The following pair of posts came from the FictionMags Yahoo group. Thanks to Bill Contento and Mike Ashley for allowing me to reprint them here. First, a short introduction from Bill:


   Mike Ashley recently asked me for a list of mystery anthology publishers. As part of the process in generating that list, counts of the authors and stories in 2,244 anthologies were also produced.

   This was based on the latest edition of the Mystery Short Fiction Miscellany CD (available from Locus Press), excluding stories reprinted in single-author collections, round-robin novels, and magazines.

                Bill C.

    Authors with 40 or more stories that have appeared in mystery anthologies:

40 Collins, Max Allan
40 Crider, Bill
41 Fish, Robert L.
41 Highsmith, Patricia
42 Sayers, Dorothy L.
43 Allingham, Margery
43 Bankier, William
43 Barnard, Robert
43 Chesterton, G. K.
43 Ellin, Stanley
43 Oates, Joyce Carol
44 Asimov, Isaac
44 Blochman, Lawrence G.
44 Brown, Fredric
46 Boucher, Anthony
46 Gilford, C. B.
46 Howard, Clark
46 MacDonald, John D.
47 Breen, Jon L.
48 Estleman, Loren D.
48 Wallace, Edgar
48 Westlake, Donald E.
49 Simenon, Georges
51 Charteris, Leslie
52 Stout, Rex
53 Holding, James
54 Deming, Richard
57 Bloch, Robert
58 Gorman, Ed
58 Symons, Julian
62 Treat, Lawrence
63 Lovesey, Peter
66 Keating, H. R. F.
67 Rendell, Ruth
69 Pentecost, Hugh
81 Block, Lawrence
81 Doyle, Arthur Conan
87 Woolrich, Cornell
88 Ritchie, Jack
89 Slesar, Henry
102 Lutz, John
103 Pronzini, Bill
115 Christie, Agatha
119 Queen, Ellery
131 Gilbert, Michael
273 Hoch, Edward D.

   Stories that have appeared in mystery anthologies 10 or more times:

10 Block, Lawrence “By the Dawn’s Early Light” nv 1984 {Playboy}
10 Buck, Pearl S. “Ransom” nv 1938 {Cosmopolitan}
10 Carr, John Dickson “Guest in the House” ss 1940 {The Strand}
10 Chesterton, G. K. “Queer Feet” nv 1910 {The Storyteller}
10 Christie, Agatha “Witness for the Prosecution [ “Traitor’s Hands”] nv 1925 {Flynn’s}
10 Crawford, F. Marion “Upper Berth” nv 1886 *The Broken Shaft: Unwin’s Christmas Annual*, ed. Sir Henry Norman, London: Fisher Unwin
10 Dickens, Charles “Signalman” ss 1866 {All the Year Round}
10 Dickson, Carter “Clue in the Snow” ss 1940 {The Strand}
10 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans” nv 1908 {The Strand}
10 Ellin, Stanley “Question My Son Asked” ss 1962 {EQMM}
10 Gilbert, Michael “Amateur in Violence” ss 1949 {John Bull}
10 Gilbert, Michael “Mr. Portway’s Practice” ss 1957 {Lilliput}
10 Hardy, Thomas “Three Strangers” nv 1883 {Longman’s}
10 Harte, Bret “Stolen Cigar-Case” ss 1900 {Pearson’s Magazine}
10 Hemingway, Ernest “Killers” ss 1927 {Scribner’s}
10 Howard, Clark “Horn Man” ss 1980 {EQMM}
10 Rawson, Clayton “From Another World” nv 1948 {EQMM}
10 Rendell, Ruth “New Girl Friend” ss 1983 {EQMM}
10 Saki “Sredni Vashtar” ss 1910 {The Westminster Gazette}
10 Steinbeck, John “Murder” ss 1934 {North American Review}
10 Wells, H. G.“Cone” ss 1895 {Unicorn}
11 Barnes, Linda J. “Lucky Penny” ss 1985 *The New Black Mask No.3*, ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli & Richard Layman, HBJ
11 Bentley, E. C. “Inoffensive Captain” ss 1914 {Metropolitan Magazine}
11 Bentley, E. C. “Sweet Shot” ss 1937 {The Strand}
11 Bloch, Robert “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” ss 1943 {Weird Tales}
11 Chesterton, G. K.“Oracle of the Dog” nv 1923 {Nash’s Magazine}
11 Cole, G. D. H. & Margaret “In a Telephone Cabinet” nv 1923
11 Collier, John “Back for Christmas” ss 1939 {New Yorker}
11 James, P. D. “Victim” nv 1973 , ed. Virginia Whitaker, London: Macmillan
11 Kipling, Rudyard “Return of Imray” [ “The Recrudescence of Imray”] ss 1891 *Life’s Handicap*, Macmillan
11 McCloy, Helen “Chinoiserie” nv 1946 {EQMM}
11 Macdonald, Ross “Guilt-Edged Blonde” [as by John Ross Macdonald] ss 1954 {Manhunt}
11 Macdonald, Ross “Midnight Blue” nv 1960 {Ed McBain’s Mystery Book}
11 Marsh, Ngaio “I Can Find My Way Out” ss 1946 {EQMM}
11 Pentecost, Hugh “Day the Children Vanished” nv 1958 {This Week}
11 Poe, Edgar Allan “Black Cat” ss 1843 {Philadelphia United States Saturday Post}
11 Poe, Edgar Allan “Mystery of Marie Roget” nv 1842 {Snowden’s Lady’s Companion}
11 Queen, Ellery “Adventure of the President’s Half Disme” nv 1947 {EQMM}
11 Queen, Ellery “As Simple as ABC” nv 1951 {EQMM}
11 Stoker, Bram “Squaw” ss 1893 {Holly Leaves}
11 Westlake, Donald E. “Never Shake a Family Tree” ss 1961 {AHMM}
12 Armstrong, Charlotte “Enemy” nv 1951 {EQMM}
12 Charteris, Leslie “Arrow of God” nv 1949 {EQMM}
12 Crofts, Freeman Wills “Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express” nv 1921 {The Premier Magazine}
12 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Silver Blaze” nv 1892 {The Strand}
12 Gores, Joe “Goodbye, Pops” ss 1969 {EQMM}
12 Jacobs, W. W. “Interruption” ss 1925 {The Strand}
12 Jacobs, W. W. “Monkey’s Paw” ss 1902 {Harper’s Monthly}
12 Quentin, Patrick “Puzzle for Poppy” ss 1946 {EQMM}
12 Rice, Craig “His Heart Could Break” nv 1943 {EQMM}
12 Sayers, Dorothy L. “Inspiration of Mr. Budd” ss 1926 {Pearson’s Magazine}
12 Vickers, Roy “Rubber Trumpet” ss 1934 {Pearson’s Magazine}
13 Dahl, Roald “Lamb to the Slaughter” ss 1953 {Harper’s}
13 Dickens, Charles “Hunted Down” nv 1859 {New York Ledger}
13 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle” ss 1892 {The Strand}
13 Forester, C. S. “Turn of the Tide” ss 1934 {The Story-Teller}
13 Knox, Ronald A. “Solved by Inspection” ss 1925
13 Patrick, Q. “Love Comes to Miss Lucy” ss 1947 {EQMM}
13 Stevenson, Robert Louis “Markheim” ss 1886 *The Broken Shaft: Unwin’s Christmas Annual*, ed. Sir Henry Norman, London: Fisher Unwin
13 Wynne, Anthony “Cyprian Bees” ss 1926 {Flynn’s Detective Fiction}
14 Bramah, Ernest “Tragedy at Brookbend Cottage” nv 1913 {News of the World}
14 Chesterton, G. K. “Hammer of God” ss 1910 {The Storyteller}
14 Collins, Wilkie “Terribly Strange Bed” ss 1852 {Household Words}
14 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Scandal in Bohemia” ss 1891 {The Strand}
14 Eustace, Robert & Jepson, Edgar “Tea-Leaf” nv 1925 {The Strand}
14 Glaspell, Susan Keating “Jury of Her Peers” nv 1917 {Every Week}
14 Huxley, Aldous “Gioconda Smile” nv 1921 {The English Review}
14 James, P. D. “Great-Aunt Allie’s Flypapers” nv 1969
14 Poe, Edgar Allan “Cask of Amontillado” ss 1846 {Godey’s Lady’s Book}
15 MacDonald, John D. “Homesick Buick” ss 1950 {EQMM}
15 Post, Melville Davisson “Doomdorf Mystery” ss 1914 {The Saturday Evening Post}
15 Queen, Ellery “Adventure of Abraham Lincoln’s Clue” [ “Abraham Lincoln’s Clue”] ss 1965 {MD}
15 Sayers, Dorothy L. “Adventurous Exploit of the Cave of Ali Baba” nv 1928 *Lord Peter Views the Body*, London: Gollancz
15 Sayers, Dorothy L. “Man Who Knew How” ss 1932 {Harper’s Bazaar}
16 Christie, Agatha “Accident” ss 1929 {The Daily Express}
16 Millar, Margaret “Couple Next Door” ss 1954 {EQMM}
16 Sayers, Dorothy L. “Suspicion” ss 1933 {Mystery League}
16 Wallace, Edgar “Treasure Hunt” ss 1924 {The Grand Magazine}
17 Barr, Robert “Absent-Minded Coterie” nv 1905 {The Saturday Evening Post}
17 Carr, John Dickson “Gentleman from Paris” nv 1950 {EQMM}
17 Kemelman, Harry “Nine Mile Walk” ss 1947 {EQMM}
18 Ellin, Stanley “Specialty of the House” nv 1948 {EQMM}
19 Chesterton, G. K. “Invisible Man” ss 1911 {Cassell’s}
19 Poe, Edgar Allan “Gold-Bug” nv 1843 {Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper}
20 Collins, Wilkie “Biter Bit” [ “Who Is the Thief?”] nv 1858 {Atlantic Monthly}
20 Dickens, Charles “To Be Taken with a Grain of Salt” [ “Trial for Murder”] ss 1865 {All the Year Round}
21 Gardner, Erle Stanley “Case of the Irate Witness” ss 1953 {Colliers}
21 Twain, Mark “Stolen White Elephant” nv 1882 *The Stolen White Elephant*, Webster
22 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Adventure of the Speckled Band” nv 1892 {The Strand}
22 Doyle, Arthur Conan “Red-Headed League” nv 1891 {The Strand}
22 Dunsany, Lord “Two Bottles of Relish” ss 1932 {Time & Tide}
25 Burke, Thomas “Hands of Mr. Ottermole” nv 1929 {The Story-Teller}
26 Berkeley, Anthony “Avenging Chance” ss 1929 {Pearson’s Magazine}
26 Poe, Edgar Allan “Murders in the Rue Morgue” nv 1841 {Graham’s Lady’s and Gentleman’s Magazine}
27 Futrelle, Jacques “Problem of Cell 13” nv 1905 {Boston American}
53 Poe, Edgar Allan “Purloined Letter” nv 1844 *The Gift: A Christmas and New Year’s Present for 1845*, 1844






   Mike’s reply:


  Bill,

   Thanks for generating those two lists.

   Hats off to Ed Hoch for topping the list as most anthologised — but then as the most prolific still active writer of short stories, maybe he ought to be up the top there somewhere. Still, it shows his work is sufficiently memorable, though clearly no single story stands out as he’s not in the second list.

   Conversely, Poe, Futrelle and Berkeley top the second list but don’t appear in the first. So we have a distinction here between writers who produce few major short stories but clearly a handful that hit the bullseye and those who produce many worthy stories but no individual one that stands out.

   Once we get to Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie, though, they hit both lists and evidently these are writers who can produce both quantity and quality.

   I think the first story that surprises me in the second list is Gardner’s “The Case of the Irate Witness”. It’s certainly not one that would have come instantly to mind and though I’m sure I’ve read it, I can’t bring it to mind at all! Intriguing to see Harry Kemelman’s “Nine Mile Walk” up there, too.

   I previously put forward the argument that many of those that will top the list will be because their work is out of copyright, but though this may be a factor in why Poe and Futrelle top list 2, it certainly doesn’t apply to most of the stories and clearly not the authors in list 1. I’m rather glad about that. Quality shines through rather than being able to use a story on the cheap.

               Mike A.