First, Happy Easter to those who celebrate.

Today is April 5, which is the birthday of Robert Bloch (1917-1994). Bloch needs no introduction around these parts. Bloch will forever be known as the man who wrote Psycho. But his work encompassed so much more.

He was a member of the Lovecraft circle while he was still a teenager and much of his early work was pastiche. He would dabble in Mythos fiction off and on for most of his career. But Bloch was too talented a writer to lock himself into one genre.

He wrote science fiction humorous fantasy, and crime stories.

Today’s featured book is one of the latter, although the cover implies the book is supernatural horror.

It’s not, although there are ceertainly some horrific aspects to the book.

It’s set in a planned retirement community.  The cast of characters consists of about a dozen or so people, maybe more. I read the book at the beginning of the year and didn’t count them. Bloch shifts viewpoints frequently. The plot revolves around a party one of the residents is hosting. All the characters have different motives for attending or trying to avoid the party.

Plus there’s a bad actor, so to speak, a caterer who is planning a heist during the party.

The book gets rather dark at times. The viewpoint character in the opening chapter is planning to kill himself by the end of the day. His wife telling him they have to go to the party tends to put a crimp in his plans. Most of the characters have some sort of existential crisis they are dealing with.

Ultimately, though, the endiing is optimistic. There are secrets that aren’t revealed until the end of hte book, secrets which change how some of the characters view each other.

The Cunning isn’t best work. It’s worth a read, but it will probably never be  onsidered among his best. Personally, I think bloch was a much stronger writer at shorter lengths. Not surprising, since he learned his craft while writing for the pulps. He didn’t start writing novels until later.

Some of Bloch’s best-known stories include “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper”, “Enoch,” and “That Hell-Bound Train”. His short stories are worth seeking out. Valancourt Press has recently reprinted some of his work in both print and electronic editions.