“The Creeper in the Crypt” (Weird Tales, July 1937)

Bloch, Robert. “The Creeper in the Crypt.” Weird Tales, July, 1937, pp. 104-111.
https://archive.org/details/Weird_Tales_v29n04_1937-04_sas/page/n57/mode/2up 

This story opens with a walk through Lovecraft’s city of Arkham, although Bloch adds families, streets, and other details not present in Lovecraft’s writing. The narrator is a descendent of Sir Ambrose Abbott, one of the founders of Arkham. This fact makes him an appealing to a kidnapper such as Joe Regetti, who knocks him cold and ties him up in the basement of an abandoned old house. As he is regaining consciousness, the narrator learns about the ragtag group of thugs who have come to town for ransom money. Regetti is joined by Slim, Greek, and the Polack in the criminal scheme. Polack warns Regetti about the house and the fate of the last gang that holed up there, that there was something terrible behind the massive steel door behind the coal pile. He reports that they found only the leg of the lookout in the basement and nothing else. Regetti scoffs at the warning and vows to stand watch over the narrator overnight. Regetti ties the narrator to a chair in the next room and proceeds to fall asleep playing solitaire. The narrator hears the heavy steel door open and the unmistakable sounds of claws clicking across the concrete floor. Regetti has only a moment to scream before he is torn to ribbons by the creature. The narrator manages to free himself and waits until he hears the steel door close once again. He escapes and calls the police vowing to never return to Arkham again after the carnage he witnessed.  
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This has got to be one of my favorite early stories by Bloch. It is the first to dive fully into what might be known today as the “thriller” genre,” although with Bloch genre distinctions can be useless. The criminal gang is a first for is published work, and the character of Regetti is a variation on the familiar theme of the disbelieving fool who falls asleep in front of hell’s gaping maw. Bloch will continue to explore crime and criminals moving forward in his career. He mixes crime and cosmic horror here, exploring a minor corner of Lovecraft’s Mythos. In Lovecraft’s “The Terrible Old Man” (1921), for example, old money is under threat from recent immigrants to New England. Angelo Ricci, Joe Czanek and Manuel Silva are the thugs who look to separate the terrible old man from his money. There is much blood. Horror Babble is my go-to channel on YouTube for audio books, especially those of Bloch, Lovecraft, and their ilk. I especially like their production of this particular story. I think they were able to draw out the rising tension especially in the sections of the story where the action was not visible to the main character, where terrifying things occurred behind closed doors. I highly recommend this particular audio book as well as everything else they have done.