I was a fan of Robert Arthur Jr before I was a fan of anybody else. Robert Arthur Jr came before Jack Williamson and Robert Howard and Fritz Leiber and Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny and Michael Moorcock and all the rest.
This because the first books I cut my teeth on were part of the series The Three Investigators, that were credited to Alfred Hitchcock but were actually written by various authors – and Robert Arthur Jr wrote the first dozen or so.
Robert Arthur also edited a number of anthologies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Ghostly Gallery, that was – as I mentioned a few days back – the book that started my long-time fascination with ghost stories.
The volume included three stories by Arthur, The Haunted Trailer, The Wonderful Day and Obstinate Uncle Otis. Very good stories, that remained in my memory these 39 years. Continue reading
Tag Archives: The Three Investigators
Childhood summer reads – The Three Investigators
A friend today ran one of those silly games on Facebook, asking her contacts to name the first book they read as kids.
Some answers were absolutely preposterous – like the guys that at the age of seven read 2001 – a Space Odyssey or Ian Fleming’s Licence to Kill or what else.
Pretty advanced readers, what?
Me, I was not so advanced, and I started reading novels when I was around seven or eight with Alfred Hitchcock’s The Three Investigators, that was published in Italy by Mondadori (of the “Giallo” fame) in a line of mysteries for kids. At the time I watched and loved the Alfred Hitchcock Presents… TV series, and when I found there were actually novels written by him, I asked my mom to buy them for me. I’m pretty sure the first novel was Terror Castle.
The books were actually the brainchild of Robert Arthur, a twice-recipient of the Edgar Award, that had worked as author and editor for various magazines and Hitchcock-related projects.
I have fond memories of those stories – they were well-written, with fun plots, a touch of macabre and rationalized supernatural and the sort of characters and situations a kid could easily relate to.
The same line also included Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew reprints, and a serie set in London and called Pimlico Boys, that was actually written by an Italian under an English alias.
Anyway, to celebrate those books, here’s a small gallery of Three Investigators covers.
Karavansara 