Rob Lopresti suggested that his friend Nina Mansfield contribute a piece, and here it is. She modestly writes of herself in the third person: “Nina Mansfield is a Connecticut based writer and teacher. Her fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and The Chick Lit Review. Her YA mystery novel Swimming Alone was a […]

Here is the second installment of Edgar Wallace’s 1910 short story,“The Greek Poropulos”. You can read Part I here. THE GREEK POROPULOS Part II by Edgar Wallace    One forgets things in war time. I joined the Imperial Light Horse and went to the front. The doctor passed me as sound, so I suppose that all […]

During his lifetime, English author Richard Horatio Edgar Wallace (1875-1932) was one of the most popular writers of crime fiction in the world. Over 160 of his stories were adapted for the cinema. Today he is best remembered as the author of King Kong. This week and next, I offer this South African tale as […]

Here is the beginning of the introduction of my good friend two-time Edgar-winner Daniel Stashower‘s new book, The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder. I had decided to have a piece about the Mary Rogers murder and how it inspired Poe’s second detective story today, and was looking […]

This video of an interview with Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Stephen King was made by the folks at Borders a couple years ago. It was made to promote his 2008 collection of short stories, Just After Sunset, and features some of his thoughts on writing short stories. STEPHEN KING ON JUST AFTER SUNSET […]

He-e-ere’s Eddy! With some notes from moi. —JLW THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO by Edgar Allan Poe The thousand injuries of Fortunato1 I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance […]

To celebrate my latest sale to AHMM, a ghost story/mystery called “Ten Thousand Cold Nights”, this week and next I present my favorite ghost story of all time. Naturally, it involves a despicable crime. Montague Rhodes James (1862-1936) was a renowned classical scholar who served as Provost (i.e., Master) of King’s College, Oxford, and Eton, […]