The Judges of Hades: and Other Simon Ark Stories

By Edward D. Hoch

Five classic tales of murderous evil -- and the immortal who was chosen to fight for what is right.

In a small town near Washington, DC, seventy-three villagers make the spontaneous decision to leap from a cliff to their deaths. They leave no explanation behind, but local rumor suggests they were being manipulated by an ancient, evil power. In a monastery in West Virginia, a monk fears his brothers -- and is finally pushed from the window of one of the towers. And in a town in Westchester County, New York, a self-proclaimed witch casts a spell on a group of female college students.

These are strange cases, seemingly beyond the grasp of reason -- and perfect fodder for Simon Ark. A Coptic priest of the ancient world, he was condemned after the Crucifixion to live forever, wandering the earth and rooting out evil. And in the small, shadowy corners of small-town America, he will encounter great evil indeed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Head of Zeus
• Release date: Jun 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781784085551

Edward D. Hoch

Edward D. Hoch (1930–2008) was a master of the mystery short story. Born in Rochester, New York, he sold his first story, “The Village of the Dead,” to Famous Detective Stories, then one of the last remaining old-time pulps. The tale introduced Simon Ark, a two-thousand-year-old Coptic priest who became one of Hoch’s many series characters. Others included small-town doctor Sam Hawthorne, police detective Captain Leopold, and Revolutionary War secret agent Alexander Swift. By rotating through his stable of characters, most of whom aged with time, Hoch was able to achieve extreme productivity, selling stories to Argosy, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, which published a story of his in every issue from 1973 until his death. In all, Hoch wrote nearly one thousand short tales, making him one of the most prolific story writers of the twentieth century. He was awarded the 1968 Edgar Award for “The Oblong Room,” and in 2001 became the first short story writer to be named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America. 

Reviews for The Judges of Hades

[antiquary_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Generally I like Edward D. Hoch's stories, but these are below average for him, perhaps because they have a supernatural element. Simon Ark is a 1700 year old Copt who is bound to the destruction of evil --the evils often also being equally old. The one I remember best concerns a whole town persuaded to commit suicide by someone reviving the cCrcumcellions, the extremist Donatists of late ancient North Africa --but they committed suicide with reason under persecution, while these people seem motiveless.