Mystery History - Otto Penzler Born Today

It's the birthday of Otto Penzler, born July 8, 1942. A crime fiction editor, publisher, and the founder of  The Mysterious Press, Penzler has done more to promote the mystery genre than any other individual over the past 50 years. He is one of the world's leading experts of mystery and suspense fiction. The list of writers he has worked with reads like a Who's Who from the Best-Sellers list, and include Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Higgins Clark, Michael Connelly and Sue Grafton (just to name a few). His accomplishments and their importance can hardly be exaggerated, but we will try.

Penzler studied English Literature in college, reading heavyweights like James Joyce. After graduation he started writing columns about sports. One of his first jobs paid the princely sum of thirty-seven dollars a week. He set aside five dollars of that to buy books. He loved to read, but he was through with Dickens and Melville. “I wanted to keep reading, but I didn’t want to hurt my head anymore. So I thought mysteries, I’ll read some mysteries.” He started with the early classics, such as The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. It was when he started reading Chandler and Hammett that he was struck by the revelation that mystery stories were not all sub-par, but could be real works of art.

He growing knowledge of the genre led to his co-authorship of the Encyclopedia of Mystery and Detection, a detailed catalog of mystery authors, books and films. It won an Edgar Award in 1977.

In 1979 he opened The Mysterious Bookshop, now the oldest and largest bookstore devoted to mystery, suspense and thrillers. His bookstore office is marked by crime scene tape.

He edits the annual edition of The Best American Mystery Stories. During his career he has edited dozens of anthologies, including my favorite, The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries.

His most important contribution was the founding of The Mysterious Press, a publisher of mystery and crime fiction. With it, he's published most of the best writers of mystery, thriller, and spy stories. Determined to not only publish the best writers in the genre, he wanted to put out quality books by using acid-free paper, ensuring that the books would last a long time. It was not for nothing that mystery novels were called pulps for so many years. They were often printed using the cheapest paper and could literally fall apart after just a few readings. Penzler challenged that reputation by treating his product as a quality work of literary art. He succeeded on both counts with quality authors and a quality book.

With the advent of electronic publishing, Penzler has jumped in with both feet (perhaps dipping in a toe first). Mysterious Press is working with publishers to bring the works of established writers like Donald Westlake, James Ellroy, and Christianna Brand to ebooks and audio release.

Penzler has won three Edgar Awards for Best Critical/Biographical Work from the Mystery Writers of America. He also won that organizations's Ellery Queen Award in 1994 and the Raven Award in 2003 for outstanding achievement in the mystery field.

At this moment he is probably working on another anthology that will delight us later this year, or next. Hopefully, he'll take some time to blow out the candles and have a slice of cake.

References -

Atlas Obscura

Fine Books Magazine
LA Review of Books
Los Angeles Times
Mysterious Press
Mystery Writers of America
New York Times