Oh my, what a fool I am. The story I was so taken with, Pieces of Silver, in the Stories for Late at Night anthology I’m reading is one by Brett Halliday–who I now find out after Googling the name is quite well established in the mystery genre, including the Mike Shayne series.
The story was so much more than mere mystery to me, however. It held a depth that would have well placed it in the literary short story category.
UPDATE: I loved this story so much that I’ve just search the web for it online. Alas, no such luck. I’ve also talked myself out of typing it up for you–that’s how much I loved it.
But even while it may not make sense to you, I must give you this, the closing:
He was a fool, you say, to throw money at the feet of Lolita hile she danced the fluencita for her lover?
But yes, senor, that indeed would have been a foolish thing for the gringo to do.
You have misunderstood me, senor. It was not the gringo Thurston who threw the money at Lolita’s feet. Dias, no!
He was not that foolish. Indeed, he had already turned his back to leave when it happened.
But it was very unwise of him to pay Senor Simpson ith American silver dollars.(p. 153)
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology
Hi
I’m trying to find out who owns the rights to Brett Halliday’s “Pieces of Silver.”
Do you happen to have a copy of Alfred Hitchcock Presents “Stories for Late at Night”? If so could you please email me the information? Thank You and Happy New Year.
Zack Block
one66bigfoot@hotmail.com
Sent you an email on this, but here’s the gist of it:
I do have “Stories for Late at Night” and the information given on Halliday’s piece is rather sparse, but here it is:
PIECES OF SILVER, Brett Halliday. Reprinted by permission of the Author. Copyright, 1938, by David Dresser.
My copy of this book is a 1961 edition published by Random House.
Thanks. It’s a hard search. No luck yet.