"Brothers, Fathers, Husbands . . . Too Many Motives"

UP NEXT, we have in one story an example of the breadth of Anthony Boucher's interests, ranging from opera to the occult, with sidestops at mystery fiction and science fiction/fantasy (SFF). If after reading it you feel that the editor's introduction shades a little far into being too apologetic, then we're in agreement; the story, compactly told and always engaging the read-er's interest, is fine just as it is. It's unfortunate for Verner and Lamb fans, however, that for whatever reason(s), Boucher didn't or couldn't keep his promise . . .

"The Anomaly of the Empty Man."
(a.k.a. "The Empty Man").
By Anthony Boucher (William Anthony Parker White, 1911-68).
First appearance: The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1952.

Reprinted in The Science Fictional Sherlock Holmes (1960), The Misadventures of Sherlock Holmes (1989), and elsewhere (HERE).

Short story (14 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "It’s like a strip-tease version of the Mary Celeste. Only the strip wasn’t a gradual tease; just abruptly, whoosh!, a man’s gone. One minute he’s comfort-ably dressed in his apartment, smoking, drinking, playing records. The next he’s stark naked — and where and doing what?"

You may have heard of people being characterized as "empty suits," but this takes it to a whole new level . . .

Characters:
~ James Stambaugh:
  "It was as though James Stambaugh had been attacked by some solvent which eats away only flesh and leaves all the inanimate articles. Or as though some hyperspatial suction had drawn the living man out of his wardrobe, leaving his sartorial shell behind him."
~ Lamb:
  "No, Mr. Lamb. You have a wife and two sons. I have no right to trifle with their lives merely to gratify an old man’s resentment of scepticism."
~ Dr. Horace Verner:
  "'But Dr. Verner,' I led with my chin. 'The Stambaugh case . . .'
  "'Dear boy,' he sighed as he readied the old one-two, 'you mean you don’t realize that you have just heard the solution?'"
~ The cousin:
  "As you know, my cousin enjoyed a certain fame as a private detective. He had been consulted in more than one previous instance of the horror; but I had read little of him 
in the press save a reiteration of his hope that the solution lay in his familiar dictum: 
'Discard the impossible; and whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be 
true.' I had already formulated my now celebrated counter-dictum: 'Discard the impos-
sible; then if nothing remains, some part of the "impossible" must be possible.'"
~ Inspector Abrahams:
  "Take a good look at the empty man on the floor. You see, I remembered the vacuum cleaner. And the Downtown Merchants’ parade."
~ Carina:
  ". . .  for almost unique among sopranos, Carina possessed a diction of diabolical clarity."

Renata Tebaldi. She's in the story.

Resources:
- You'll find plenty of info about Anthony Boucher (HERE; Wikipedia), (HERE; the SFE), (HERE; the ISFDb), (HERE; Mike Grost), and (HERE; the GAD Wiki).
- We've featured Boucher several times already (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).
- An overview of opera can be found on Wikipedia (HERE).

The bottom line:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"They Were on the Look Out for an Individual More Conspicuously Melodramatic"

"The Evasion of No. 527."
By C. W. Edwards (?-?).
Illustrations by W. F. Southcott.
First appearance: To-Day, July 23, 1898.

Short short short story (3 pages, 3 illos).
Online at Hathi Trust (HERE).

     "No. 527 made up his mind to do it if he had to swing for it."

Every prison escapee can't be a Jean Valjean or Richard Kimble, now can he?

Characters:
~ No. 527:

  ". . . at any moment he expected to see the hated forms of the square-capped men, with 

guns at cock, ready to shoot him with as little remorse as if he were a rabbit."

~ Mrs. Battledown:
  "Happily, the candle had been of a sudden blown out, and a few minutes after old Mrs. Battledown, the sole inmate of the house, was seen to leave it with a bucket."
~ The constable:

  "No objection to a pipe o' bacca, ma'm, I hope?"

Comment: We've read that the Victorian authorities had trouble overcoming a generalized tolerance, if not a romanticized sympathy, on the part of society for bad guys, and our story is a good example of it.

Resources:
- We can find nothing anywhere about C. W. Edwards or his/her illustrator, W. F. Southcott.

- For a better class of escaped prisoner see (HERE) and (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A Plate Swiveled Back Right Where His Nose Should Have Been If He Had One, and the Big Muzzle Pointed Out"

"Arm of the Law."
By Harry Harrison (Henry Maxwell Dempsey, 1925-2012).
First appearance: Fantastic Universe, August 1958.

Reprinted in Science Fantasy #31 (1958) and elsewhere (HERE).

Short story (14 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).

     "Police Experimental Robot, serial number XPO-456-934B reporting for duty, sir."

It's nice when the robots are on your side, isn't it?

Characters:
~ Sergeant (unnamed narrator):
  "Nineport has fourteen traffic regulations and I broke all of them before I had gone a block. Fast as I was, Ned was faster. As I turned the corner I saw him open the door of Greenback’s store and walk in. I screamed brakes in behind him and arrived just in time to have a gallery seat. A shooting gallery at that."
~ Chief Alonzo Craig:
  ". . . had just enough sense to take graft without dropping the money."
~ Fats:
  "About all he was good for was keeping a blurred eye on the lockup and running in drunks. He did well at that. No matter what they crawled under or on top of, he found them. No doubt due to the same shared natural instincts."
~ Billy:
  "He clutched his nightstick and scowled out from under the brim of his uniform cap. It is not that Billy is stupid, just that most of his strength has gone into his back instead of his mind."
~ Ned:
  "Jack Armstrong in tin underwear."
~ Alex:
  "Six feet of bone, muscle and trouble. China Joe's right hand man."
~ Benny Bug:
  "He popped his head in the front door just long enough to roll his eyes over our little scene."
~ China Joe:
  ". . . was in front, hands buried in the sleeves of his long mandarin gown. No expression at all on his ascetic features. He didn’t waste time talking to us, just gave the word to his own boys."

Comment: Some Hollywood producer somewhere must have read this story before he started planning a movie about a heavily-armed, nearly-unstoppable robot cop.

Resources:
- Harry Harrison knew how to adapt common SFFnal tropes and keep them fresh; see Wikipedia (HERE), the SFE (HERE), the late author's webpage (HERE), the IMDb (HERE) 
for the few adaptations of his work, and the ISFDb (HERE) for a detailed bibliography.

- We've featured stories that depict robots as law-abiding and helpful (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There Was Nobody in the Tomb to Strangle Him Except This Dead Gentleman"

THE PROBLEM presented by an invisible assassin has engaged the attention of quite a few authors; H. G. Wells really got the ball rolling when he devoted a whole book to the idea. After that, it quickly became a cliche, although some not-too-clever writers have had their stories founder on this one plot point. Let's see how Charles B. Child has his series character Chafik J. Chafik, Inspector in the Baghdad police department, deal with the problem of an . . .

"Invisible Killer."
(a.k.a. "The Thumbless Man").
By Charles B. Child (Claude Vernon Frost, 1903-93).
First appearance: Collier's, January 21, 1955.

Reprinted in EQMM, December 1961 and EQMM (Australia), February 1962.

Collected in The Sleuth of Baghdad (2002).
Short short story (6 pages).
Online at UNZ (HERE).

     "He opened his eyes and saw the soft glow of a lamp, not the flames of the stars; the anxious face of a woman, not the shadowy form that had attacked him."

A pretty problem, indeed: "the victim had been strangled, yet witnesses swore no murderer was present . . ."

Characters:
~ Chafik J. Chafik:
  "I did not die here; my corpse should not have been moved."
~ Jamil Goury, "the Rabbit":
  "I know all about Mr. Goury, except how he died."
  "He was strangled."
~ Sergeant Abdullah:
  "Pressure on the dead man's throat was equal at all points of contact, so it would appear that the strangler lacked thumbs."
~ Richard Garwith:
  "Somebody stumbled over the power cable and unplugged it from the generator. There were a dozen of us in the shaft at the time: the doctor in front of me, Gisela in back, then Mahomet Kubba and a party of workers. All of a sudden, it was blacker than hell down there."
~ Dr. Julius Anton:
  "I could not move him, someone—something held him fast. And then his body became limp. I reached over him to grapple with whatever was holding him. Nothing was there! And then all at once he was free and I got his body out."
~ Gisela Anton:
  "So, another scientific mind?"

Chafikisms:
   "We of the Baghdad police should concern ourselves solely with corpses of our era."
   "A surfeit of witnesses is as bad as none at all."
   "I am always at the beck of somebody's corpse."
   "Wine and women, when left standing, become sour, although in this case another man appreciates the vintage and would sip."

Resource:
- We first considered Charles B. Child nearly three years ago; see (HERE).

The bottom line:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Typically You Just Have to Wait Until the Victim Wakes Up and Ask Who Killed Them"

"No Dominion."
By Christopher L. Bennett.
First appearance: DayBreak Fiction Magazine, June 13, 2010.
Collected in Among the Wild Cybers (2018).

Short story (18 pages as a PDF).
Online at DayBreak Fiction (HERE; PDF).
(Parental caution: Language and virt sex.)

     "You’d be surprised how much redundancy some people want. Maybe the killer didn’t know where she kept her data, or in how many places. So he had to be thorough, take everything. But he couldn’t stand to see her exposed, hence the sheet. That’s not the act of a sexual predator."

It's the mid-21st century, and now more than ever the dead need someone to speak for them—and with them . . .

Characters:
~ Detective Chief Inspector Tamara Craig:
  "If I didn’t piece this together quickly, the killer could disappear, adopt a new identity (in the more conventional sense), and be free and clear to kill again — maybe permanently this time. But I wouldn’t let that happen. I had enough death on my conscience already."
~ Assistant Inspector Istfan Majid:
  "Call me Steve."
~ Isabelle Warner, the deceased:
  ". . .  was slowly coming back from the dead. She was on full life support, but her blood was flowing again and she looked less like a corpse. The doctors were taking care to restore oxygen to her tissues gradually to minimize ischemic damage. That could be repaired, but there was no point in doing more damage than necessary."
~ Takeshi Ozaki, the medical examiner:
  "Cause of death was what you thought, Steve. Laser probe to the base of the skull. Some-one didn’t want to make a mess."
~ Charles Trendler:
  "I’M JUST NOT INTERESTED IN LIVING LONGER THAN NATURE INTENDED."
~ Rosa Manzano:
  ". . . lived and worked on the local university campus, a bioengineer working on a project to modify methanotrophic bacteria and integrate them safely into the ecosystem."
~ Russell Takizawa:
  "I think he’s a creep and at least a borderline stalker. Whether he’s a killer . . . well, we have some alibi evidence to check out."

Notable notions:

   "Human memory and personality weren’t something you could copy and transfer like software files; that was one sci-fi conceit that remained a fantasy. Survival of the self still depended on survival of the brain; technology could supplement and protect it, but never replace it. And so humans remained mortal, and murder remained a crime."

   "In an old mystery story, it might have been done to make her harder to identify. But now we had genetic testing, biometrics, phones in our heads, traceable biochips and nanofibers throughout our bodies . . . it just didn’t add up."

   "People who look to the future are generally running from something in their past."

   "If all you care about is an abstract ideal, that can make it easy to sacrifice real live people to it."

Comment: The story's title could refer to the book of Romans in the Bible (HERE), Dylan Thomas's poem (HERE), and/or the last line of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" (HERE): "And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."

Resources:
- Christopher L. Bennett has scored big with his Star Trek and Marvel Metaverse tie-in fiction, as well as his own Superhuman and Hubiverses; info about him is on Wikipedia (HERE), Memory Alpha (HERE), his homepage (HERE), and the ISFDb (HERE).

- DNA data storage figures in our story; see Wikipedia articles (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE); Science Magazine (HERE); ASME (HERE); Wired Magazine (HERE); MIT Technology Review (HERE); and ScienceAlert (HERE). Also see Wikipedia for arcologies (HERE).
- Another story in which memory plays a large part is Wendy Nikel's "The Memory Ward" (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Even Without Assembling the Facts, He Knew Who Had Killed Ann Herrick, and It Wasn’t Going To Be Good"

"The Too Perfect Alibi."

By Robert C. Dennis (1915-83).
First appearance: 10-Story Detective Magazine, December 1947.
Short short story (8 pages, 1 illo).
Online at the Pulpgen Archive (HERE).

  "You had a perfect alibi. Ann was apparently murdered a hundred yards from where you were in plain sight at all times."

Pete Allenby goes for a swim, but it's all in the line of duty . . .

Major characters:
~ Ann Herrick:
  "Somebody beat her head to a pulp."
~ Chief Sam Wheeler:
  "Raise your right hand."
~ Doctor Pete Allenby:
  "I’ve been deputized to carry on a sort of investigation. I don’t know whether that empowers me to make an arrest—"
~ Sally Sandlock:
  "He’d have slipped away if he could have been sure Sally wouldn’t keep getting into his dreams. But she would, and he might as well suffer here where it was cool."
~ Jimmy Sandlock, Sally's brother:
  "She wasn’t anywhere around the place. Her boat was gone. Maybe she went for a row."
~ Linda Telford, Jimmy's betrothed:
  ". . . moved closer to him now, as if to soothe him."
~ Wayne Burnett:
  ". . . a large, handsome, soft-looking lad who probably hadn’t done a day’s work in his life. He had a very wide frank smile, full of gleaming white teeth, that would be a great deal more sincere if he used it less frequently."
~ Steve Beck:
  "Then it was someone else. Steve Beck, maybe. He was running around with her. I happen to know Ann got men involved and then demanded money. And you know as well as I that Steve has only what Mayor Beck gives him for spending money."

Resources:
- Robert C. Dennis made his fortune in Hollywood (1950-84), chalking up nearly a hundred different credits for original television scripts and teleplay adaptations for shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents (30 episodes), M-Squad, The Untouchables, Hawaiian Eye, Checkmate, 77 Sunset Strip, Perry Mason (22 episodes), The Wild Wild West, Hawaii Five-O, Dragnet 1967 (19 episodes), and other crime and non-crime-genre shows (IMDb HERE; Mystery*File HERE). Prior to making it in Tinsel Town, Dennis could be relied on to produce quality crime fiction for pulps like Dime Detective, Ten Detective Aces, and Black Mask; in the last he featured his only series characters, Margaret O'Leary and Willie Carmody (1946-50) (FictionMags data).

The bottom line:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The Implications for Stock Traders, for Generals, for World Governments Would Be . . . Considerable"

"VTE."
By S. R. Algernon (Sean Green).
Illustration by JACEY.

First appearance: Nature/Futures, 24 January 2019.
Short short short story (1 page).
Online at Nature.com (HERE; PDF).

 "The thoughts of where this technology could go have got the better of me."

One way you can measure the importance of a new idea is by how many people are afraid 
of it . . .

Resources:
- Our author seems to specialize in the short SFFnal form; see S. R. Algernon's homepage (HERE) and the ISFDb bibliography (HERE).
- For more on the horsey sea monster inside your head, see Wikipedia (HERE).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~