Found: Robert Bloch short stories

Original topic subject: Robert Bloch short stories

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Found: Robert Bloch short stories

1EKLC
May 13, 2025, 11:48 am

I am trying to remember three short stories which I believe were all written by Robert Bloch. Spoilers are ahead.

The first involves a man who was convicted of crimes against women, probably assault. To prove his guilt, police need his blood, but he does not consent to a blood draw. Eventually, the police figure out a way to draw the blood in secret: they use mosquitoes. The irony is that he was convicted of crimes against women, and only female mosquitoes bite.

The second involves a man who runs a circus show involving big cats, like panthers. It is eventually revealed that the "cats" are actually people, including his wife, who he turns into cats.

The third involves a man being confused about his past/identity. He eventually realizes he is a vampire.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks! Robert Bloch wrote much more than Psycho, although that is his most famous work.

2vorkosigan
May 13, 2025, 3:36 pm

>1 EKLC: I believe that the circus one will be Fangs of Vengeance written under his pen name, Nathan Hindin. (There's a link but I don't think it's helpful.)

3EKLC
May 13, 2025, 5:23 pm

Yes, so now we are only looking for the other two. Fangs of Vengeance is the circus one.

4keachachu
May 13, 2025, 7:06 pm

I'm looking at the list of Robert Bloch stories on isfdb: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?152
"A question of identity" looks like the third one. You can read it on openlibrary in Flowers from the Moon and Other Lunacies: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL350709M/Flowers_from_the_moon_and_other_lunacies
I'll keep browsing to see if I can find the first one, but I'll have to make a lucky guess on the title.

5EKLC
May 13, 2025, 11:22 pm

Yes, A Question of Identity is the third one.

6EKLC
May 21, 2025, 2:09 pm

Perhaps the mosquito one was not by Robert Bloch.

7EKLC
May 22, 2025, 1:14 pm

I found the last one; it is "Blood Will Tell" by Arthur Porges. It is an Alfred Hitchcock collection called Coffin Break; I misremembered the author due to Bloch's association with Hitchcock.

8Cecrow
May 23, 2025, 7:00 am

Nice! And thanks for letting us know.