Buffet For Unwelcome Guests

This collection of short crime stories offers five courses of delectable depravity from mystery’s master chef. Playing Othello is hard on any actor, but for the great James Dragon, the role is toxic. During the play’s run, he must reenact the horrible crime that took his own wife’s life. Every person in the audience thinks that Dragon killed his real-life wife, and when the curtain rises they wonder if tonight will be the night when Othello finally cracks. “After the Event” is just the first in a round of Cockrill cocktails—bracing short fiction starring Christianna Brand’s famed Scotland Yard inspector. From there we proceed to bloody entrees, chilling desserts, and a cup of black coffee that will shock you wide awake. Brand’s short fiction is more than a sample—it is an all-night banquet that leaves the reader terrified and satisfied as only a good mystery can.

The Mystery Fancier, Volume 10 Number 3, Summer 1988, contains: "Ellery Queen, Sports Fan," by Joe R. Christopher, "The Gold Medal Boys," "Further Gems from the Literature," by William F. Deeck, "An Australian Bibliomystery," by Michael J. Tolley, "Reel Murders," by Walter Albert, "Mystery Mosts," by Jeff Banks and "The Backward Reviewer," by William F. Deeck.

A bibliography of various mystery novels published between November 1976 and Fall 1992.

Frederic Dannay (1905-1982) was--with his partner Manfred Lee--the creator of the Ellery Queen detective novels and short stories. Dannay was also a literary historian and critic, and the editor of the renowned Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. Queen--both a pen name and the fictional protagonist of the stories--was also a vital force behind the continuing popularity of crime fiction in the early to mid-20th century, after the deaths of Arthur Conan Doyle, G.K. Chesterton, Melville Davisson Post, and other Old Masters of the genre. This book presents the first critical study of Ellery Queen's role in the preservation of the detective short story. Many of the writers, characters and stories EQMM championed are covered, including such celebrated authors as Allingham, Ambler, Ellin, Innes, Vickers, and even William Butler Yeats.

Dhampire leader Bridget delivers a shocking revelation about Akabara and his queen, Adelheid! The mystery of Akabara's dark past continues to unwind, but can the truth Bridget divulges be trusted?

A London writer falls into a trap of romance and false identityKatinka Jones spends her days beautifying, trying out the latest ointments, corsets, and creams in order to pass the information on to the thankful readers of Girls Together. When not immersed in a mud bath, she answers advice letters, and none are so compelling as those of Amista, a Welsh girl in love with a modern-day Heathcliff. Amista’s dramatic stories and beautiful descriptions of her village spark Tinka’s interest. For her next holiday, Tinka travels to Wales, where she finds that beauty-product salesmen aren’t the only people who lie. No one in Pentre Trist has heard of Amista, and no one will admit to writing the letters. As she tries to learn the identity of her pen pal, Tinka stumbles into an ancient Welsh mystery. The letters may have been lies, but the danger they described is all too real.

The detective story--the classic whodunit with its time-displacement structure of crime--according to most literary historians, is of relatively recent origin. Early in its development, the whodunit was harshly criticized for its tightly formula-bound structure. Many critics prematurely proclaimed "the death of the whodunit" and even of detective fiction altogether. Yet today, the genre is alive, as contemporary authors have brought it into modern times through a significant integration of elaborate character development and psychology. With the modern psychological detective story emerging from the historical cauldron of detective fiction and early psychology, the genre continues to develop a complexity that reflects and guides the literary sophistication needed. This book, the first of its kind, analyzes over 150 whodunit novels and short stories across the decades, from The Moonstone to the contemporary novels that saved the genre from an ignominious death.

Among the society of London, the unapproachable Marchesa is causing a sensation with her modesty—and planning a devious con—in this historical crime novel. The Marchesa goes to the theater accompanied only by her maid. She dresses in pure white, without any jewels or powder to compete with her golden hair and blue eyes. In the London society of King George III, this modesty is enough to cause a sensation. Night after night, every bachelor in London sends her flowers, hoping to win an audience with this mysterious, enigmatic beauty, but none have come close to a seat in her box. None of them guess that the Marchesa wears no jewels because she cannot afford them. None of them know that she is not a Marchesa at all. She is Marigold Brown, a poor girl from Gloucestershire who is about to mount the greatest con London has ever seen—if falling in love doesn’t get in her way.