Ray Bradbury would have turned 100 years old on August 22, 2020. Hard Case Crime has commemorated his centennial by gathering some of his earliest short fiction into a beautifully bound volume, KILLER, COME BACK TO ME, which consists of 20 stories and 11 illustrations. It is a must-have addition to any home library where reading is valued.

Bradbury is primarily known for his science fiction and fantasy stories. The titles are synonymous with his name: DANDELION WINE, FAHRENHEIT 451, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES and THE ILLUSTRATED MAN. What many may not realize is that Bradbury cut his writing teeth on crime fiction, which occasionally blurred into horror and sci-fi.

The majority of this breathtaking collection is weighted toward pulp magazines, where Bradbury and many other genre fiction writers labored mightily during the 1940s at a rate of a (very) few pennies per word. They include the treasured Dime Mystery, Detective Tales and, interestingly enough, Weird Tales. There are also some more “recent” stories from such disparate sources as Playboy, McCall’s, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and the Dark Forces anthology.

"KILLER, COME BACK TO ME features some of Bradbury’s oldest writing and some of his best. I can’t give you a better recommendation than that for putting this collection on your must-read list right now."

I was delighted to find two of my favorite stories here. One is “The Small Assassin,” which Bradbury called “one of the best stories in any field that I have ever written." Anyone contemplating parenthood from either side of the telescope should read it. What appears to be a secondary manifestation of postpartum depression may well be a mother’s intuition. It also contains my all-time favorite closing paragraph of anything that I have ever read.

The other is “The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl,” in which an unfortunate act of passion carried out in anger brings guilt and obsessive compulsion together in all of the worst ways. I have read this story many times over the years, and even while revisiting it, I could still hear Bradbury’s typewriter click-clacking as he wrote and almost smell the keys smoking.

There are many other feasts here. “Corpse Carnival” is a murder mystery that inadvertently gives up its whodunit early but has a number of setup twists and presages one of Bradbury’s most popular books by a couple of decades. Some stories are also paired over time. “The Whole Town’s Sleeping” is about a patient serial killer who is operating in a small town. It is told from the point of view of a woman who will not let herself be ruled by fear. A few years later, Bradbury --- at the urging of an editor --- wrote a sequel, “At Midnight, in the Month of June,” which picks up where its predecessor left off. This time, though, it is from the killer’s perspective.

Bradbury did something similar with “Marionettes, Inc.” and “Punishment Without Crime,” which both revolve around a company that manufactures robots in the likeness of the customer or anyone else, for whatever purpose. The latter examines a legal and societal issue with which we are only beginning to come to grips. As has been demonstrated repeatedly in the past, it is the world that needs to catch up to Bradbury.

Two outstanding stories bookend the volume. The opening tale, “A Touch of Petulance” --- which, having been published 40 years ago, is the “newest” piece here --- is a bit of a time travel story that illustrates one reason why relationships go wrong, even with forewarning. “The Utterly Perfect Murder,” which closes the collection, is a tale of revenge that is both fulfilled and unrequited. Anyone older than 40 who has ever felt as if they had a long-standing score to settle will be able to relate to it. Time doesn’t heal all wounds. In some cases, it inflicts mortal ones.

KILLER, COME BACK TO ME features some of Bradbury’s oldest writing and some of his best. I can’t give you a better recommendation than that for putting this collection on your must-read list right now.