Authors: Edward D. Hoch
Spy and the Thief
A Jeffery Rand and Nick Velvet Collection
Edward D. Hoch
A Book with Three Introductions
The Spy Who Had Faith in Double-C
The Spy Who Took the Long Route
The Spy Who Came to the End of the Road
The Spy Who Purchased a Lavender
The Spy and the Calendar Network
The Spy and the Bermuda Cipher
about
NICK VELVET, the master thief
The Theft of the Clouded Tiger
The Theft of the Brazen Letters
The Theft of the Wicked Tickets
The Theft of the Laughing Lions
For Bernie
D
EAR READER:
Twenty-eight years ago we began a series of 15 original paperbacks devoted exclusively to detective-crime-suspense short stories and novelets. The first book in the series was also the first book of Dashiell Hammett’s short fiction—
The Adventures of Sam Spade
(1944). The last book of the series was also a collection of Dashiell Hammett’s short stories—
A Man Named Thin
(1962). In the intervening 18 years
*
there were 13 other books—seven more by Dashiell Hammett, two by Stuart Palmer, one each by John Dickson Carr, Margery Allingham, Roy Vickers, and O. Henry.
The purpose of this series was twofold: to bring excellent short stories and novelets to the reading public and to rescue these stories from oblivion. Too often the finest short stories are “lost” after their original magazine appearance, and as the years pass, the stories become unavailable, sometimes even unattainable. We hoped to give these stories a longer life, a measure of permanence; our hopes were only partially realized, since the relative frailty of the paperback format resulted in most of the copies vanishing. Today these 15 first editions, all but one of them 21 to 28 years old, are eagerly sought as “collectors’ items.”
Exactly one-quarter of a century after the first book we decided to revive the enterprise—with precisely the same dual objective. Thus, in 1969, we began the sequel-series with another first book of short stories and novelets by another great name in the field—
The Case of the Murderer’s Bride
by Erie Stanley Gardner. One year later we presented Lawrence Treat’s
P As in Police.
And now we offer you the third in this new series—Edward D. Hoch’s
The Spy and the Thief.
This third book is a double-barreled collection—14 stories of which seven are adventures of Rand, the Double-C man, and seven are exploits of Nick Velvet. Rand is a “different” kind of spy-and-counterspy, and Nick Velvet is a very “different” kind of thief. But we’ll explore these “differences” more deeply in Introductions Number Two and Number Three …
Edward D. Hoch’s record as a contributor to
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
is one of the most impressive in our 30-year history. His first story in
EQMM
was published in the December 1962 issue. In the next nine years, no less than 59 of Mr. Hoch’s stories appeared in
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine
—an astonishing number. Now, in making a double selection of his stories for this book, we have reread our editorial forewords and afterwords and have learned, to our chagrin, that we have told readers virtually nothing about the creator of Rand and Nick Velvet.
So, as a close to Introduction Number One, we now give you the
PERSONAL
: Born February 22, 1930, Rochester, N.Y. Attended U. of Rochester, served in U.S. Army (1950–52) as Military Policeman at Chaplains’ School, Fort Slocum, N.Y. Employed at Rochester Public Library, Pocket Books, Inc. (N.Y.C.), Hutchins Advertising Co. (Rochester). Married Patricia A. McMahon,1957.
NOVELS:
The Shattered Raven
(Lancer, 1969).
The Transection Machine
(Walker, 1971).
SHORT STORIES
: Nearly 400 published. Book:
The Judges of Hades and Other Simon Ark Stories
(Leisure Books, 1971).
TRANSLATIONS
: Short stories reprinted in England, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, West Germany, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Brazil, South Africa, Australia, Japan.
ANTHOLOGIES
and
TEXTBOOKS
: Short stories reprinted in nearly 50 anthologies, including
Best Detective Stories of the Year
(1965–71). Also in four high-school textbooks, in Braille editions, and on phonograph records for classroom use.
FEATURE FILM
: “It Takes All Kinds,” starring Robert Lansing, Vera Miles, Barry Sullivan.
TELEVISION
: “The Alfred Hitchcock Show” (1965). Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery” (1971).
AWARD:
Winner of the MWA Edgar Award (1968) for “The Oblong Room,” the best short story of previous year.
QUOTES
: “Edward D. Hoch is capable of writing a truly classic short story.”—Ellery Queen
“Edward D. Hoch is as prolific as he is ingenious.”—Anthony Boucher.
“One of the best and almost certainly the most prolific of today’s practitioners of the detective short story.”—Allen J. Hubin
“Satan himself could be proud of his ingenuity.”—John Dickson Carr
*
Actually seven years, between 1944 and 1951, since publication of the last Hammett collection was delayed eleven years.
R
AND IS THE HEAD
of the DCC—the Department of Concealed Communications, a top-security section established by British Intelligence in 1963, shortly after the Profumo scandal. Rand, known to his colleagues and opposites throughout the world as “the Double-C man,” is an outstanding codebreaker-cipherologist-cryptanalyst, doing a kind of “pure” detective work.
Now, there is a certain phenomenon that often occurs in the mystery genre: when a nondetective character is faced with a series of baffling problems, he gradually turns detective in order to solve the problems. Thus, from story to story in this half of the book, you will witness an interesting evolution: you will watch Rand’s talents spread and take wing; the cipher-and-code specialist will become a full-fledged detective unraveling crimes in order to unravel secret messages.
Here, now, is the
PERSONAL:
Born C. Jeffery Rand, August 26, 1926, Paris, France, of British parents. Father was attached to British Embassy, Paris; mother was a writer for popular women’s magazines. Rand rarely uses first initial or middle name; many working with him know only his surname.
EDUCATION
: Attended King’s School in Tercanbury, and Oxford U. Brief attendance at St. Thomas Medical School, Lambeth, kept him out of Army during World War II, but a feeling of guilt caused him to enter government service on graduation from Oxford in 1948.
CAREER
: Rand’s first government assignment: clerk in Calendar Network, a British Intelligence group formed to gather information on Russian scientific progress, especially on German scientists working with Russians. When Calendar Network disbanded, Rand continued in intelligence work, becoming particularly skillful in cryptanalysis. When Department of Concealed Communications established in 1963. Rand appointed director.
APPEARANCE:
Just under six feet tall, looks younger than his 40-odd years. Slim, handsome, brown hair, angular features, serious expression. Occasionally wears glasses for reading. Until recently had fondness for American cigarettes; now cutting down on smoking.
PRIVATE LIFE
: Works long hours, often sleeping on cot in Double-C office. His limited private life completely overshadowed by career. Never speaks of social activities, few coworkers invited to his London apartment. Unmarried; has eye for pretty girl but rarely follows through to a relationship. Some indication of tragic love affair in youth, but never talks about it. Both parents dead, has no close relatives. Is essentially a “loner” in a “rotten business.”
The Rand tales are a marvelous mix of hidden messages, crucial decisions, delicate problems, top-secret information, important missions, audacious operations, international complications (heads could roll, governments topple), interspersed with crimes, clues, interrogations, legwork, brain work, deductions, and surprising, sometimes amazing revelations, and all told with the narrative grip of causes célèbres and the immediacy of this morning’s newspaper.
(Introduction Number Three on pages
101–102
)
T
HE GIRL WAS SLENDER
and dark-haired, and very pretty. “I feel like a fool,” she told Rand, gazing across the desk with uncertain eyes.
“Nonsense,” he reassured her. “You did the right thing in reporting it. Now suppose you start at the beginning and tell me everything that happened.”
“That’s the trouble. Nothing happened except that I saw this man taking a wax impression of the lock—the way they do in the movies, and—”
Rand smiled slightly. “You haven’t even told me your name, or where you work.”
“What? I thought my boss phoned you.”
“I’d like to hear it all from you, if I may. From the beginning.”
She shifted in the chair and crossed her legs. “Well, my name is Audrey Fowler, and I’m a pool typist in the Foreign Office. I’ve been there nearly three years and I like it a lot. The girls are so friendly, and there are lots of handsome men—”
Rand cleared his throat. “About yesterday.”
“Oh! Yes. I don’t usually work on Sunday, of course, but with all those television people around—”
“What television people?”
“They’re filming a show about diplomats and they got permission to take some shots in the Foreign Office lobby. I guess then they go back to the studio sets for the office scenes. Some of us had to be there, anyway, to help out.”
“Are you an American, Miss Fowler?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“You talk a little like one.”
“I was born right here in London. But I see a lot of American movies.”
“Go on,” he urged. “I’m sorry I interrupted.”
“Anyway, I was coming out of the office on the second floor when I saw this man. He was at the door to the restricted wing, where the Message Center is. He took something out of the lock and dropped it very carefully into a little plastic bag. Honest, it was just like in the movies!”
Rand nodded. “A wax-coated blank key, probably. Do you know what’s kept in the Message Center?”
“Lists of embassy personnel in various countries, teletype machines—”
“Anything else?”
“Well, the diplomatic code—oh, the code book! I’ll bet that’s why they sent me to you!” She glanced over her shoulder at the frosted-glass door with the words
Department of Concealed Communications
neatly lettered on it.