In honor of last week’s Edgar Banquet, I offer up the following bit of history of an organization I love, even if it can be a cruel mistress. This account was cribbed from the website of Mystery Writers of America, but the website’s navigation makes it a little hard to find. There, it looks kind [...]

Here’s another occasional piece by Angela. She hasn’t been quite convinced to come back full time, pleading health, but hell, I’ll take any piece she offers anytime she offers it. Here she takes the pulse of a theme that has occupied us here before, and I’m glad to have her take on it. —JLW TO [...]

Before proceeding with today’s column, I have some sad news: Dick Stodghill, one of our most consistent correspondents and one of the best mystery short story writers in the business, has passed away. The Gentle Reader may be interested in reading an account here. We love and salute you, Dick. Moving on, as I know [...]

SHORT STORY ROUNDUP I have a lot of short stories on my nightstand this week. I’m enmeshed in — or have recently finished — several collections and anthologies. Since this is a blog about short mystery fiction, what better topic to discuss? Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine March/April 2009 The current issue is a fat “Double [...]

BEHIND THE MASK by Steve Steinbock In my column of last week , I spoke briefly about the difference between pulps and digest magazines. I thought I’d begin this week on the topic of the most famous of the pulps, Black Mask. Launched in 1920 by H. L. Mencken, the magazine claimed “the best stories [...]

READING QUEEN’S QUORUM Barry T. Zeman The First Fifty Years, the initial chapter of Queen’s Quorum detailing the first fifteen selections, encompasses important developmental works in the detective-mystery story genre. Except for a few however, reading them for enjoyment rather than scholarly intent will be a frustrating effort. The initial entry on the list is [...]

QUEEN’S QUORUM: THE BEST OF DETECTIVE AND MYSTERY SHORT STORIES by Barry T. Zeman In 1942 a year after they started publishing Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (EQMM), the two cousins from Brooklyn writing under this famous pseudonym produced a most unusual book, The Detective Short Story: A Bibliography. This limited edition volume was self-described as [...]