a hint about the next story's central puzzle, and each one begins with a reference to the previous story's hint. Such a device is sometimes inserted when stories are anthologized, to make them seem more like a continuous narrative, but it is very unusual in the initial publication of independent stories in a series. In "The Problem of Suicide Cottage" (''EQMM'', July 2007), it is revealed old Sam is 80 years old, and has a daughter named Samantha. He is telling his stories in 1976, and was born in 1896.

Rand

Jeffery (sometimes Jeffrey) Rand is a code and cipher expert, formerly with the Department of Concealed Communications of British intelligence. The Rand stories take place in exotic locations around the world, and frequently feature secret messages or codes. After he left Concealed Communications, many of his stories involved his half-Egyptian, half-Scots wife, Lella Gaad, who Rand met in "The Spy and The Nile Mermaid". Rand met another Hoch character, Michael Vlado, in "The Spy and the Gypsy".

Simon Ark

Simon Ark was the protagonist of Hoch's first published story and ultimately featured in more than 39 short stories, which Hoch first collected in 1984.Edward D. Hoch, ''The Quests of Simon Ark'' (New York: Mysterious Press, 1984) () Ark appears to be an ordinary man in his sixties, tall and stout, but in many of the stories Ark implies that he is actually over 2000 years old, a Coptic priest who travels the world looking for evil—specifically, Satan. It is said that he is cursed by God, that when Jesus carrying the cross wanted to rest, Ark refused him rest and in turn has never known rest himself, doomed to wander the globe forever (although at least one story suggests Ark was instead the author of a fraudulent

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

so pious that God was unable to punish him with

hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...

or reward him with

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

, and so left him on the Earth instead). However the immortality element is not played up in any way and is just incidental. The Simon Ark stories have supernatural occult themes, although the crimes in them are always found to have been committed by mundane means. In the introduction to his 1984 collection, Hoch left the matter of Simon Ark's real nature a matter for the reader to ponder. The 1984 volume presents what Hoch deemed to be the nine best of the 39 stories that he devoted to Simon Ark; it concludes with a list of all 39 stories, giving details of their original publications. (There were 39 stories as of 1984. He wrote others subsequently.)

Ben Snow

Ben Snow features in a series of

American Old West The American frontier, also known as the Old West, and popularly known as the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that bega ...

mysteries set around the start of the 20th century. Like the Dr. Sam Hawthorne series, these tales are carefully researched historical pieces, sometimes including real historical characters such as

Butch Cassidy Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train robbery, train and bank robbery, bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, ...

. He met another Hoch character, Sam Hawthorne, in "The Problem of the Haunted Teepee". The first Ben Snow series appeared in 1961 in ''The Saint Mystery Magazine''; the series has since been continued in ''EQMM''.

Stanton and Ives

Walt Stanton and Juliet Ives are two Princeton graduates turned international couriers that have appeared in newer stories, beginning with "Courier and Ives" in November 2002. The pair are often sent to pick up or retrieve an item, and end up picking up the mystery around it.

Sir Gideon Parrot

Sir Gideon Parrot (pronounced ''parroe'') is Hoch's humorous tribute to the detectives of the Golden Age of mystery fiction, particularly

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

Hercule Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by the English writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is Christie's most famous and longest-running character, appearing in 33 novels, two plays (''Black Coffee (play), Black Coffee'' and '' ...

and

's Dr. Gideon Fell. These stories are gentle parodies of classic mystery devices, the ones so overused they have become cliches.

Michael Vlado

Michael Vlado is the young king of a Romany (Gypsy) tribe in contemporary eastern Europe.

Alexander Swift

Alexander Swift, one of Hoch's later creations, is an intelligence agent for General

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

. The stories comprise more nearly a serial than a series, as Swift probes ever deeper into rumors that the fort of

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, commanded by General

Benedict Arnold Benedict Arnold (#Brandt, Brandt (1994), p. 4June 14, 1801) was an American-born British military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War. He fought with distinction for the American Continental Army and rose to the rank of ...

, houses a traitor who will betray the fort to the British Army. In the last Swift story, "Swift Among the Pirates", Swift travels to England, to discover Benedict Arnold is dead.

Barney Hamet

Barney Hamet is a mystery writer who stumbles into real mysteries when he attends mystery conventions. Hamet also featured in Hoch's 1969 novel ''The Shattered Raven''.

Susan Holt

Susan Holt is a minor executive, in charge of promotions for a department store chain.

Interpol

The

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL (abbreviated as ICPO–INTERPOL), commonly known as Interpol ( , ; stylized in allcaps), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime cont ...

stories were published in the 1970s and 1980s. Interpol officers Sebastian Blue and Laura Charme investigated cases of international crime in Europe.

Al Darlan

Al Darlan (originally Al ''Diamond''; Hoch decided to change the character's name after the earliest stories to avoid confusion with radio/TV detective '' Richard Diamond'') is a private investigator whose appearances have been sparse. His last appearance was in the May 2008 issue of ''EQMM''.

David Piper

David Piper, aka "The Manhunter", is the head of the Department of Apprehension.

Father David Noone

Roman Catholic priest who worked in an inner city parish.

Novels

* ''The Shattered Raven'', 1970.
Barney Hamet investigates a murder at the Mystery Writers of America. * ''The Blue Movie Murders'', 1973.
(as

). "Trouble shooter" Mike McCall investigates the murder of a film producer. * ''Prize Meets Murder'', 1984.
(as R.T. Edwards). Outlined by Hoch, ghost-written by

Ron Goulart Ronald Joseph Goulart (; January 13, 1933 – January 14, 2022) was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy and science fiction author. He worked on novels and novelizations (and other works) being published under various ps ...

. * ''The Medical Center Murders'', 1984.
(as Lisa Drake). Outlined by Hoch, ghost-written by Thomas Gifford. * ''This Prize Is Dangerous'', 1985.
(as Matthew Prize). Outlined by Hoch, ghost-written by

''Computer Cops'' series

These three

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novels, set in the mid-21st century, feature Carl Crader and Earl Jazine of the Computer Investigation Bureau, nicknamed the "Computer Cops". * ''The Transvection Machine'', 1971. * ''The Fellowship of the Hand'', 1973. * ''The Frankenstein Factory'', 1975. The series had begun with a short story ("Computer Cops"), written for the 1969 anthology ''Crime Prevention in the 30th Century''.

Short story collections

* ''City of Brass and Other Simon Ark Stories'' (Simon Ark), 1971,

Leisure Books Leisure Books was a mass market paperback publisher specializing in horror and thrillers that operated from 1957 to 2010. In the company's early years, it also published fantasy, science fiction, Westerns, and the Wildlife Treasury card series ...

. * ''The Judges of Hades'' (Simon Ark), 1971, Leisure Books. * ''Ellery Queen Presents the Spy and the Thief'' (Rand / Nick Velvet), ed. Queen, 1971, Davis Publications. LCCN 72099895 * ''The Thefts of Nick Velvet'' (Nick Velvet), 1978,

Mysterious Press The Mysterious Press is an American publishing company specializing in mystery fiction based in New York City. The company has been associated with various publishing companies, most recently with Grove Atlantic, where it was an imprint from 2011 ...

. * ''The Quests of Simon Ark'' (Simon Ark), 1984, Mysterious Press. * ''Leopold's Way'' (Captain Leopold), ed. Nevins & Greenberg, 1985,

Southern Illinois University Press Southern Illinois University Press or SIU Press, founded in 1956, is a university press located in Carbondale, Illinois, owned and operated by Southern Illinois University. The press publishes approximately 50 titles annually, among its more th ...

. * ''The Spy Who Read Latin and Other Stories'' (Rand), 1990, Mysterious Press. * ''The Night, My Friend'' (non-series), ed. Nevins, 1992,

Ohio University Press Ohio University Press (OUP) is a university press associated with Ohio University. Founded in 1947, it is the oldest and largest scholarly press in the state of Ohio. Ohio University Press is also a member of the Association of University Presses ...

. * ''Diagnosis: Impossible'' (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 1996,

Crippen & Landru Crippen & Landru Publishers is a small publisher of mystery fiction collections, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1994 by husband and wife Sandi and Douglas G. Greene in Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an indepen ...

. * ''The Ripper of Storyville and Other Ben Snow Tales'' (Ben Snow), 1997, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Velvet Touch'' (Nick Velvet), 2000, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Old Spies Club and Other Intrigues of Rand'' (Rand), 2001, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Night People'' (non-series), 2001, Five Star Publishing. * ''The Iron Angel and Other Tales of the Gypsy Sleuth'' (Michael Vlado), 2003, Crippen & Landru. * ''More Things Impossible'' (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2006, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Sherlock Holmes Stories of Edward D. Hoch'', (Sherlock Holmes), 2008, Mysterious Press. * ''Nothing Is Impossible'' (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2014, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Future Is Ours, The Science Fiction Stories of Edward D. Hoch'', ed. Steven Steinbock, 2016,

Wildside Press Wildside Press is an independent publishing company in Cabin John, Maryland. It was founded in 1989 by John Betancourt and Kim Betancourt. While the press was originally conceived as a publisher of speculative fiction in both trade and limite ...

. * ''All but Impossible'' (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2017, Crippen & Landru. * ''Challenge the Impossible'' (Dr. Sam Hawthorne), 2018, Crippen & Landru. * ''Hoch's Ladies'' (Susan Holt, Libby Knowles, Annie Sears), 2019, Crippen & Landru. * ''Funeral in the Fog'' (Simon Ark), 2020, Crippen & Landru. * ''Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Mysteries'' (Alexander Swift, Gideon Parrot), 2022, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Killer Everyone Knew and Other Captain Leopold Stories'' (Captain Leopold), 2023, Crippen & Landru. * ''The Will o' the Wisp'' (David Piper, Father David Noone), 2024 , Crippen & Landru.

Collections edited by Hoch

* ''Dear Dead Days'', 1972, Littlehampton Book Services. * ''Best Detective Stories of the Year'', 1976 through 1981, Dutton * ''All But Impossible! An Anthology of Locked Room & Impossible Crime Stories by Members of the Mystery Writers of America'', 1981, Robert Hale Limited. * ''The Year's Best Mystery and Suspense Stories'', 1982 through 1995, Walker & Co. * ''Murder Most Sacred: Great Catholic Tales of Mystery and Suspense'', 1989,

Random House Value Publishing Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the followin ...

. * ''Twelve American Detective Stories'', 1997,

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

Awards

* 1968

Edgar Allan Poe Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor ...

(Mystery Writers of America): "The Oblong Room", ''

'', July 1967 * 1998

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Categori ...

(

Bouchercon Bouchercon, the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher, and pronounced the w ...

World Mystery Convention): "One Bag of Coconuts", '' EQMM'', November 1997 * 2001 Anthony Award (Bouchercon): "The Problem of the Potting Shed", '' EQMM'', July 2000 * 2007

Readers Choice Award ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' (''EQMM'') honors authors each year as voted upon by readers, hence the name, Readers Choice Award. Recipients include many of the most popular authors of thrillers and mysteries. Presentation Awards are best ...

(awarded 2008): "The Theft of the Ostracized Ostrich", '' EQMM'', June 2007 * Lifetime Achievement Award (Private Eye Writers of America), 2000 * Grand Master (Mystery Writers of America), 2001 * Lifetime Achievement Award (

), 2001

References

External links

Edward D. Hoch bibliographyEdward D. Hoch blogEllery Queen covers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoch, Edward D. 1930 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Roman Catholics 21st-century Roman Catholics American mystery writers American science fiction writers American Roman Catholic writers Edgar Award winners Writers from Rochester, New York Writers of Sherlock Holmes pastiches Anthony Award winners Shamus Award winners Barry Award winners Writers of historical mysteries 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American male short story writers 20th-century American short story writers 20th-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state)