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American Gothic
First Published: 1974 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Format: Hardcover |
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Summary: “Dr.” G. Gordon Gregg opens a palatial "Castle" in Chicago to coincide with the 1893 World’s Fair. The castle houses both a pharmacy for which Gregg peddles a huckster “Electric Elixir,” as well as rooms he rents to Fair visitors. Gregg’s preferred occupants are single, young women whom he gruesomely tortures before killing. Crystal Wilson, a young journalist suspicious of the doctor, poses as the niece of one of the missing women to obtain a job working directly for Gregg. As Crystal slowly ingratiates herself deeper into Gregg’s life, what she learns puts her in danger of becoming next in Gregg’s long line of victims.
Bloch: “While spanning the gap between television movies, I wrote a novel called American Gothic. The title came, of course, from Grant Wood’s famous painting, and the subject matter was based upon the nefarious career of Herman W. Mudgett, aka H. H. Holmes and a dozen other aliases. The main problem was that in order to make my fictional version convincing, I had to omit many of the incredible crimes committed by the story’s actual prototype.”
Note: Much like his novel Psycho, here, Bloch takes the situation surrounding a real-life personage and his crimes to build his fictional tale rather than incorporating the actual grisly minutia of the Holmes case. Such detail however, from research culled in preparation for writing the novel, can be found in the non-fiction account, “Dr. Holmes’s Murder Castle,” written by Bloch for Reader’s Digest’s 1983 Tales of the Uncanny collection.
Bloch: “While spanning the gap between television movies, I wrote a novel called American Gothic. The title came, of course, from Grant Wood’s famous painting, and the subject matter was based upon the nefarious career of Herman W. Mudgett, aka H. H. Holmes and a dozen other aliases. The main problem was that in order to make my fictional version convincing, I had to omit many of the incredible crimes committed by the story’s actual prototype.”
Note: Much like his novel Psycho, here, Bloch takes the situation surrounding a real-life personage and his crimes to build his fictional tale rather than incorporating the actual grisly minutia of the Holmes case. Such detail however, from research culled in preparation for writing the novel, can be found in the non-fiction account, “Dr. Holmes’s Murder Castle,” written by Bloch for Reader’s Digest’s 1983 Tales of the Uncanny collection.
Bibliography
US: Simon & Schuster; hc 1974
South America: Distribudora Record; pb 1975
Netherlands: Elsevier; pb 1975
US: Fawcett Crest; pb 1975
Japan: Hayakawa; hc 1975
UK: Star Books; pb 1975
UK: W.H. Allen; hc 1975
France: Gallimard ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); pb 1976
US: Tor Books; pb 1987
France: Gallimard; ("Le Boucher de Chicago"); pb 1992
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); pb 1993
Italy: Fabbri Editori ("Gotico Americano"); hc 1994
US: iBooks; pb 2004
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); pb 2006
France: 10 - 18 ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); pb 2017
France: 12 - 21 ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); eBook 2017
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); eBook 2017
Lyle Stuart hc (nfd)
South America: Distribudora Record; pb 1975
Netherlands: Elsevier; pb 1975
US: Fawcett Crest; pb 1975
Japan: Hayakawa; hc 1975
UK: Star Books; pb 1975
UK: W.H. Allen; hc 1975
France: Gallimard ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); pb 1976
US: Tor Books; pb 1987
France: Gallimard; ("Le Boucher de Chicago"); pb 1992
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); pb 1993
Italy: Fabbri Editori ("Gotico Americano"); hc 1994
US: iBooks; pb 2004
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); pb 2006
France: 10 - 18 ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); pb 2017
France: 12 - 21 ("Le Boucher De Chicago"); eBook 2017
Italy: Bompiani ("Gotico Americano"); eBook 2017
Lyle Stuart hc (nfd)