In the introduction to her 1929 anthology The Omnibus of Crime, Dorothy L. Sayers ponders the “possibility that the detective-story will some time come to an end, simply because the public will have learnt all the tricks.” Twenty-first century readers may be savvy indeed about the “tricks” of the genre, but Ms. Sayers underestimates the ingenuity and determination of her successors, as each new issue of AHMM demonstrates.
This month alone, the power of authorial invention takes us from terrorism in American streets, in Loren D. Estleman’s WWII-era procedural “Sitting Ducks,” to the ethical challenges posed by new inventions, in Tony Richards’s “The Danua Boy”; and from the peregrinations of a knight in medieval France, in Gigi Vernon’s “Purse Strings,” to Tara Laskowski’s hauntingly open-ended “The Monitor.” So long as we have authors blessed with imagination and the desire to entertain, readers of mystery and crime stories need never fear that they have learned all the tricks.

As this issue arrives (whether as paper or pixels), Thanksgiving is just around the corner, kicking off a hectic season of parties and holidays. Anticipation runs high: rich food, travel snafus, and family dramas (oh my!). But no matter the stress, leave the crime to us, for here we’re serving up a full course of twelve delicious and twisty tales with all the trimmings.

Our sleuths and fixers have their thinking caps on this issue. Robert Lopresti’s “Christmas Dinner” takes us to New York City’s Chinatown, where a holiday dinner turns fatal and only Beat poet and sleuth Ellery Delgardo can untangle the mystery. In sixteenth century France, an animal avocat must make a case on behalf of a family of birds who are disrupting Mass in Mark Thielman’s “From Above.” The murder of a restaurateur appears to be politically motivated, serving Melbourne detectives Brock and Portman a complex case in A. F. Bhuyan’s procedural “The Borsch Assassinations.” Ecuadoran P.I. Wilson Salinas returns in Tom Larsen’s “Las Hermanas Cubanas” when his nemesis Captain Ernesto Guillén becomes his client. A minor road rage incident pulls a newly widowed cop into an investigation out of his district in “Protection” by Nick Guthrie. St. Louis gambler Henry Frederickson has the smarts to see through ruses, and that’s why a plainclothes police officer asks for his help in Christopher Latragna’s “Things Being What They Are.” And when three boys at a boarding school in war-time England witness a murder, they take it upon themselves to follow up the clues in “The Thieves of St. Ives” by Stephen Ross.

Detection necessarily implies deception. Criminals may deceive both to commit their crimes and to cover them up afterwards. And occasionally investigators themselves will resort to duplicitous behavior in order to bring perpetrators to justice. This issue’s stories offer some master classes in disguise, deception, and misdirection.

In “Masquerade” by Pat Black, a Halloween party is the perfect setting for a killer to hide in plain sight. In “The Final Was Murder” by John H. Dirckx, an educational skit at a police training academy goes awry when a student in the audience is shot. And Rick Peters looks into why a fellow photographer was murdered and a studio ransacked in Floyd Sullivan’s “Cover Shot.”

A good story is a lifesaver when a thief jumps into a woman’s car and demands that she drive in Stan Dryer’s “Mary-Elizabeth, Killing Machine.” Recovering from an attack that left her with a head injury, a woman remembers bit-by-bit the story her husband told her about being mugged that morning in Jane Pendjiky’s “The Fall.” A couple takes a hike in the wilderness (supposedly) to rekindle their relationship in Dave Zeltserman’s “The Water Bottle.” An alibi is replayed over and over in a man’s mind in Wayne J. Gardiner’s “You Can Sleep When You’re an Old Man.”

After a Mob boss is killed, the heir to the family enterprise must contend with his clever, bitter sisters in Stephen W. Herring’s “The Family Man.” A hitman hides his true profession from his teen assistant in “Recidivism,” the latest in this series by R.T. Lawton dealing with family surrogates. A retired cop goes to great lengths to protect the young family next door from a local bully in “Of Stroganoff and Jerry Cans” by Marcelle Dubé. 

Readers get a lot of pleasure encountering old friends, series characters that they’ve met before. AHMM is always pleased to welcome such recidivists, and many writers have taken the opportunity to introduce new characters in these pages who have gone on to great acclaim. In fact, our Black Orchid Novella Award winner, Libby Cudmore, already has further plans for the private eye duo she introduces in “Alibi in Ice.” You’ll find more familiar faces, as well as some standout stand-alones, in this issue.

Marcelle Dubé revisits retired Chief Superintendent Estelle Martin, now a volunteer at a homeless shelter in the Yukon, who finds herself involved in a missing person case in “Chuck Berry Is Missing.” Math teacher Pete Barrow augments his salary by conducting private investigations, so it’s natural that the Potomac County sheriff would call him for help when a found child claims to be from the early 1960s in “Time Lies” by Ken Linn.

Tom Larsen introduced Ecuadorian P.I. Wilson Salinas to our readers in 2017, and he returns here in “El Abuelo Descarrido” (The Wayward Grandfather), taking a case for a wealthy client, only to learn that he himself is being set up to take the blame for a murder. John H. Dirckx has been publishing top-notch procedurals in our pages for more than forty years; this time around his team of crime solvers tackles the murder of a corporate spy in “Missing Links.”

But not everyone is a repeat offender (at least not yet), and we are delighted to welcome in this issue three writers new to our pages: in Steven Sheil’s “The Art of Cruel Embroidery” the tailor to a country music star lends his craft and encouragement to a new voice; in Vicki Weisfeld’s “Among the Long Shadows,” a young reporter encounters a dead body in a new museum exhibit; and in Irette Y. Patterson’s “Safe at Home,” a friendship is rekindled with home baked goodies.

You can learn a lot from murder (at least, the entertaining kind you find in these pages). The psychology of the calculating criminal, the explosiveness of the crime of passion, the cool rationality of the investigator, or the emotional fallout of the event all offer the reader valuable lessons in human nature and its passions. Here for your edification, then, are fourteen tales of murder and mayhem: School is in session.

A veteran of grief and homelessness schools a widower on important life lessons in the face of despair in Mark Thielman’s “Streetwise.” Kevin Egan’s court officer checks in on a colleague’s freshman son and discovers a scam targeting naïve students in “Foxx Goes to College.” A professor learns the extent of his students’ valor when their classroom is taken over by two gunmen in “Dark Equation” by Michael Nethercott. An actor from a beloved, long ago children’s program learns you can’t escape the past in “Professor Pie Is Going To Die” by Robert Lopresti. LaToya Jovena’s busy working mom has learned a thing or two over the years, lessons that come in handy when she’s kidnapped in “Downhill.”

A WWI soldier’s poem about life in the trenches sets off explosive events in “Verses on the Vesle” by Chris Muessig. Radio commentator Philip St. Pierre lures a colleague into going undercover at a tony New York City mansion to unmask WWII German spies in Terence Faherty’s “Margo and the Femme Fatale.” Three friends in a cozy London club dissect a miscarriage of justice stemming from a long-ago murder in Liverpool in “What The Hell Has It Got to Do with Me” by John Paxton Sheriff.


A key element to the success of both a crime and a mystery story is misdirection: The criminal attempts to cast suspicion on others, the writer seeks to keep the reader guessing whodunit. In this issue we once again gather together tales that are anything but straight and narrow, but we won’t lead you astray in your pursuit of pleasurable reading. 

In our lead story this issue, Sherlock Holmes’s chronicler, Dr. John Watson, is traveling in north Wales for the opening of the Snowdon Mountain Railway when a celebrated mountain climber, obscured by the thick mists, falls to his death in “The Mists of Yr Wyddfa” by James Tipton. Winter weather is just one enemy a grandfather encounters when he stops to aid a young motorist in trouble on an isolated Canadian highway in Marcelle Dubé’s story “The Boy.” A woman struggling to meet the needs of her family confronts the fog of dementia when her mother is visited by a confused stranger in “4th Floor Alice” by Mary Angela Honerman. Avaricious televangelists are no match for the exploits of a clever P.I. and his crew in “For Lydia” by James A. Hearn. In John F. Dobbyn’s story “The Moment of Truth,” the mists clear from a young bullfighter’s eyes when he learns the truth of his idol’s death in the ring. When the smoke clears, a fatal workplace mishap nudges a police detective’s memory in “Hindsight” by Chris Muessig. 

Bob Tippee’s procedural pairs a crusty detective used to working alone with a rookie with some new ideas in “Ancillaries.” Ecuadoran detective Ernesto Guillén takes on a family problem for the mayor in “La Hermana del Alcade” by Tom Larsen. National treasures are at stake in Mark Thielman’s caper “Sfortuna,” set in Venice.


For all the thrill of the winter holidays, there can also be an undercurrent of dread: Overbooked flights, obnoxious relatives, the scrum in the department store for this year’s must-have toy, the depredations of porch thieves. Even the carols can reinforce this sense of unease: Santa spying on children to produce “naughty” and “nice” lists; the snotty reindeer who shun poor Rudolph. Well, in the midst of this season of dread and joy, we offer a respite—a little murder and mayhem to take your mind off your troubles.
In the spirit of the season, we offer two stories that play with holiday expectations: “He Knows When You’ve Been Bad” by Leigh Grossman and John Gregory Betancourt, and “Mall Cop Christmas Parade” by Joslyn Chase. 
Another pairing features tales that explore the performative aspect of murder. A P.I. adrift in post-war New York finds his first case on Broadway when an actress is shot on stage in “An Opening for Murder” by Joseph Goodrich. And an unsavory reality television show seeks to recruit an out-of-work casting director in “Who Wants to Kill Someone?” by Michael Mallory. 
In other stories, the sweet deal that photographer Rick Peters enjoys for his studio space goes sour when his barber landlord is murdered in “Off the Top” by Floyd Sullivan. Mystery writer Shanks and his wife Cora attend a writers’ retreat where a manuscript has been filched in “Shanks in Retreat” by Robert Lopresti. A foreign aid worker in Africa comes under suspicion when his local assistant is murdered in “A Death in the Swamp” by Nick Spencer. A literature professor finds inspiration—for murder—in the poetry of Milton in “The Devil Is in the Details” by Mark Thielman. And a retiring police detective revisits his childhood neighborhood when an obnoxious academic is murdered in Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s novella “Arboretum Heights.”


Here at AHMM we like stories that not only entertain, but that are also a bit unsettling. When you see another side of life through the eyes of characters in the gripe of crisis, after all, the effect should not be exactly soothing. And since this issue hits the stands in the midst of the Halloween season, it’s appropriate that a few of these stories also prey on our fears of the supernatural to induce that uneasy feeling. When you knock on our door, these are the kinds of treats we like to give out. 

A bed-and-breakfast hosts a guest who claims she is on the verge of turning into a wolf in E. J. Copperman’s “Under a Fool Moon.” A returning veteran investigates the mysterious disappearance of a friend from high school in Bob Tippee’s “Pond Scout.” And a man who claims to have once been abducted by aliens feels threatened when a couple who also claim to have been abductees moves to his town in John F. Floyd’s “The Zeller Files.” 

In Sharon Jarvis’s “Beam Me Up, Elsie,” a retired attorney assists an aging actor who is appearing at a science fiction convention when he’s charged with assault and possibly murder. A woman’s unconscious remark leads her husband to a reconsideration of events best forgotten in Jason Half’s “No Uncertain Terms.” And Dr. John H. Watson, on a mission to deliver a watch to a Russian count, unexpectedly arrives on the heels of murder in James Tipton’s “The Blue Palace.” 

New Orleans detective Jacques Dugas investigates a grim discovery in O’Neil De Noux’s “The Split Man,” while Michael Bracken’s “Spilt Milk,” also set in Louisiana, involves a labor strike and murder. And Prohibition-era Mob conflict erupts in New York City in R. T. Lawton’s “Whiskey Curb.” 

A musician who’s losing his hearing is found dead at his piano in an apparent suicide in John H. Dirckx’s “Finale in B Sharp Major.” P.I. Maggie Trevor is asked to provide security at a ritzy wedding in John C. Boland’s “Murder at the Keys Plantation. And much more...

Ars Athletica

Heightened passions, intense competition, pride and prizes, the athletic arts inevitability offer a fair field for murder and crime, an opportunity that several stories in the current issue take full advantage of. 

Mark Hannon captures the violent choreography of a boxing match in “Doing Business.” Dave Waskin describes the pressure endured by a star college basketball player in “The Last Shot.” Jim Fusilli explores the motivations that drive our fascination with baseball in “Gentlemen’s Agreement.” Also, a hiking trip in Hawaii turns into a dangerous and deadly tangle for the police to unravel in Albert Tucher’s “The English Major.” And online gaming proves as competitive as more physical sports, with all the heightened stakes and emotions, in Elizabeth Zelvin’s “Death Will Stream Your Game.”

Meanwhile, at a high school science fair, movie buff Sheriff Douglas meets his match in a precocious teen in John M. Floyd’s “The Pod Squad.” Mistrust of a new client sends New Orleans P.I. Lucien Caye deep into the world of art forgeries in “The Little Irène Escapade” by O’Neil De Noux. Intrepid Vegas-based stylist Stacey Deshay travels to New Orleans to comfort a friend, and hear the reading of a will, in “Bayou Blues” by Shauna Washington. A retired Ecuadoran Capitán Guillén steps up for an old colleague who is being blackmailed in “El Abuelo del Jugador” by Tom Larsen. And an investigator of a different sort ferrets out the fate of a dispersed litter of kittens in Jeff Somers’s tale “The Little Birds.”

After a hold-up, a quick-thinking waitress makes some key connections in “Smitty’s Roadside Diner” by Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy. Mark Thielman interweaves the history of a dead town with a couple’s present predicament in “The Ties That Bind.”

We're delighted to offer readers a ringside view of the winners and losers, the heroes and the scamps; that's entertainment to cheer for.


Love and murder are found the world over. The passionate intensity of feeling that drives romantic or violent behavior likewise inspires our most moving stories, from the ancient myths to the Bible, and from the Shakespearean stage to, well, these pages. 

A mystery lover plots her revenge on the friend who wronged her in “We Both Loved Scandis” by Michael Canfield. A woman alchemist in Florence during the time of the Medicis traces the evidence after a deadly poisoning in Sharan Newman’s “A Serving of Murder Florentine.” An attorney faces a reckoning for his mendacious misdeeds in the winter woods of northern Quebec in “Spirits Along the One North Road” by Robert Mangeot. Canada is also the setting of Melissa Yi’s story featuring Dr. Hope Sze, who while driving on a lonesome, wintery road hits a disoriented man in “Brain Candy.” An art theft turns into a rescue mission in Auckland City, New Zealand, for two men heading off to fight in World War II in “Concrete Dog” by Stephen Ross.

The American Civil War shatters a northern Virginia community in “The Knife Sharpener” by Shelley Costa. In R. T. Lawton’s “Sydney Coves,” an orphan in San Francisco finds a benefactor in the old man he is sent to rob. Hobos riding the rails in 1910 Iowa solve a murder among their own in “Law of the Jungle” by Robert Lopresti. The caretaker for an elderly woman suffering dementia discovers she is connected to her charge through a long-ago betrayal in “Italian Alzheimer’s” by Kevin Egan. 

Murder and betrayal come calling in “Crazy Cat Lady” by Steve Liskow. A woman in a remote cabin in the Rockies must think quickly when her menacing brother calls in “Trapfall” by Carol Cail. A hoarder’s suspicion grows when her neighbor takes a deadly fall down the stairs in “Along Came the Gaudets” by Susan Breen. A proposed solar project in the Mojave desert tears a community apart in “Golden Hour” by Kell Brigan.

One of the characteristics people associate with the Alfred Hitchcock name is a dollop of humor mixed with the mystery and suspense. We here at AHMM have always enjoyed this. So, with this issue we lean into the lighter side with a handful of stories that will prompt a chuckle or two. 

Mark Thielman’s “The Case of the Kosher Deal” provokes some smiles by means of voice and situation, while Dan Crawford’s “Heelprints in the Sands of Time” makes use of absurd juxtapositions and a pompous character, and Loretta Ross’s “Murder Mnemonic” through an extremely unusual point of view.

The classic “battle of wits” between characters is a fine driver of stories. This issue features such contests in Mike Cooper’s “Personal Space,” set amongst the stars; Jeff Soloway’s “Weekend at Paul’s,” set at a getaway for guys at a remote cabin; Elizabeth Zelvin’s historical “A Matter of Perspective,” detailing a young woman’s struggles to survive in a hostile land; and David Hagerty’s “Sheep is Life,” in which the Navajo tribesman Adistan goes head to head with agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Critical thinking skills are the hallmark of a good private eye, and both R.J. Carr, in S. L. Franklin’s “One, Two, Deja Vu” and attorney Minerva James and her investigator Carson Robinson, in Mark Bruce’s “Minerva James and the River God,” bring exemplary analytical powers to their dogged pursuit of the truth. Meanwhile, the specter of the past casts long shadows on the present in Elaine Menge’s “Sip and Float” and Michael Bracken’s “Denim Mining.” An early morning visitor upsets the routine of a rural radio station in Nikki Knight’s “The Annual Mud Season Homicide.” And a new homeowner finds his tranquility upended by the demands of a dying business mogul in Gar Anthony’s Haywood’s “Room in the Heart.” 

We suspect our readers may also sometimes enjoy their murder and mayhem with a side of levity and wish you the best of merry mysteries. 

Reading the Signs

In any mystery, the careful deployment of clues, character, setting, and foreshadowing can be seen as the author’s fingerprints. Even if the basic set-up of a story is familiar, the writer’s command of their tools and craft can keep the reader hooked until the final paragraph. Where the investigator’s role is to reveal the significance of each clue, the author’s is to conceal the labor required to create the story. At AHMM, we strive for variety in approach and style, but always seek the kind of writing that will keep the reader thumbing through, leaving their own prints all over the issue. 

In Mark Thielman’s “A Study with Scarlett,” actual signage plays a role when an unfortunate error catches the attention of a beautiful woman. A former cop just starting his own security agency misreads the signs when he is invited to an unusual interview for a job in “The Accessories Club” by Robert Lopresti. Three reunited friends parse clues concerning the fate of their beloved high school art teacher in “Claire’s Cabin” by Catherine Dilts. In Michael Bracken’s procedural “Beat the Clock,” Detective Highlander sorts out the welter of clues surrounding the death of a widower. And a man making a jailbreak with the help of his brother questions the brother’s motives in “Toe on the Ladder” by John Paxton Sheriff. 


Holidays and crime go well together because they offer such clear contrasts. Holidays are not only times of celebration, but also of well-ordered customs, rituals, and traditions. Against such a backdrop, the disorder and chaos of crime stand out all the more clearly—and crime’s resolution, with its restoration of order, is all the more satisfying. Our new issue features a bounty of stories adding a dark piquancy to the seasonal cheer.

The holidays regularly bring together extended families for a festive, if sometimes fraught, meal, and Steve Hockensmith captures the angst that arises when one young adult graduates to “The Grown-ups’ Table.” In John M. Floyd’s “Going the Distance,” a freak snowstorm in Mississippi strands an elderly man in his truck on the road, but for a mystery writer and a local sheriff, the details of the incident don’t compute. And for one cop and mother, a child’s familiar ritual echoes the lengths to which she must go to catch a serial killer, in Tara Laskowski’s “The Tooth Fairy.”

We are pleased to offer readers the gift of three writers new to our pages. “Ignatius Rum-and-Cola” by Andrew Welsh-Huggins is set at a Loyola mission and school on a Native reservation, where resentment and distrust run deep. A math teacher with a sideline gig as a P.I. steps into the fray to help a colleague in “Murder, with Resignation” by Ken Linn. And a retired cop turned community volunteer finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation when she spots her knitted craftwork on the hands of a victim in “The Mittens” by Marcelle Dubé.


Where there is affection or loyalty, there is the potential for betrayal. And when a crime involves a victim, their pain will be compounded when betrayal is involved, whether it be of trust, of confidence, or of duty. But while crime may often mean letting someone down, as chronicled by many of the stories in this issue, you can always trust AHMM to provide exciting and satisfying reading. 

Betrayal within a family may cut the deepest, as an attorney with a drinking problem exemplifies in Eve Fisher’s “The Closing of the Lodge.” Meanwhile, a trusted aunt’s good deed backfires in Janice Law’s “The Nephew,” while ending a family legacy is a fraught decision is Dayle A. Dermatis’s “Thicker Than Syrup But Not as Sweet.” And a foster child’s sudden source of money sets off alarm bells and a cascade of lamentable events in “The Deacon’s Mistake” by Susan Oleksiw.

Disguise is another form of betrayal that shows up this issue. Turn of the century New Orleans detective Jacques Dugas receives visits from two men both claiming to be the same Parisian investigator on the trail of a murderess in O’Neil De Noux’s “The Other French Detective.” The theater can be a space where predators may assume new roles, as Elliot Sweeney’s P.I. Dylan Kaspar discovers in “Bad Actor.” And a young employee at a skating rink in the seventies learns that a friendly and personable customer is not what he appears in Jeff Marks’s “Disco Is Dead.”

We trust that this issue's entertaining collection of tales will reassure you, the reader, of our commitment to serving your reading pleasure.

In real life, many crimes are opportunistic, unpremeditated, even unintentional. In fiction, stories feature characters wrestling with the long-term consequences of things deep in their past. Just as our understanding of past events changes over time, many of the characters in this issue come to view their personal histories, or those of others, through new, perhaps world-weary, eyes. 
In James A. Hearn’s "When the Dam Breaks," a popular politician reflects on his early life as an up-and-comer. In Michael Nethercott’s “Polk, Pitts, and Cadaver,” a dying confession leads a young vaudeville performer to suss out the truth. A writer in Janice Law’s “The Bosky Dell” finds a portal to his earlier life. And a horrible incident in the past and a split-second decision in the present unite two women in Iain Rowan’s “Scars.”
The past also offers rich settings. A young man is on his way to his first job when his stagecoach is beset by bandits in John M. Floyd’s “The Donovan Gang.” The owner of a gambling riverboat in 1950s St. Louis tracks down the story behind some uncomfortable news in “The People Said Beware,” by Christopher Latragna. James R. Benn’s “Irish Tommy” is a colorful procedural set in World War II Boston. Dr. John H. Watson looks into vandalism at a Welsh railway tunnel project in James Tipton’s “The Green Man.” And Edith Maxwell continues her series set in 1921, with two female detectives taking on the case of a woman scientist’s murder.
In other tales, evil is close at hand in “A Stranger in the House,” by Sharon Hunt. A drink in a hotel bar leads to a disorienting cascade of events in L. A. Wilson, Jr.’s “Victim of Circumstance.” Martin Limón’s private eye travels to an ancient, underground Beijing city to retrieve a tycoon’s kidnapped son in “Dragon Well.” In “Becoming Ian Fleming,” Kevin Egan tells the story of two boys at a pivotal point in their lives. And Melissa Yi’s “My Two-Legs” features a protagonist who is a perceptive and loyal companion.

Summer, when any body of water offers opportunity for drowning, any mountain offers cliffs to push someone off, and any piece of sporting equipment offers potential uses not contemplated in the rules of the game. Several stories in this issue bring adventure and travel to the forefront, starting with Mary Angela’s “Five Bullet Friday,” in which a travel agent’s vocation comes with deadly consequences. New York City is the setting for the murder of a transplant from Iowa in “Death Will Take the High Line” by Elizabeth Zelvin. A hiker on a scavenger hunt finds danger in Maurissa Guibord’s thriller “Dead Letterbox.” A rookie cop in Hawaii has the wrong kind of romantic encounter in Albert Tucher’s “The Conversation Killer.” A stop at a greasy spoon and a poker game with bikers prove fortuitous for Peter Colt’s private eye in “Ladies and Deuces.” And Ecuador is the setting for Tom Larsen’s series featuring wily Capitán Guillén, who in “El Chico Maravilla” finds himself set up to take the fall for a murder.
An aging actor known for a horror flick finds himself in real-life terror in Michael Mallory’s “Iguana Don.” In Rob Lopresti’s “The Lord of Falling Objects,” superpowers aren’t quite like in the movies. And a private investigator in the hospital solves a murder in Josh Pachter’s “Vampire Shift.”
We welcome J.M. Taylor this month with a story of love and work in “Florence Uglietta Solari: A Full Life in 19 Fragments.” Janice Law brings us a tale of a sharp co-ed and her cat in “The Fitz.” Mark Thielman’s “Spud Stud” P.I. is back on the job at a turkey bowling competition in “A Case of Fowl Play.” And it turns out that the passing of years hardly dampens the shock of betrayal when South African ex-pats learn that a woman they considered a comrade had been a double agent in Linda Mannheim’s tale “The Confession.” 
Finally, this issue also features “The Man Who Went Down Under” by Alexis Stefanovich-Thomson, the 15th winner of our Black Orchid Novella Award.

We strive to make each issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine a collection of complementary gems, a set of well cut and well matched but distinctive jewels. Our authors are the forces of nature that produce these treasures, but we strive to show them off to their best advantage. 
This May/June issue is its own cache of gems. Family dynamics produce a complex stew of expectation, loyalty, and tradition in Robert Mangeot’s thriller “Crossing the Line, Twice.” Two friends in 1950s St. Louis find themselves bystanders to a dangerous “family” drama in Christopher Latragna’s “Let’s Keep the Party Polite.” An employee of the Chicago Outfit is confronted with an extraordinary request in “Partners in Crime” by Wayne J. Gardiner. And a sheriff and his friend confront a conundrum in “The Dollhouse” by John M. Floyd.
We’re delighted to welcome three new authors to our pages this issue. Casey Karaman brings us “Locum,” a chilling tale of how a settled life can become unsettled. Pat Black describes the predicament faced by “The Man in the Long Dark Coat.” And Leslie Elman’s wealthy spinster finds her life constricted by the people who surround her in “Renée Takes Things.” 
James R. Benn returns to our pages with a tale with ties to his popular Billy Boyle mysteries: “The Refusal Camp” is set within a murderous regime. And we are always delighted to welcome back Loren D. Estleman, who covers the WWII homefront in his latest exciting Four Horsemen story, “The Werewolf of Mackinac.” 
Kevin Egan brings us a twisty episode from the labyrinths of the New York courts in “The Harbinger.” Joseph Goodrich turns to novelist Marcel Proust as an unlikely sleuth in “Death in Paris.” A murdered tourist finds unexpected assistance in “Detective Anne Boleyn” by Susan Breen. And a Hollywood film composer near the end of his life is confronted with his past in London in “Moonlight in Our Eyes” by Stephen Ross.

Sherlock Holmes famously spoke of stocking the lumber room of his mind with useful information (A Study in Scarlet). Mystery stories frequently feature protagonists who bring specialized knowledge to the solution of crimes, whether it’s the seen-it-all detective or the gardener who knows poisonous plants. 
In this issue, a retired actor with sadly relevant experience is asked to counsel a young man reporting dangerous fantasies in Greg Fallis’s “Red Flag.” Eighth Army C.I.D. agents George Sueño and Ernie Bascom, despite their knowledge of Seoul’s red light district, are still unprepared for what they find when they investigate a kidnapping in Martin Limón’s “Death Floor.” A grad student expert in erosion and ancient methods of preservation in the Peruvian Andes must decide whether to heed the warning in the locals’ folktales in “The Hungry Ones” by Emily Devenport. A cult member’s eyes are opened when a stranger wanders into the group’s compound in “The Trailhead” by Eric Rutter. An Oklahoma private investigator’s understanding of farming comes in handy when he is hired to look into the vandalizing of a farmer’s alfalfa bales in “Not My First Rodeo,” by Bret Jones. Another sleuth, Greenwich Village Beat Poet Delgardo, returns in Robert Lopresti’s atmospheric novella “Please Pass the Loot.” 
Conversely stories may hinge on a character’s tragic ignorance of a particular fact. A small-time conman assumes a stranger’s identity in “A.K.A. Ross Landy” by Paul D. Marks. An ambitious film director steps into a time portal without fully appreciating what might happen in Merrilee Robson’s “Tired of Bath.” A scheme to filch some paint lands a do-it-yourselfer in hot water in “DIY” by Mark Theilman. In “Waiting for Godot” by Michael Black, a fire and rescue crew member during a South Florida hurricane walks into a deadly power play among drug lords who refused an order to evacuate.

I’m not a fan of surprise endings, yet I like to be surprised by a story. This isn’t a paradox if you compare a story's plot to an unfamiliar back road. The sights and sounds are novel, the twists and turns break up the sense of inevitability, anything can lurk just around each turn.
In this issue, two brothers pass the time by challenging each other with movie trivia until they stop for gas in John M. Floyd’s “Mayhem at the Mini-Mart.” Wiki Coffin, Joan Druett’s 19th century sailor, is stranded by an earthquake and tidal wave that trigger a series of seemingly unrelated tragedies in “Stagger, Stagger.” P.I. Kasper tracks a wayward wife in “Sugar and Spice,” by Elliot F. Sweeney. Ecuadoran Police Captain Guillén may be a bull in a china shop, but he’s the preferred detective for a sensitive case in “Pobre Maria” by Tom Larsen.
In Parker Littlewood’s latest, fast-talking Wiley and his horse Buck have an unpleasant encounter in “Buck and Wiley Tangle with Rustlers.” New to our pages, J. R. Parsons offers a tale of murder on the rodeo circuit in “Bama Carter Gets Rode.” An abusive boyfriend and two parrots make for an explosive mix in Roger Johns’s “Birdbrains.”
Cassandra Chan returns to AHMM after a long hiatus with a historical whodunit set on tony Long Island in “A Murder in Oyster Bay.” Seasonal stories bookmark our issue: “HazMat Holiday” by Catherine Dilts and “Do Not Open Till Christmas” by Steve Hockensmith.
A popular author returns to his family vacation home and confronts his past in Charles John Harper’s “Backstory.” A reckoning arrives in the night in Michael Nethercott’s “All Our Crimes.” A glimpse of the future in the midst of a pandemic doesn’t help in Dave Zeltserman’s “Uncle Woody’s Thingmajig.” 
The end of the year reminds us that our own future is also an unknown path. A path we hope is shared with family and friends—old and new—that leads to good health and new and interesting possibilities. Here’s to a Happy New Year to all our readers and writers.

Publishing is a long game. From a story’s conception to its acceptance to the day the magazine hits newsstands can take months, not to mention the collaboration of many people. Fiction, too, is a long game: A good story keeps the reader guessing until the end, but the satisfaction of the payoff may linger in the reader’s mind for years. 
At AHMM, we’ve been playing the long game for six and a half decades. December marks the anniversary of our first publication. We’ve striven over that time to keep readers entertained with stories that pack a punch. Along the way, we’ve introduced many new authors and published new material from established favorites. 
New here are Ellen Tremiti, whose detective contemplates new media and new life stages in “The Influencer”; and Edith Maxwell, no stranger to publishing, but here with her first AHMM story, “An Excellent Team,” in which she introduces two spunky young ladies in 1919. W. H. Cameron returns for his sophomore appearance with “Christmas Spirit,” a tale of death and survival.
This issue also shines a new light on some familiar characters. Dr. Watson undertakes a case of his own (without his friend Holmes) in James G. Tipton’s “The Curse of Edwin Grange.” Tom Larsen’s “Oro de Tontos” reintroduces Ecuadoran P.I. Wilson Salinas with a story of his first case. R. T. Lawton’s young 18th century Parisian pickpocket picks up a few facts of life in “Green Eyes.” And Brendan DuBois reveals a sentimental side to a couple of hitmen in “Killers: A Story of Love in Four Acts.”
The past catches up to the present in Christopher E. Long’s “The Mission,” while Mark Thielman’s parolee can’t shed his past fast enough in “Dry Bones.” An invented past haunts a tech geek in “The Trouble with Rebecca” by Larry Light. Passion for baseball leads to desperate acts in Jim Fusilli’s “LOOGY,” and a simmering desperation underlies Sharon Hunt’s tragedy “Digging Through Fog.”


What loyalty do you owe and to whom? Family, friends, neighbors, community, society? Many of the stories in this issue explore the complicated demands of these bonds of blood and affection.
In “Glass” by James R. Benn, an uncle and nephew find their loyalty tested when a stroke of luck hands them the means to success. In R. T. Lawton’s “Gnawing at the Cat’s Tail,” the son of a warlord survives conflict with the aid of an unlikely ally. A teacher’s summer work draws unwanted attention from her landlord in “Ice Ice Baby” by Barb Goffman. In “Blindsided,” by Michael Bracken and James A. Hearn, a college football player must question his loyalty to a teammate.
During the Vietnam War, a sergeant stands up for his colonel in “Raining” by Peter Colt. In Robert Lopresti’s “Taxonomy Lesson,” an academic dalliance goes off the tracks. Set among the Haliwa community of North Carolina, a white writer opens up old wounds when he tries to track down a womanizer from the 50s in “Ju Ju” by L. A. Wilson, Jr. In the Western “No God West of Hays” by Eric Ruark, a compatriot turned foe of Wild Bill Hickok tries to rescue sisters abducted from a wagon train traveling the old Santa Fe trail. The small community where an artist and his wife have bought a lake house is less serene than the environment would suggest in John C. Boland’s “Paris Green.”
Wayne J. Gardiner examines the blowback from a police shooting in “A Hell of a Thing . . .” A neighborhood is plagued by a string of break-ins in “The Shoemaker’s Children” by Tom Savage. A tough teacher manages to leave behind a cryptic clue to the identity of his shooter in “The Map Dot Murder” by Mark Thielman.
Finally, we welcome Floyd Sullivan with “The Beano,” a story about the murder of a wealthy collector. Lee Lofland explains the complexities of grand juries in his Case Files column. Plus book reviews, puzzles, and more!
Our own loyalty, of course, is to our readers as we seek to bring you an exciting lineup of tales in every issue.

We continue our celebration of EQMM’s eightieth year with an issue dedicated to the classical mystery. July/August 2021 is bookended by stories that take place in one of the most iconic of puzzle-story settings: see “The Locked Room Library” by Gigi Pandian and “The Body in the Bee Library” by Jon L. Breen. Other fair-play head-scratchers include “The White Star” by G.M. Malliet (set in an English manor), “Julius Katz and the Two Cousins” by Dave Zeltserman, the medical mystery “Not So Fast, Dr. Quick” by Elvie Simons, a lyrical impossible-crime case, in Passport to Crime, from Awasaka Tsumao (“Fox’s Wedding”), and the mystery of a homeless man’s disappearance, investigated by a homeless P.I. (“Sweeps Week” by Richard Helms). 

Elsewhere in the issue, suspense abounds, to varied backdrops: an operating room (“Bone Marrow Donor” by Joyce Carol Oates), a concert hall (“The Concert” by Ragnar Jónasson and Víkingur Ólaffson), a winery (“The Fraud of Dionysus” by Smita Harish Jain), a comic-book convention (“What’s Wrong With Harley Quinn?” by Barbara Allan), within a character’s very own mind (“Sycamore Acres” by Richard Dooling), a prison (“Bad Chemistry” by John G. Wimer), a dying Texas town (“The Last Man in Lafarge” by current Edgar Award nominee Joseph S. Walker), and right at home (“Next Door” by Kate Ellis).

Speaking of home and family, the theme runs strong in other of this issue’s entries, especially “Homecoming” by Janice Law, the Department of First Stories tales “When the Dust Settles” by Tehra Peace and “A Truck Full of Illegal Fireworks” by Michael Grimala, and a noir story for Black Mask by Brendan DuBois (“Family Love”). 

With this issue we note the passing of a longtime friend of AHMM: John Lutz at the age of 81. We were selecting a cover illustration for John’s latest Alo Nudger story, “Tag, You’re Dead,” when we heard the news. John was a prolific writer whose relationship with AHMM spanned 55 years. The story in this issue nicely exemplifies his artistry, featuring his skill with humor, revelation of character, and detail.
With this issue, we send John off in good company. 
From grief to celebration, Joseph S. Walker is nominated for an Edgar Award; we’re delighted to have his latest story in this issue: “Wednesdays at Ten” explores the relationship between psychotherapist and client. A retired judge goes silent in “Lydia’s Law” by Kevin Eagan; a detective recuperating in Hawaii finds himself on a busman’s holiday in “The Road to Hana” by R. T. Lawton; and a diplomat pokes his nose into the case of a murdered missionary in “A Death in the Parish” by Nick Spencer. 
Mark Thielman’s “Spud Stud” P.I. shows his “eye” for investigation. Robert Mangeot follows a small-town sheriff battling a crime wave in “Scratch.” Two sisters solve a cold case with their attention to detail in “The Witches of Endor” by Janice Law. And Mark Twain and Nicolas Tesla team up to solve a case of business sabotage in Joseph D’Agnese’s “Mr. Tesla Likes to Watch.”
A dying writer and a teenager delve into a mystery dating back more than a hundred years in David Bart’s “Brothers Out of Time.” The scion of a wealthy family is accused of murder in “Minerva James and the Judgment of the Furies” by Mark Bruce. James Lincoln Warren introduces the perceptive teen Dee in “School Spirits.”
A Florida attraction is the setting for a disappearance in “Gatorpalooza” by Alan Orloff. A band of preachers come to town for a life-altering event in “The Devil in Preemption” by Max Gersh. And modern-day Hollywood is the setting of Robert Lopresti’s “The Fourth Circle.”
We are grateful for these authors, and for you, our readers. 

While murder may be the bread and butter of a mystery magazine, this issue entertainingly spotlights another criminal act: theft, in a variety of forms. As often happens with crime, one offense can initiate a chain reaction of subsequent offenses against social norms, escalating even unto the ultimate crime. Herewith a baker’s dozen stories tracing such treacherous paths. 
With Sherlock Holmes otherwise engaged, Dr. John H. Watson travels to the Lake District to investigate reports of a terrorizing large wild cat in James Tipton’s “The Beast of Easedale Tarn,” but once there he discovers a mystery around a purloined letter to William Wordsworth. In John M. Floyd’s “Friends and Neighbors,” a biologist’s missing bug collection and a stolen deed come to light in one memorable summer afternoon. A thief in ancient times risks invoking the wrath of the gods in William Burton McCormick’s “A Night of Lies, Thieves, and Thunder, Long Ago.” R. T. Lawton’s Holiday Burglars, Yarnell and Beaumont, find themselves on a very strange pub crawl for “St. Paddy’s Day.” A vet suffering from PTSD seeks social media success through documenting instances of stolen valor in Matthew Wilson’s “Thank You for Your Service.” And a set of stolen books is the catalyst for a New Hampshire social worker to change her life in Brendan DuBois’s “The Thrifty Way.” 

Time to turn a new page! If 2020 was the year we thought would never end, 2021 arrives full of promise. Those of us leading a life of crime—that is, as writers and editors of crime fiction—resolve, too, to bring you ever more wicked, stylish, baffling tales to keep you reading—and out of trouble. Here are fifteen such spellbinding stories.
When a book dealer dies in the filthy kitchen of his shop, surprises keep coming in John H. Dirckx’s procedural “Backwords.” Even court officer Foxx is surprised to learn what a few lawyers are up to in Kevin Egan’s “Hard Money.” Motives abound when a town bully is shot, but the poor P.I.’s worst client—her mother—has a motive of her own in “Accusing Agnes” by Marianne Wilski Strong. A 1950s comedian gets more than a big break in Michael Mallory’s “There’s Nothing Funny About Murder.” 
It’s a horror writer’s worst nightmare—an overeager film producer—in Tim Burke’s funny “Mr. Jolly Gets His Jollies.” No good deed goes unpunished for a reporter in the dystopian future in Larry Light’s tale “Fake News.” Meanwhile, Meredith Anthony’s suspense-reading heroine finds her true self in literature in “Reader, I Killed Him.”
Across the pond, R. T. Lawton’s young pickpocket during the reign of France’s Sun King outwits a couple of thieves with the aid of a new friend in “A Helping Hand.” A shop of useful—and magical—tools entices a disgraced soldier in “Piper at the Back Door of Dawn” by Dan Crawford. A retired zookeeper has a special way of dealing with a bad neighbor in Stephen Ross’s “The Underneath.”
Passion has limits in New Orleans-set “Ticking of the Big Clock” by O’Neil De Noux. Stagecoach Mary returns in Leslie Budewitz’s “Coming Clean.” Doris looks down her nose at new neighbors in Barb Goffman’s “A Family Matter.” A midnight commotion is difficult for a child to interpret in Rebecca Cantrell’s “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

In these times, when even a trip to the supermarket is fraught with peril, we can pursue new experiences through the widely traveled characters of our November/December issue. Their travails transport us to far-flung places—and drop us into situations that we would perhaps rather experience on the page. Take Magistrate Ovid’s path between the underworld of ancient Alexandria and the temple of the crocodile god in Tom Carpenter’s “The Lure of the Crocodile.” Or Michael Bracken’s housewife, whose detour takes her to a life-altering concert in “Woodstock.” When a prodigal son returns, he brings with him an alluring whiff of crime in Eric Rutter’s “Raven Stole the Sun,” while a spy returns to the home office to face his past in Mark Sadler’s “At the Coal Face.” Two siblings from Mexico try to make their way in the States in Doug Levin’s “Tamales for Sale.” A Midwestern transplant to New York has a metropolitan odyssey in Meredith Anthony’s “I’m Right Here.” O’Neil De Noux takes his adroit 1940’s P.I. on an excursion in New Orleans in “Dreamboat Gambol.” And low-level mobsters take to small-town New Hampshire seeking to hide out in “A Report on the Ladies’ Playground Committee of Prescott, NH” by Brendan DuBois. 

An artist’s obsession with a particular color keeps her rooted in “The Color of Murder” by Mary Angela Honerman. A senior gets caught in financial shenanigans in John C. Boland’s “Time-Sharing.” Upstate NY P.I. Maggie Dove doesn’t take someone seriously in “Crown Imperial” by Susan Breen. A local newspaper struggles to stay relevant—and afloat, in Barb Goffman’s “Eat, Drink, and Be Murdered.” Las Vegas stylist Stacy Deshay is once again on hand when murder strikes in Shauna Washington’s “A Pageant to Die For.” A bit of art inspires a loan officer to think in Robert Mangeot’s “On Loan from the Artist.” And R. T. Lawton introduces us to a new series in “A Matter of Values.”

Wherever you are at this point in time, let us whisk you away with great crime fiction.

With crime stories, it’s all about the framing of the tale. In Steven Gore’s procedural “Inflection,” detectives must look beyond carefully laid out clues when a rare books dealer is found dead from an apparent mugging. A passion for truffles is the link between competing narratives in “Fruiting Bodies” by Jane Pendjiky. During WWII, a stranger’s story resonates for a boy enamored with true crime pulps in “Old Echoes” by Michael Nethercott. Equadoran P.I. Wilson Salinas is inspired by a missing person flier to track down the real story in “Buscando Túpac” by Tom Larsen. After a writeup in the papers, the price of fame is high for a local hero in Dave Zeltserman’s “Past Due.” A librarian revisits the stories behind artifacts prior to a fateful renovation in “Storage” by Dan Crawford. A cabby proves the perfect sounding board for a St. Louis riverboat gambler cum unofficial private eye in Christopher Latragna’s “Call It Sad, Call It Funny.” And a review of old case notes draws a retired divorce lawyer into a murder case in “Who Killed What’s Her Name?” by Sharon Jarvis. 
Meanwhile, commercial crime in ancient Babylon threatens plans for a caravan in Richard Freeborn’s “Family Harmony,” while a company’s secrets are conversation fodder in “You Said This Was Business” by Bob Tippee. A hermit seeks to preserve his artist father’s legacy in “Limited Edition” by John Paul Davies, while an artisan in Amsterdam becomes unmoored in “Anchored” by Wouter Boonstra. A hitman’s latest job leads to a new vocation in “The Beauty of Sunsets” by Jim Sallis. And for a London-based P.I., a homeless woman seems an unlikely murder victim in “Mrs. White Hart” by Elliot F. Sweeney. 
In our Booked & Printed column, Laurel Flores Fantauzzo steps outside of the box to look at some recent crime-related podcasts that are worth a listen. And an endearing character returns in Our Mystery Classic, Johnston McCulley’s “Thubway Tham and the Hoodoo Roll.”

One of the attractions of crime fiction is the complexity of the plotlines. In addition to the narrative of the investigation, there is a parallel retelling of the crime, the story of the cover-up is also the story of its unveiling. In “Second Sight,” David Edgerley Gates explores how two officers, at two points in time, approach a case of a missing boy in New Mexico. In “The Amputation Pit,” Nancy Pauline Simpson’s early twentieth century sheriff and the nurse he is sweet on put their heads together to figure out how the remains of a young woman came to be in a pit of bones of amputated limbs dating back to the Civil War. A woman trying to understand her son’s suicide recreates his network in “The Substitute Dealer” by Jeff Soloway, while an art student confronts some uncomfortable truths in Elaine Menge’s “Plein Air.” 

The landscape of a good mystery story can be as twisty as its plot. In a nod to Borges, Robert Lopresti places “The Library of Poisonville” in an underground bunker with beguiling contents. A fraternity pursues a solo hike on a winter’s night through the New Hampshire woods in Susan Oleksiw’s “The Pledge.” Competitive half brothers navigate their drug lord father’s business in R. T. Lawton’s “Reckoning with Your Host.” A defense advocate navigates a legal maze in “A Beastly Trial,” a historical which author Mark Thielman notes is based on actual practices of the time. A famous jockey pursues the truth in “Mystic Dream” by John F. Dobbyn

The streets of San Francisco in a near future offers an unusual setting for our thirteenth Black Orchid Novella Award-winning story, “The Red Taxi” by Ted Burge. The beautiful, volcanic landscape of Hawaii can be perilous to tourists in Albert Tucher’s “JDLR.” And Wayne J. Gardiner considers the particular challenges of interviewing for a job with the Mob in “Strickly Business.”

Getting trapped is a primal fear, and our modern world offers no reprieve. Daily we’re caught in traffic jams, shut up in elevators, chained to a desk, and for some, nabbed by the police. Nor are we free of psychological traps. Fiction is one way to work through your fears, and this issue of AHMM offers some thrilling stories of entrapment and escape.
In our cover story by Joslyn Chase, a woman must leave home to work at her uncle’s Whitechapel pub, “The Wolf and Lamb,” during the terror wrought by Jack the Ripper. Joseph Walker describes the journey of a woman escaping an abusive marriage in “Etta at the End of the World.” Characters revisit the heady days of college in Elizabeth Zelvin’s “Reunion.” A private jet is the setting for Ken Brosky’s locked-room story “Airless Confinement.” In 1920s NYC, a shoeshine gets caught up in a scheme in “Probable Cause” by John G. Wimer.
Revenge motivates in Sarah Weinman’s “Limited Liability,” and Janice Law’s widow takes justice into her own hands in “The Client.” Bob Tippee’s executive draws on his character failings in “A Bias for Action,” while Officer Grant Tripp’s brother falls under suspicion for a string of robberies in Eve Fisher’s “Brother’s Keeper.” The perpipatetic Buck and Wiley return in Parker Littlewood’s “Buck Solves the Case,” while two girls find the body of a drowned bank robber in Michael Bracken’s “Sleepy River.”
We offer whodunits featuring distinctive PIs. Jeff Cohen’s Samuel Hoenig finds that being on the autism spectrum gives him an edge in “The Question of the Befuddled Judge.” Mark Thielman’s handsome PI solves the murder of a store manager in “The Case of the Cereal Killer.” Mystery writer Shanks is called to help a music producer on the eve of his death in Rob Lopresti’s “Shanks Saves the World.”
Finally, we are delighted to introduce a new feature: former police detective Lee Lofland will offer in each issue insights into the working lives and daily realities of those involved in law enforcement.

Sometimes exposing the truth involves donning a disguise. But subterfuge and misdirection add spice to crime stories, and this issue is chock full of reversals and surprises. In “Night Train for Berlin” by William Burton McCormick, individuals at opposite ends of the political spectrum are equally threatened by two brutal regimes. In these pages you’ll find sleuths in the guise of an eighteenth century shipmate in Joan Druett’s “The Botanist” or a retired chemistry professor in Jim Fusilli’s “Albert January and His First Love.” An actor gets a job as an investigator at a plant where employees claim they’ve seen a ghost in Catherine Dilts’s “Industrial Gold,” while an aging actor is at the mercy of is his caretakers in Tom Savage’s “Best Performance.” Sheriff Ray is once again outsmarted by mystery writer Jennifer Parker in John F. Floyd’s Mississippi-set “Quarterback Sneak.” Martin Limón brings back his Army investigators in Korea in “Chow Hall.” A sheriff in the Australian outback goes to extraordinary lengths to protect a neighbor in “Something Off” by Michael Caleb Tasker. A parolee trying to get her life back together has the bad fortune to be the first on the scene of a crime in “The DQ Rules” by Chuck Greaves. A troupe of traveling ironmongers in Biblical times is caught in the fighting between the Kanaanites and the Israelites in Ken Wishnia’s “Bride of Torches.” Sheriff Gonzalo, in a small village in central mountains of Puerto Rico, comes to the aid of a woman whose neighbor is trying to take her land in Steve Torres’s “The Care of Widows and Orphans.” A hapless attorney is forced to represent a family running an illegal pearl operation in Robert Mangeot’s humorous tale “Lord, Spare the Bottom Feeders.” Hiring a hitman comes with an onerous contract in Larry Light’s “Scroll Down.” A precocious teen is the subject of bullies in Rachel Howzell Hall’s poignant story, “Little Thing.” These tales turn crime inside out in the guise of well-wrought fiction.

With the New Year we anticipate renewal and new beginnings, so perhaps you’ve noticed we’ve refreshed our masthead, for which we thank our top-notch design team.  What hasn’t changed is the quality of the crime fiction you’ll find in our pages. Along with your favorite authors, we ring in the New Year with four authors new to our pages: Teresa Dovalpage (“The Sandalwood Killer”), Olivia Dunnett (The Witness”), Paul Grigg (“ Mossad Rules”), and Art Taylor (“The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74”). 

As the year ends in a string of holidays, we have a few stories to set the mood. A closing toy store is the setting for Steve Hockensmith’s holiday tale “The Last Noel”. At Christmastime, good deeds goes awry in Mark Thielman’s “The Wreck of the Edward Fitzsimmons.” And something is all wrong about a mystery writer’s double suicide in Sharon Hunt’s “Silent Night.”

As a judge and his law clerk transition from the old Tweed courthouse to the new Centre Street building in lower Manhattan in the 1920s, their relationship changes in unexpected ways in Kevin Egan’s “The Tombs Angel.” New York City is also the setting for Joseph D’Agnese’s tale featuring a mysterious radio at housewares shop in “The Detective Who Stopped by Bedford Street.” 

Farther afield, Las Vegas stylist Stacey Deshay finds herself cooped up with a bunch of B-list actors when she stumbles over a body on the set of a reality show in “Alternate Reality.” A small town police chief deals with the aftermath of his first fatal shooting in Wayne J. Gardiner’s “Mistaken Identity.” And Dr. Watson gets pulled into a mystery with international intrigue while vacation in France in “On the Banks of the Styx” by James Tipton. 

In this issue, you’ll also find a delightful mystery classic by Lillian de la Torre, “The Stroke of Thirteen,” featuring the eighteenth century writer and lexicographer Dr. Johnson, brought to our attention by Michael Mallory. 

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Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine is a captivating publication that embraces the suspenseful and enigmatic world of mystery fiction. Named after the legendary filmmaker and master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, this magazine continues to be a staple for mystery enthusiasts seeking thrilling and thought-provoking stories.

Since its inception in 1956, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine has been a platform for both established and emerging authors to showcase their talent in the realm of mystery writing. Each issue is filled with a diverse collection of short stories and novellas that encompass a wide range of subgenres, including traditional whodunits, psychological thrillers, and intricate puzzles. From cleverly crafted plots to unforgettable characters, the magazine delivers an immersive reading experience that keeps readers eagerly turning the pages.

Over the years, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine has remained a beloved publication among fans of mystery fiction, providing a platform for renowned authors like Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Raymond Chandler, while also introducing fresh voices and emerging talent.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to explore the captivating world of mystery fiction through the pages of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, where every issue promises to immerse you in a labyrinth of suspense and keep you guessing until the very end.

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Girish Ramdas is the Co-founder and CEO of Magzter, a New York based startup that has been making waves in the global digital publishing business. Magzter has crossed 80 million users since its inception in 2011 from more than 150+ countries with 1000s of magazines, newspapers and books from more than 4,500 publishers worldwide. He has more than 25 years of experience in cross-platform publishing, including print, mobile, and Web development. During this period, he has co-founded and run three successful start-up businesses. He has enabled magazine companies to go digital and helps them monetize their content across the digital world. Girish's deep industry experience in online, mobile and publishing ecosystems has made him an expert in acquisition, marketing and monetizing digital content across platforms globally.

In the event that you encounter any objectionable content on our platform, we have put in place a grievance redressal policy to address your concerns.

Magzter Inc. (“Company”, “we”, “us” or “our”) knows that you care about how your personal information is used and shared. Please read the following privacy policy (the “Policy”) to learn more about our privacy practices. By visiting any of the websites operated by the Company, and any sub-domains thereof, or using any of our mobile applications and other methods of content distribution (collectively, the “Service”), you acknowledge that you accept the practices and policies outlined in this Policy, and you hereby consent that we will collect, use, and share your information in the following ways.

Magzter Inc. is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 80 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

Magzter is committed to providing a safe and secure platform for our users. Please note that Magzter is merely a platform for publishers to distribute their content. We do not control or endorse the content published on our platform. We cannot be held responsible for the actions of our publishers or their content.

Magzter is not responsible for compensating any party that has suffered damages or incurred costs due to any content, or part of the content, that violates their rights. Magzter is not liable to face any legal action in civil court for any violation of rights caused by any content, or part of the content, that infringes the rights of a third party.

Magzter offers the world’s largest {{allyoucanread}} subscription service called {{gold}} which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

Magzter offers the world’s largest “All-You-Can-Read” subscription service called Magzter GOLD which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

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Please fill out this form if you need any help regarding publishing your content on Magzter

Prior to Magzter, he was the President of Dot Com Infoway (DCI) and Galatta Media. His duties included strategic marketing, partnership development, and monetizing content globally. DCI grew from a small team of 3 in 2000 to 300 by 2011 and was dealing with web, software and app development for clients globally.

Since we launched, Magzter has been committed to partnering with global organizations to provide the greatest possible newsstand technology & service to our customers. Whether you are looking to offer magazine subscriptions to your customer database or just want to learn more, Magzter is committed to helping your business grow. To find out more, please fill out the questionnaire below:

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten business days of receiving the copy of your Counter Notice.

This Policy covers Company’s treatment of personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) and other information about you and your computer or device that Company gathers when you are accessing the Service. We may collect Personal Information from you, as explained in more detail below, and we use this Personal Information internally in connection with our Services, including to personalize, provide, and improve our products, services, content, and advertising, and to allow you to set up a user account and profile, to contact you, to fulfill your requests for certain products and services, and to analyze how you use the Services. In certain cases, we may also share some Personal Information with third parties, but only as described in point 4.

This title is included with your Magzter GOLD subscription

To analyze the quality of content and provide appropriate feedback to publishers

We have designated a Grievance Officer to address any complaints related to objectionable content.

We request that any complaint related to objectionable content be sent to the Grievance Officer through email to the above-mentioned email address. We also request that you provide the following details when making a complaint:

and the App that provides you the capability to order, subscribe to and receive the delivery of various magazines, books, news and magazine and publication related content (collectively known as 'Publications') and to have these digital versions of the Publications delivered to you

c. We also collect information associated with your use of the application in order to make personalized recommendations. If you provide your third-party account credentials to us, you understand some content and/or information in those accounts (“Third Party Account Information”) may be transmitted into your account with us if you authorize such transmissions, and that Third Party Account Information transmitted to the Service is covered by this Policy.

f. The Personal Information we collect allows us to respond to your requests, improve our products and services, customize the advertising and content you see, and communicate with you about new products.

is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

n. We will also use usage information in order to ensure users adhere to our Terms of Use. For example, a user’s usage information will help us confirm that a user only downloads a magazine or other content a permitted number of times or to a permitted number of devices.

which gives digital readers unlimited access to 9,000+ magazines and newspapers for a monthly subscription price. Magzter also has the largest number of stories in the world with its game-changing ezRead 2.0 feature for its apps, which enables smartphone and small-screen mobile users to enjoy magazine content the way it was meant to be enjoyed, with article text that is easy to read and is accompanied by stunning videos and high resolution photography.

{{magzter}} is the World's largest and fastest growing self-service, cross-platform digital newsstand with over 87 million users since its inception in 2011 and thousands of magazines and newspapers across 40+ categories and 60+ languages. Headquartered in New York, Magzter has its local presence in Amsterdam, London, Mexico City, Chennai, Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Singapore, and will soon be expanding to other countries. Founded by global entrepreneurs, Girish Ramdas and Vijay Radhakrishnan in June 2011, Magzter enables magazine and newspaper publishers around the world to create and deliver digital editions of their titles to global consumers.

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - April 2014

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine - April 2014

In this issue

Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Description: