Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Stories

The 18 short mysteries in this stellar collection from Hoch (1930–2008) feature two of his lesser-known sleuths, Alexander Swift, “a civilian investigator for George Washington during America’s Revolutionary War,” and consulting detective Gideon Parrot, an homage to golden age detectives. The Swift tales proceed chronologically, starting with the ingenious “The Hudson Chain,” in which the colonists install a huge steel chain across a portion of the Hudson River in 1778 to block enemy ships, a mechanism deployed in real-life. Swift must not only foil the efforts of spies to scuttle the chain but solve a related murder. In several of the Swift stories, his adversary is Benedict Arnold, introduced in “The Uninvited Guest,” in which a stranger is poisoned at Arnold’s wedding to Peggy Shippen. “King George’s Gold” involves one of the author’s trademark impossibilities, the disappearance of $1 million in gold from a sunken ship. The Parrot entries are more tongue-in-cheek, but provide plenty of shout-outs for fans of classic mystery fiction to relish. Each story displays fair-play clueing, rewarding readers attentive to every carefully chosen word. This is a perfect starting point for those new to Hoch. (June)