We have a special treat today. R. T. Lawton has FOUR series of stories running in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. How many people have that many going anywhere? And he writes both light and serious, current and historic, foreign and domestic. Recently we were e-discussing our writing and he made a point I thought was […]

Steve Steinbock will return next week. In the meantime, here’s an amusing piece of personal history from one of our favorite colleagues. I might mention that almost exactly the same phenomenon described below happened to me, except that it took me fifteen years longer and I’m older than Brendan. (Some folks are just slower.) —JLW […]

I forgot to give the readers of Criminal Brief a Yuletide short story this year. Luckily, Steve’s column last Friday provided me with a suitable title, so here it is, alas late, but you know what they say. I’ll be back next week with another Scribbler. —JLW A RETRIEVED REFORMATION by O. Henry A guard […]

JLW here. I’m taking the day off. But here’s a real treat for a guest column. Steve Hockensmith was one of the first people I asked to write a column for CRIMINAL BRIEF three years ago when Rob Lopresti and I were first developing it, but he passed because he was under deadline for a […]

I was out of town this weekend, but my absence was more than compensated by this timely essay by Ellery Queen Expert (and Author!), previous CB contributor Dale Andrews. —JLW THE ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERIES by Dale C. Andrews This week the December edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine hit my mail box on the same […]

I first discovered the Thinking Machine stories of Jacques Futrelle (1875-1912), one of the victims in the sinking of the Titanic, when I was in the fourth grade. I was smitten. This story was first published in 1907. Futrelle never says so, but I’ve always thought that the “S. F. X.” initials between the Thinking […]

My favorite crime stories always involve the application of justice, and the more ironic it is, the better I like it. This little gem was written by the creator of Jeeves and Wooster in 1910. —JLW MISUNDERSTOOD by P. G. Wodehouse       The profession of Mr. James (“Spider1”) Buffin was pocket-picking. His hobby was revenge. […]