Writers Born Today - Joyce Harrington

It's the birthday of Joyce Harrington, born January 29, 1932 in Jersey City, New Jersey. Although she wrote three novels, she was best known for her short stories. In 1972 her first story, The Purple Shroud, was published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. The following year it won an Edgar Award for Best Short Story. She was nominated for three more Edgars by the Mystery Writers of America for her short stories, in 1975 for Cabin In The Hollow, in 1976 for Night Crawlers, and in 1988 for The Au Pair Girl.

Harrington was a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and EQMM during this period. She also wrote three mystery novels. No One Knows My Name appeared in 1980, followed by Family Reunion in 1982 and Dreemz of the Night in 1987.

Harrington fell out of the reader's eye after she stopped writing in the 1990s. Her reputation is undergoing a revival thanks in part to enlightened critics and editors who have spurred interest in the growing popularity of the sub-genre known as Domestic Suspense. The Purple Shroud was included in Sarah Weinman's short story suspense collection Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives in 2013.

Weinman had this to say about Harrington's writing; "She was primarily concerned with human behavior and the motives for sliding into nefarious deeds, with twists that disturbed in their quiet intensity. It's no wonder 'The Purple Shroud' fared so well upon publication: its depiction of a toxic marriage and how a subjugated woman finds her way out still resonates today."

Pretty Sinister Books described The Purple Shroud as "a little masterpiece."

To watch an interview of Joyce Harrington as she discusses her writing with Connie Martinson, check out the youtube link below.

Note: Many thanks to Sarah Weinman, whose extensive research helped make this blog post possible.

101 Things To Do Before You Die - For Crime Writers

1. Write a minimum of 500 words a day, every day of the year, every year, until you die.
2. Subscribe to Crimespree magazine.
3. Make the pilgrimage to Bouchercon.
4. Take the Konrath Quiz!
5. Check out The Rap Sheet and then visit the links listed on the right sidebar…all 574 of them. It's an indispensable resource for any crime writer.
6. Read The Unquiet Night by Patricia Carlon. Be amazed.
7. Join Crimespace. Then go to Australia. Track down Daniel Hatadi (creator of Crimespace). Buy him a beer. Praise him highly in front of the other bar patrons (while you’re still sober, so they know you really mean it).
8. Write your own obituary. It's your last chance to promote yourself.
9. Read agent Janet Reid’s blog. If you get a chance to meet her at a writer’s conference, introduce yourself, and thank her for the priceless advice. Then shake her fin.
10. This year, query at least one agent every day until you hook one. Start here and here.
11. Get your crime story published.
12. Then, join the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters In Crime.
13. Interview someone who is behind bars because of his/her crimes, OR interview a member of Congress who got elected because of his/her crimes.
14. Visit San Francisco and stop at all the landmarks mentioned in the novels by Dashiell Hammett.
15. Buy a bottle of Maker’s Mark. Sip it while you read the August Riordan PI series by Mark Coggins. Note: There are several books in the series…you may need more than one bottle.
16. Get on a panel at a writer’s conference, as a moderator or participant & teach your fellow writers about a topic you’re an expert on or excited about.
17. Learn how to kill someone with poison and get that story published.
18. Read the noir novels of Dorothy B Hughes, including In A Lonely Place.
19. Contact your local coroner and ask to witness an autopsy. Go on an empty stomach and take nose plugs.
20. Write and publish a story from the killer’s point of view and make him/her sympathetic.
21. Publish a story from the victim’s point of view, but make him/her despicable.
22. Meet Sarah Weinman, editor, crime fiction critic and commentator extraordinaire. Follow her on Twitter and browse her blog. Add her books to your crime library; Women Crime Writers of the 1940s and 50s and The Real Lolita. You'll thank me later.
23. Write a book review and get it published in your local newspaper, whether it’s the New York Times or the Small Town Gazette.
24. Get to know some of the people who support crime writing, like award winning blogger Janet Rudolph, and conference organizer Hanley Kanar, who made the Love Is Murder conference a success for so many years.
25. Participate in National Novel Writing Month. One month...50,000 words. You can do it. More important, you'll learn from this.
26. Read all of JA Konrath’s Jack Daniels novels. As you read each one, have a drink from the recipe in the front of the novel.
27. Post a large map of the United States on your wall, cover your eyes, and throw a dart at it. Drive to the spot you struck, then write a crime story about the trip. Please note: The high cost of travel is, technically speaking, not a crime.
28. If you want to understand the dark side of female friendships, read Megan Abbott. I dare you. 
29. Meet Ben LeRoy founder of Tyrus Books and Bleak House Books. Tell him thanks for publishing some great novels. Then buy a few and read them.
30. Attend a pitch session at every writer’s conference you attend.
31. Send an autographed copy of your novel to fiction critic David J Montgomery, because those are the ones he keeps. Thank him. Read his blog, the Crime Fiction Dossier.
32. Write a cozy, a police procedural and a thriller and get them each published under different pen  names.
33. If you’ve never tasted it, try absinthe.
34. Visit Hemmingway's home in Cuba.
35. Research a high profile criminal case in your city. Go to the courthouse and arrange to see the trial transcript (it's in the public record). Then read it cover to cover.
36. Learn to read a foreign language. Read a foreign language mystery novel in the original. Then translate it into English, or your native tongue.
37. At your next writer’s conference, go to the lobby or main meeting room after all the panels are done and read one of your favorite mystery stories out loud, even if no one is listening.
38. Meet mystery writer and former MWMWA President Julie Hyzy and chat with her. Be inspired by her optimistic personality.  Read her books, starting with State of the Onion. Ask her about being interviewed by the Secret Service. (This will happen when you do extensive online research about the layout of the White House).
39. Visit the grave of Edgar Allan Poe, at night. Leave a rose.
40. Write a story about your boss. Use a pen name (trust me on this one).
41. Read Vanish by Tess Gerritsen. It’s the one she’ll be remembered for a hundred years hence.
42. Create your own blog. Promote your writing. Don’t forget to credit the other writers who helped you along the way.
43. Attend at least one writers conference a year. If you go to two or more, choose at least one you’ve never attended. The fresh faces you meet will energize your writing.
44. Visit your local police department and ask to participate in a ride along one night to see your hometown through the eyes of a cop.
45. Read some of the new magazines that are popping up in the world of crime fiction, such as Toe Six Press. They have fresh voices and you may stumble across the next great crime writer.
46. Each December create your own Top Ten List of favorite mystery novels published that year and post it on your blog. Exclude the best sellers. Give us something new.
47. Plan the perfect crime...with one flaw. Then write a story about it. Hide the fatal flaw that catches the bad guy/girl until the very last sentence.
48. Go to the library and stroll down the fiction aisles. Find a novel or collection of stories by a writer you’ve never heard of until this moment. Then check out the book and read it.
49. Subscribe to the DorothyL website, or follow them on Facebook.
50. Throughout the year keep track of all your writing-related expenses, including membership dues to MWA and SINC (yes, they're legitimate business expenses). Use them to reduce your writing income. Don't forget to calculate self-employment tax. Here's are some handy references, Schedule C Profit or Loss From Business and Instructions For Form 1099-MISC, compliments of the IRS.
51. Send a copy of your published book and a handwritten fan letter to your favorite author, with return postage, and ask them to autograph it.
52. Make a movie trailer for your first/next book release and post it on your blog and on Youtube.
53. Check the obituaries to find recently deceased authors whose stories you've never read.
54. Enter one writing contest a year with a novel length unpublished manuscript from your drawer.
55. Serve on a jury.
56. Read Sandra Scoppetone's Jack Early or Lauren Laurano series. Check out her blog, Sandra Scoppetone's Writing Thoughts.
57. Join a writer's group and actively participate.
58. For one month, take the bus or train to work. This alone will give you enough material for three novels. (Note: residents of NYC are exempt from this requirement, or have already met it).
59. Read A Newbie's Guide To Publishing, an invaluable guide for beginning writers. It's written by a published author who's paid his dues. 
60. Ask your family doctor the most effective way to kill someone. Explain that you are a mystery writer before he/she reaches for the phone to dial 911.
61. Send the FBI a request to see your file. (Don't laugh...you may have one). If you have one, they must give it to you.
62. Subscribe to Mystery Scene magazine.
63. Learn how to pick a lock. Warning: Practice on your lock only, or you'll be getting an FBI file sooner than you think!
64. Teach an adult to read.
65. Interview a member of your local law enforcement...a police officer, detective, prosecutor or judge. Publish the interview. If you can record the interview, post it as a podcast.
66. Write a story in which the victim is murdered by a member of the animal kingdom.
67. Every month, read at least one newspaper from each continent. For some suggestions, start here: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America, and Ireland (OK, so Ireland isn't a continent, but we have expats on every continent). Want more choices? Click here for dozens of world newspapers.
68. Pick one novel or story that the world cannot live without, and commit it to memory.
69. Get your PI license. Fill out the application, study for the exam, and pass it.
70. Write a crime story in which the weapon of choice is a computer connected to the internet.
71. Take a literary vacation and visit the homes of your favorite authors.
72. Review the police logs in your city. You may have to request these in person, so if you go to your local police station, make sure you have no outstanding warrants. (You would not believe how many people fumble this one).
73. Go into the attic and dig out an old family photo that has a scene or family member who no one remembers or can name. Study the photo. Write their story. Include a crime.
74. Eat right and get enough exercise. Writing takes stamina and besides, you'll need to live a long life to finish all the items on this list.
75. Take a train trip across America. See this country from a vantage point other than an interstate highway. You'll see railroad yards, bustling factories, mighty rivers and breathtaking natural wonders. Gotta be a story in there somewhere.
76. Take a tour of Alcatraz.
77. Go to your local library and give a talk about your book or the mystery genre.
78. Find an obscure and irrelevant law that is still on the books and write an article about it in your local paper. Try to get it repealed. (Eg: In Kansas City, MO, Minors are not allowed to purchase cap pistols, however they may buy shotguns freely.)
79. Volunteer at your local church, homeless shelter or women's shelter.
80. Learn to shoot and handle a gun. Take a gun safety course. Get your concealed carry permit, even if you don't own a firearm, just because you can. Don't open carry, or you may become a statistic in someone else's crime story.
81. Spend a full day at the New York City Public Library main branch, browsing the shelves. Take a map, so you don't get lost.
82. Who gets your royalties...Spouse? Children? The dog? Write a will, before you die. It's really hard to write one after. Do it now, or some stranger in a black robe will decide who gets what.
83. Read Lee Lofland's blog, The Graveyard Shift on a regular basis. The tips will make you a better crime writer.
84. There are over 10,000 pieces of artwork still missing from the looting of Europe in World War II, by both Allied and the Axis nations. Behind each one is a crime story. Write one.
85. Keep a journal.
86. Learn how to identify edible plants and poison mushrooms. Go on a mushroom hunt. Cook your harvest (have an expert check it). Write the story. Include a crime.
87. Broaden your horizon by following the blog, Detectives Without Borders.
88. Write a crime poem.
89. Get to know the crime library of the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. It's an invaluable resource and a fascinating way to kill a few hours.
90. Listen to some Crime Jazz while you write. Click here for a great example, the soundtrack from the original movie version, Lift To The Gallows, by Miles Davis.
91. Commit to memory the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution (the Bill of Rights). Pick one and use it as the basis of a crime story.
92. Write a story about international smuggling, using one of the Big Three: Drugs, Wildlife, or People.
93. For a fascinating look at the history of crime in America, check out the FBI's website, especially the page on Famous Cases and Criminals. For a current look at crime in action, stop by Congress while it's in session.
94. Keep a copy of George Orwell's Essay, Politics and the English Language, at hand while you write. Re-read it as needed.
95. Take a class at your local college in Criminal Justice. If you have some expertise, try to arrange to teach a class.
96. Once a year, check out Writer's Digest list of “101 Best Websites For Writers”.
97. Interview a power line repairman or telephone repairman. Ask them to tell you their stories. You'll be amazed at what they've seen.
98. Go on a writer's retreat for at least a week. Leave the retreat's phone number with family for emergencies only. Turn your cellphone off. Do nothing for 7 days but write, eat, sleep and occasionally walk around. No internet, no TV. (You can read the local paper). Just write. Oh, and don't forget to breath...deeply. Very important.
99. Don't give up on a novel or story until you have at least 50 rejections. Then set it aside and work on something else. Let it ferment (better yet, use it for compost).
100. Learn to accept constructive criticism. Your editor and agent are not the enemy. Your enemy is that blank screen in front of you.
101. Got your epitaph finished? Keep it simple, but memorable. Inject some humor. Here's mine:

 SEE YOU SOON.

Writers Born Today - Helen Eustis

It's the birthday of mystery writer and translator Helen Eustis, born December 31, 1916 in New York City. Although her output was small, she made a lasting impact in the mystery field. She attended Smith College as an art student but began writing fiction.

Her debut novel, The Horizontal Man, was based in part on her experiences while attending Smith College. A philandering professor is murdered in his home and the suspects (students and staff) are either mad, lovesick, or rivals of the victim. In 1947 the Mystery Writers of America awarded it the Edgar for Best First Novel. It was one of the earliest examples of the psychological suspense thriller. Eustis once joked that she had written the novel because "she knew so many people in college she would like to murder".  

She wrote short stories for many of the era's prominent magazines. An American Home won the O. Henry Award in 1947, and appeared as part of a short story collection, The Captains and the Kings Depart and Other Stories. She also translated works of french writers into English, including detective novels by Georges Simenon.

Her 1954 novel, The Fool Killer, was turned into a movie starring Anthony Hopkins and Eddie Albert. And this year, Sarah Weinman included The Horizontal Man in her acclaimed Library of America collection, Women Crime Writers of the 1940s and 50s.

Writers Born Today - Nedra Tyre

It's the birthday of Nedra Tyre, born October 6, 1912 in Offerman, Georgia. She was a social worker for most of her life and she used her experiences to create some of the best suspense fiction of the post war era. She produced six novels and over forty short stories, according to Sarah Weinman, crime fiction critic and leading authority on the genre know as Domestic Suspense.

Anthony Boucher referred to her as not just a mystery writer, but a novelist. He said that she "brings to the mystery novel a richness of human warmth, sympathy, and insight comparable to Dorothy Salisbury Davis or Margaret Millar...".

She read voraciously and squeezed her writing in between work and caring for an ailing mother.  In the 1970s she lost her hearing and became absorbed by the charity work she was doing for the poor. Her work fell out of print. She stopped writing.

One of her best short stories, A Nice Place To Stay, was republished in 2013 in the critically acclaimed anthology, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, edited by Sarah Weinman. The story examines a woman's struggle to support herself with the menial jobs available to her, and the solace she finds when her final destination gives her a measure of security and stability in a prison cell.

The Independent made her the subject of it's famed Invisible Ink series in December 2014, with No. 254.

"Some of the finest writing ever done has been in mysteries --even your precious Henry James tried them."

             - Nedra Tyre, Mouse In Eternity 

Writers Born Today - Barbara Callahan

It's the birthday of Barbara Callahan, born September 20, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating college she became a teacher and later a technical writer. Most of her energy went into raising a family (she had five children). But she began to write in the spare time she could find.

Her contribution to the mystery genre was small in quantity, but not quality. She published 22 short stories during her life. Many of them appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. She's recognized as an important contributor to the mystery genre now known as Domestic Suspense.

Her second story, Lavender Lady, was nominated for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America. It was published in EQMM in April 1976. The haunting tale made such an impression on editor Sarah Weinman that she included it in her 2013 anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.

My Mother's Keeper, also published in EQMM, was published in 2009 and nominated posthumously for a Barry Award the following year. It was the last story published before her death. You can read it here.


Note: Special thanks to Sarah Weinman, whose research and help made this posting possible.

Women Crime Writers of the 1940s & 1950s. An Interview with editor Sarah Weinman

Sarah is the news editor for Publisher's Marketplace, and the editor of the short story anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives. She is also editor of the just released Library of America two volume set  Women Crime Writers of the 1940s and 1950s and one of today's top mystery fiction critics.

Welcome Sarah. Thanks for talking with me today.

1) Tell us about the birth of Women Crime Writers. And how did you convince the Library of America that this remarkable collection belonged on bookshelves?

To tell you the truth they didn't need much convincing! A mutual professional acquaintance put me in touch with Max Rudin, publisher of the Library of America, not long before TROUBLED DAUGHTERS, TWISTED WIVES was published a couple of years ago. We had a meeting and it emerged they had been thinking of doing such a set for some years now, what with the success of their original late-90s CRIME NOVELS OF THE 1930s/40s/50s 2-volume set edited by Robert Polito. One meeting led to the next and by the end of 2013 I was in board to edit what became WOMEN CRIME WRITERS.


2) Many of the novels that appear in this anthology were best sellers in their day, both in print and in movie versions. How did they slip from our memory in the first place?

Writers fall out of fashion or circulation for any number of reasons: changing tastes, changing fortunes, and having a next-generation champion at just the right time. In the 1980s, Barry Gifford, through Vintage Black Lizard, revived many reputations of those who toiled in the trenches of Fawcett Gold Medal and other paperback original publishers of the 1950s and 1960s, and those guys -- David Goodis, Jim Thompson, Peter Rabe, to name a few -- got written up and celebrated. But in parallel was this whole generation of women writing for hardcover publishers and garnering critical acclaim and yet, by not writing stories that fit the Black Lizard mold, they didn't make it in the revival. But now psychological suspense is all the rage, and it's important to recognize those who came before the Gillian Flynns and Paula Hawkins and Laura Lippmans of the world.


3) You've done more than anyone in the mystery field to identify and promote the sub-genre now known as Domestic Suspense. What exactly is Domestic Suspense? And is it a unifying theme in this collection?

I define "domestic suspense" as works written between the onset of World War II and the dawn of second-wave feminism, that delve into the dark side of human behavior that threatens to come out with the dinner dishes, the laundry, or taking care of a child. They are about ordinary, everyday life, and that’s what makes these novels of domestic suspense so frightening. The nerves they hit are really fault lines.


4) Some of the choices you made in Women Crime Writers may have seemed inevitable (for example, The Horizontal Man and Beast In View both won Edgars). But how did you decide what else to include?

The eight volumes were a consensus choice between myself and the Library of America editors, i.e publisher Max Rudin and editor-in-chief Geoffrey O'Brien. We all made lists and read widely but we started with some fairly obvious choices: LAURA by Vera Caspary, IN A LONELY PLACE by Dorothy B. Hughes, THE BLANK WALL by Elisabeth Sanxay Holding. That Charlotte Armstrong and Margaret Millar would be included were also obvious, but finding the right book of theirs took a little time. Eustis I read during the selection process and its influence and critical importance was clear. Dolores Hitchens I also loved but FOOL'S GOLD was not as well known as her later novel SLEEP WITH SLANDER -- published too late for the collection in 1960 -- and a little more difficult to come by. The Highsmith was the final choice, and THE BLUNDERER is a key linchpin because you see all the seeds of what would become THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and other later, important works of hers.


5) The website you created to introduce Women Crime Writers (http://womencrime.loa.org) is packed with essays, information and fascinating trivia about the anthology and the writers. Did you organize it yourself?

Again, the companion website was a total collaborative effort. I solicited the appreciations and wrote an introductory essay, while the LoA team assembled that amazing timeline of ancillary works, images of first edition covers, film posters, and more, and then some. It was months in the making and I'm so pleased at how it turned out, into a real destination that readers can get lost in for hours at a time, for repeat visits.


6) What's next? Is there a possibility we might someday see an anthology of International Women Crime Writers of Domestic Suspense?

I am the type of person who has multiple projects on the go and sees where the chips fall. But as to your anthology idea, it's a good one, and certainly in my wheelhouse.


Thanks again for allowing my readers to re-discover these remarkable women. Good luck with the tour.

Writers Born Today - Elisabeth Sanxay Holding

It's the birthday of Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, born June 18, 1889 in Brooklyn, New York. She was educated at Miss Whitcombe's and other proper schools for ladies, and began her writing career penning romance novels. Her husband was a British diplomat.

Based only on this, it would be hard to foresee a time when Raymond Chandler would call her "the top suspense writer of them all." But at a time when mystery writing was dominated by men, she helped create noir fiction with her mystery and suspense novels.

Psychological suspense was her strength, and she displayed it best in her novel The Blank Wall (one of Chandler's favorites). The tale of a mother trying to protect her teenage daughter from a lecher who later turns up dead is still read today, and thankfully available in a Kindle edition. It's been made into a movie on two occasions, first in 1949, The Reckless Moment with Joan Bennett, and again in 2001, The Deep End with Tilda Swinton.

The Blank Wall is included in the Library of America's upcoming fall release, Women Crime Writers, edited by Sarah Weinman.

Ms. Holding also has a story in Weinman's collection of domestic suspense stories, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, which was well received when it was published in 2013.


"Before anybody had ever heard of ‘pyschological novels of suspense’ Elisabeth Sanxay Holding was writing them, and brilliantly."

                                                                                               - Anthony Boucher

Writers Born Today - Charlotte Armstrong

It's the birthday of Charlotte Armstrong, born May 2nd 1905 in Vulcan, Michigan. She went to college in Wisconsin but earned her degree in New York City at Barnard College. Her writing career began as a playwright with some of them, including The Happiest Days, being produced on Broadway. But she made her lasting mark as a writer of mystery and suspense.

Charlotte wrote over two dozen novels and numerous stories. A prolific writer, she produced one to two novels a year during the height of her creative powers, and also wrote under the name Jo Valentine. Much of her best fiction revolved around middle class family life whose characters undergo a profound change or shock that leads to chaos. The New York Telegraph called her "the American Queen of suspense novelists".

She was nominated for six Edgar awards, and won in 1957 for her novel A Dram of Poison.

Several of her novels were produced for the big screen, of which two stand out as being notable. The Unsuspected came out as a movie in 1947 starring Claude Rains and was a big hit. In 1952 her novel Mischief was filmed as Don't Bother To Knock, with Anne Bancroft in her debut role and Marilyn Monroe as a demented babysitter. Anthony Boucher was a big fan of her writing, and called Mischief, "an extraordinary achievement, a short but sweet book full of tension".

She also wrote for television and her credits include Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

One of her stories, The Splintered Monday, was included in the 2013 anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives, edited by Sarah Weinman.


To read an in-depth review of her novel Mischief, go to Kevin's Corner.

Writers Born Today - Dorothy Salisbury Davis

It's the birthday of Dorothy Salisbury Davis, born April 26th, 1916 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an adopted child, a fact she only learned at the age of 17 and it made a powerful impact on her view of the world.  Before she began her writing career, she worked for a traveling stage magician. The small towns and personalities she encountered helped shape her stories.

Davis has been called one of the original Gone Girls by Sarah Weinman, for her path breaking novels of suspense written during three decades starting in the late 40s.

Her first novel, The Judas Cat, was published in 1949. Black Mask had this to say about it: "Davis in her first crime novel shows a mastery of both plotting and characterization". Anthony Boucher called it a "rewardingly perceptive novel" and thought she had a bright future. He was right. Three more novels followed over the next three years. During her long career she wrote more than 20 novels and story collections.

Dorothy was nominated for the Edgar Award 6 times and was awarded Grand Master in 1985.  She was given lifetime achievement awards from Bouchercon and Malice Domestic.

Ms. Davis was more than just a pioneer on the printed page. When Sisters in Crime was just getting off the ground in the 80s, she served on the steering committee and helped the new organization gain credibility by convincing major women writers such as Mary Higgins Clark to join.

In 2010 the National Book Critics Circle asked its members which books they would most like to see back in print. Sara Paretsky named Dorothy Salisbury Davis, and had this to say about her: "She lived among bootleggers, immigrants, sharecroppers, and itinerant workers in her early years, and there's a richness to her understanding of the human condition that is missing from most contemporary crime fiction."

It looks like Sara got her wish. Open Road Media announced in 2014 that Davis's novels would be re-released. To discover more of her writing, check out her ebooks at Open Road Media.

Davis's short story, Lost Generation, a tale of small town suspicions and paranoia, was included in the excellent 2013 short story collection Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.

For more about Ms. Davis, check out Weinman's in-depth article at The Daily Beast, The Original Gone Girls: Dorothy Salisbury Davis and Other Forgotten Pioneers of Crime Fiction.

For a bibliography of her work, click here.

You can listen to a brief excerpt from an interview Davis gave to Don Swaim in 1988 about her novel, The Habit of Fear.


Update: Dorothy Salisbury Davis passed away on August 3, 2014 at the age of 98. The New York Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America has published a moving tribute to this amazing writer.

Writers Born Today - Margaret Millar

It's the birthday of Margaret (Sturm) Millar, born February 5, 1915 in Kitchener, Canada. She had less than a typical childhood. Some of her earliest memories involve walking to school past a slaughterhouse, whose stench and sounds of bellowing, dying animals was impossible to ignore. She spent her reading time with the pulp magazine Black Mask, which she devoured with relish. “Some kinds of addiction are considered incurable,” she would say later.

After attending the University of Toronto she married Kenneth Millar, and they moved to California while he served in the navy. She began writing after she was forced to remain in bed following the birth of her daughter. At first, she typed her husband's stories, then began to create her own. Her first novel, The Invisible Worm, was published by Doubleday to critical acclaim. The New Yorker called her "a writer of considerable voltage". She plunged into her second book and never looked back. More psychological thrillers followed, The Devil Loves Me in 1942, Fire Will Freeze in 1944, Do Evil in Return in 1950.

Hollywood bought some of her stories, and she was a favorite of Alfred Hitchcock, who adapted two of her novels, including Beast In View, for his television series.

In 1956, she won an Edgar Award for Beast in View from the Mystery Writers of America. She was the group's President in 1957, and received a Grand Master Award from the MWA in 1983. Her short story, The People Across The Canyon was featured in the recently released anthology, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives. It was also reprinted in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine in the November 2005 issue as a Mystery Classic. You can listen to an audio broadcast of the story here.

Tragedy struck her family later in life. Her daughter died at the age of 31 and her husband suffered from Alzheimer's before his death in 1983. Macular Degeneration took her eyesight. She coped by writing. She told the Los Angeles Times in an interview, "If I couldn't write now I'd probably go off my rocker. Writing keeps me sane--or as sane as I am,"  She died in 1994.

You can read more about her in Kathleen Sharp's article from the LA Review of Books, The Dangerous Housewife, and Sarah Weinman's article in the National Post, Margaret Millar: The Original Canadian Queen of Crime.

Sarah also included Beast In View in a new collection of suspense novels which she edited. Women Crime Writer's of the 1940s and 50s was released last September by the Library of America.

Mystery Weekend Roundup for Friday December 13, 2013

Fear of Friday the 13th Has a Long History

Today is Friday the 13th, a day so rooted in ancient fears and phobias, that even in this modern age, it paralyzes some people. According to an article in the National Geographic, fear of this date will effect at least 17 million people and cost the economy almost a billion dollars in lost productivity. One historian traces the fear to the number 13 and an old Norse legend. Other associations are rooted in religion. Judas, for example, is the 13th guest at the Last Supper and betrays Christ to the Romans.

In 1980, the teen slasher film Friday the 13th was released and has spawned an entire horror movie industry.

Even today, most buildings and high rises have no 13th floor, and your chances of being assigned room 13 in your local hospital or inn are practically nil.

In a bizarre coincidence, the Apollo 13 mission, which crippled the spacecraft and nearly cost three astronauts their lives, was launched on 4-11-70. The digits total to 13. The launch time was 1:13 PM, 13:13 in military time. The crew was scheduled to arrive at the moon on April 13th. The rest, as they say, is history.

By the way, the fear of Friday the 13th is known scientifically as  friggatriskaidekaphobia. Bet you can't say that fast three times in a row.


More Gift Ideas for the Holidays


Mystery Scene Magazine has a great book list out if you're looking for gift ideas. There's something in here for everyone, whether you've been naughty or nice, including a travel book by Agatha Christie and a bio of  Raymond Chandler. New works include a recently discovered treasure chest of Dashiell Hammett stories and a great anthology of female suspense writers put together by Sarah Weinman. There's even a collection of Christmas mysteries edited by Otto Penzler.


Need more ideas? Here are some additional "Best of" lists compiled by various websites, blogs and publishers.

Best Crime Fiction 2013 from down under by Fiona Hardy.

NPR Guide to the best Mysteries and Thrillers.

Best Books of the Year from the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Best Mystery & Thriller List from Publishers Weekly.

Goodreads Choice Awards for 2013.

Top 100 Books from the Kansas City Star.


Creativity...It's a Good Thing! Isn't It?

An interesting article crossed my desk from Slate Magazine, suggesting that while we all crow about the importance of creativity in our lives and jobs, we really don't like it.

Could this be true? After all, every resume on the planet probably contains some reference to "thinking outside the box". But in the real world, we prefer risk averse behavior, and working with people who fit inside the box...and the cubicle.

A study from Cornell University confirms this theory. But in a surprise, according the author of the study, Barry Shaw, "The effect can liberate creative people from the need to fit in and allow them to pursue their interests."

This may not be as crazy as it sounds. Many a great work of art has originated from misfits and nonconformists. The very act of writing a novel to completion is a massive act of creativity that very few of us 6 billion people ever accomplish. How many times have you ever heard the phrase, "I've always wanted to write a novel"? And how many of those people ever do?

Perhaps that's for the best. Frankly, I don't have time to read the pile of books I've got on my nightstand now!

Writers Born Today - Vera Caspary

It's the birthday of writer Vera Caspary, born November 13, 1899.  From 1927 until her death, she supported herself and her mother entirely from her pen. She published over a dozen novels and numerous short stories, and worked as a highly sought after screenwriter for Hollywood. Universal bought one of her screenplays for 150,000 dollars, with Marilyn Monroe in mind for the lead.

Her reputation was made with the publication of the novel, Laura. It was hailed as the first psycho thriller. Told from multiple points of view, the novel gives the reader a complex portrayal of a successful business woman and her competitive suitors. The combustible mix leads to murder. It was made into a popular movie that has achieved classic status, although it earned Vera very little money.


Described as one of the original "Gone Girls" who influenced female mystery writers of the 80s and 90s, her work is receiving fresh attention. Sarah Weinman included a Caspary short story, Sugar and Spice, in her critically acclaimed anthology Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives. Her most influential novel, Laura, was featured in the groundbreaking Library of America collection, Women Crime Writers: Eight Suspense Novels of the 1940s & 50s.


Caspary's fiction portrayed strong, independent women at a time when most wives and girlfriends were expected to support their men and cater to their needs. In her autobiography, Vera expressed delight at having lived during the turbulent changes of the 20th century, when roles for women dramatically expanded due to the Great Depression and World War Two.



MYSTERY WEEKEND ROUNDUP for November 9, 2013

Author Appearances

Raymond Benson is at the Beth Am Book Fair today until 3 PM in Lincolnshire, Illinois.

On Wednesday, November 13, Jenny Milchman appears at the New York Public Library with P.M. Carlson, Dirk Robertson and Wendi Corsi Staub. They'll be discussing with Jillian Abbott the topic, "How Did You Become A Mystery Writer?" The program is at the mid-Manhattan library and starts at 6:30 PM.



Crime Fiction Talk on Radio

Looking for an idea for your next murder mystery? Why not try a little poison? To learn more about exotic ways to kill that character, check out this audio broadcast on Suspense Radio with Deborah Blum, author of the Poisoner's handbook. She'll be discussing The Infancy of Toxicology.

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Suspense Radio on BlogTalkRadio

And Sarah Weinman sat down with Ian Williams of Catskill Review of Books to talk about the critically acclaimed anthology, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.  Sarah edited the collection and chose some excellent stories from female writers we should all get to know. Spend some time at home with these masters of Domestic Suspense.




Thriller Fiction Gets Some Respect

Still derided as pulp or lowbrow literature by some, the thriller novel is getting a boost from an unlikely source. Robert Stone, whose previous work has made him a recognized master of the literary novel, has just released his first thriller, Death of the Black-Haired Girl. His usual work involves exotic locations with complex story lines. Previously, he produced seven novels in 47 years.

Stone is hardly the first literary giant to take on genre fiction. Other pillars have taken a stab at it, including Thomas Pynchon and Joyce Carol Oates.

For a Good Time, Pick Up Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives

Sarah Weinman has done us all a favor by rescuing from obscurity some of the finest suspense writers of the post World War II era. Some, like Shirley Jackson, I was already familiar with and need no such saving, but others, such as Nedra Tyre, are new discoveries.

And what discoveries they are. The stories present a wide range of female characters from every socio-economic class, with one thing in common...they're willing to cross the boundaries of acceptable behavior to get what they want. Even if that means murder. Welcome, to Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives.

These writers were working during a time when America was at the height of prosperity and , one assumes, domestic bliss on the home front. After all, the United States had won the war, banished the Axis powers, and was the economic engine driving a global recovery. But not all was Sugar and Spice, as Vera Caspary explains in her sad tale of family rivalry. The men in these stories often little suspect the tensions and deceit simmering below the surface, as we see in The Stranger in the Car. Many of the women in this collection are caregivers, whose financial burdens lead them to take desperate actions. These often result in a shocking end with a surprise twist, as in A Nice Place to Stay and Mortmain.

You'll never look at that nice nurse caring for an aged loved one quite the same way after reading these stories.

If this sampling of suspense leaves you hungry for more, check out Sarah's twitter feed for more top notch writers. It's time to bring these women out of the attic. Sarah Weinman has unlocked the door.

Take a peek. Go ahead...I dare you.

Mystery Weekend Roundup for August 9, 2013

Upcoming Conferences

Scotland is celebrating it's Crime Writing Festival in September. Bloody Scotland begins September 13th and runs until the 15th, in Stirling. Sophie McKenzie and Lee Child are among the attendees. The Deanston Scottish Crime Book of the Year will be announced at the Festival on the 14th. Finalists include Ian Rankin for Standing In Another Man's Grave and Ann Cleeves for Dead Water.


St. Hilda's College is hosting a Mystery & Crime Weekend on August 16th at Oxford in England. Conference speakers include P.D. James and Peter Robinson.


And of course, Bouchercon is a little more than a month away in Albany.


More Writing Contests

A.S. King is giving away an advance copy of her newest book, Reality Boy. The winner will be chosen from entries in her writing contest, posted on her blog here.

The Rules:

1. Your story MUST start with this sentence: Janet was early. **
2. Your story MUST end with this sentence: Of course, she didn't.
3. Your story must be 100 words or less.

Check her blog for more details. Deadline is August 18th, so you've got plenty of time to get those creative juices flowing.

This next contest starts tomorrow, August 10th and runs for only 24 hours, so hop on it! The Dangerous Fiction Writing Contest will award the winner a copy of Barbara Rogan's A DANGEROUS FICTION. Check the link for contest rules.

New Mystery Releases

A number of promising titles are coming out in August, including Tell No Lies by Gregg Hurwitz, A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay, Justice For Sarah by Erica Spindler, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives edited by Sarah Weinman and The Little Black Book of Murder by Nancy Martin. You can see a more complete list at Stop, You're Killing Me!

And Rosemary Harris is offering The Bitches of Brooklyn as a free kindle download today!


Obits

Jane Catherine Lotter passed away in Washington on July 18, 2013 after a very fruitful life. She had the advantage of writing her own obituary. This is something I encourage every writer to do and included this in my own list, 101 Things To Do Before You Die (For Mystery and Crime Writers).

Jane was an award-winning journalist, novelist and freelance writer whose humorous column, Jane
Explains, ran in the Seattle Sun from 1999 to 2005. Her comic novel, The Bette Davis Club, won first place in the Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s literary contest in 2009.

She left the world a better place than she found it, and who among us don't hope to say that when we come to write our own obituary?

Rest In Peace.