Ever since his first story was published in 1955, Edward D. Hoch has been the dominant force in the fairplay detective story. Like his predecessors of the Golden Age between the Wars, Ed Hoch challenges the reader to read all the clues correctly and come to the correct conclusion before the sleuth. But he does much more than that: his sleuths are cut out of various cloths – some are professional thieves, some investigate bizarre events, others are espionage agents, others specialize in locked rooms, and still others – like the Gypsy Michael Vlado – add a touch of exotic lore to their investigations. Long awaited by Hoch's fans, The Iron Angel is the first collection of Vlado's adventures, and it includes such cases as "The Gypsy's Paw" (in which the classic horror tale "The Monkey's Paw" seems repeated), "The Puzzle Garden" (in which murder is involved in a garden named after the apostles), "The Gypsy Wizard" (in which a wizard may, or may not, be able to fly), and other ingenious stories.

Contents:

• Introduction · in
• The Luck of a Gypsy · ss The Ethnic Detectives, ed. Bill Pronzini & Martin H. Greenberg, Dodd, Mead, 1985
• Odds on a Gypsy · ss EQMM Jul ’85
• Blood of a Gypsy · ss EQMM Jan ’86
• The Gypsy Treasure · ss EQMM May ’86
• Punishment for a Gypsy · ss EQMM Jan ’87
• The Gypsy Wizard · ss EQMM May ’87
• Murder of a Gypsy King · ss EQMM Jul ’88
• Gypsy at Sea · ss EQMM mid-Dec ’88
• The Gypsy Delegate · ss EQMM Oct ’90
• The Iron Angel · ss EQMM Oct ’92
• The Puzzle Garden · ss EQMM Feb ’94
• The Gypsy’s Paw · ss EQMM Sep ’94
• The Clockwork Rat · ss EQMM May ’96
• The Starkworth Atrocity · nv EQMM Sep/Oct ’98
• The Wall Too High · ss EQMM Jun, 2000
• A Michael Vlado Checklist · Misc. Material · bi