Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 24, No. 3, March 1979

Dear Reader:

Murphy’s Law is an axiom of engineers and scientists that states: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” Several of this issue’s stories take their themes from Murphy’s Law.

In “Murphy’s Day” by Ernest Savage, detective Sam Train gets involved in a mixed-up kidnapping case that’s full of surprises. A number of things go wrong for Barry N. Malzberg’s hero in “The Appeal,” many of them cards that fall wrong and horses that don’t run right. “The Right Circumstances” don’t always lead to the best consequences, as we find in Robert Edward Eckels’ story. Some lives take a wrong turn in John Lutz’s “The Music from Downstairs.” Actors don’t always learn their lines, but the actors in William Bankier’s “Rock’s Last Role” have an even worse problem.

“The Hummelmeyer Operation” might fall victim to Murphy’s Law in James Holding’s story. And several characters could be said to share a Murphy’s Day in T. M. Adams’ “A Garden Full of Snow.”

Good reading.

Alfred Hitchcock