Fredric Brown - Homicide Sanitarium

Mechanically, McCracken took the little slip of yellow paper that was being held out toward him. His eyes focused on the figures, then blurred, then came into focus again.

"There was thirty thousand net, Mr. McCracken," Perley Essington was saying, "and if it hadn't been for you--well, I'd never have been free to spend any of it. So I think a tenth is fair, isn't it?"

McCracken found his own voice at last.

"More than fair, Perley. I--well you can put me down as your star pupil, all right. And give me that nightingale business first. It's just how I feel. But not on an empty stomach." He took the little man's arm firmly. "First, we're going down to the Crillon and order a plate apiece of their very best birdseed."

I took a little more liberties than usual with editing spelling and the occasional layout question. I believe it is important to preserve the author's spellings to help preserve the sense and atmosphere of the time period works were written but I ran across some spellings inconsistent with Brown's usual spellings and some that were both distracting and very questionable as to whether they were the author's spellings or misspellings/errors of some proofreader at a magazine of original publication overlooked.

A single font in only one size and a very "plain vanilla" layout were used to facilitate ease of global changes with minimal layout changes by those with poor eyesight or other reasons for wishing to make such changes. I believe this also facilitates the ability of those who've made such changes to read a work and find errors while reading to correct them, reversion and repost the improved work without introducing any unintentional changes to the file in the process.

Homicide Sanitarium (collection) copyright ®1984 by Elizabeth C. Brown. All rights reserved.

"Introduction," copyright ®1984 by Bill Pronzini.

"The Moon for a Nickel," Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine, March 1938, copyright ®1938 by Street & Smith Publications.

"Homicide Sanitarium," Thrilling Detective, May 1941, copyright ® by Standard Magazines, 1941.

"Listen to the Mocking Bird," G-Man Detective, November 1941, copyright ® by Standard Magazines, 1941.

"The Cat from Siam," Popular Detective, September 1949, copyright ® by Standard Magazines, 1949.

"Red-Hot and Hunted," Detective Tales, November 1948, copyright ® by Popular Publications. Copyright renewed ® 1976 by Popular Publications.

"Suite for Flute and Tommy-gun," Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine, June 1942, copyright ® 1942 by Street & Smith Publications.

"The Spherical Ghoul," Thrilling Mystery, January 1943, copyright ® by Standard Magazines. 1943.