WEIRD TALES January 1949. Editor: Dorothy McIlwraith. Cover artist: Lee Brown Coye. Overall rating: *½.

ALLISON V. HARDING “Four from Jehlam.” Novelette. An ancient Indian woman’s curse follows four Englishmen back home and to their not unexpected deaths. Not very well written. (1)

EVERETT EVANS “Food for Demons.” A demon inside one professor’s head feeds on the minds of others. (2)

FRANK GRUBER “The Thirteenth Floor.” Standard tale of non-existent floor in a large department store. (2)

SNOWDEN T. HERRICK “Open Season on the –bottoms.” People whose last names end in “bottom” start disappearing. (0)

JOHN D. MacDONALD “The Great Stone Death.” The great stone lizard attacks two outdoorsmen; one escapes. (1)

HAROLD LAWLER “Lover in Scarlet.” A skeleton in a scarlet cloak. (0)

ROBERT BLOCH “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice.” A magician’s assistant tries to saw a girl in half, and succeeds! (2)

ERIC FRANK RUSSELL “The Big Shot.” At his time of reckoning, Rafferty finds that his final judge is himself. (4)

STEPHEN GRENDON “Balu.” A boy’s strange Egyptian cat knows the secret of transformation to human form. (1)

MARY ELIZABETH COUNSELMAN “The Bonan of Baladewa.” An old Javanese musician calls of the spirit world to avenge his daughter’s death. (1)

ROBERT HEINLEIN “Our Fair City.” Novelette. A reporter uses the talents of a friendly whirlwind to expose the corruption of City Hall. Farce. (2)

ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE – August 1967. Overall rating: ***½.

HUGH PENTECOST “The False Face Murder,” A rejected suitor wearing a mask is killed, and everyone is ready to assume the guilt. Would seem to have Meaning, but it all ends as typical detective story. (4)

THE GORDONS “The Terror Racket.” Short novel. First published in The American Magazine, June 1953, as “Case File — F.B.I.: The Faceless Killer.” An anonymous caller threatens a widow’s daughter with violence unless he is paid $10,000. The FBI is called in for protection, and they work quickly to decide which of the mother’s acquaintances is the extortionist. Marred by sloppy writing: the roles of the characters are introduced without introduction, and with no real purpose; and by bad writing: the rookie agent who has to be explained everything, (3)

EDWARD D, HOCH “The Spy Who Worked for Peace.” Rand of Double-C discovers that a defector’s secretary is actually the spy, One of the better ones in the series. (4)

JOHN LUTZ “Quid Pro Quo.” A computer service arranges murders for a price. (3)

AMY. M. GRAINGERHALL (NORMA SCHIER) “Mr, Copable, Criminologist.” Anagram pastiche of Mr. Campion. Otherwise not bad. (1)

MARGERY ALINGHAM “The Chocolate Dog.” First appeared in The Daily Mail, 07 June 1939, as “The Dog Day,” Not a mystery story, but one of British charm. Mr. Campion. (2)

STEVEN PETERS “George Washington, Detective.” First story. Washington traps a spy just before crossing the Delaware, Interesting, (3)’

STEVEN PETERS “The Backyard Dig.” An amateur archaeologist’s discovery. Obvious with a clever twist, (4)

PATRICIA ANN HOLLISTER “The Woman Who Couldn’t Wear Red.” First story. At least her husband didn’t think so. (1)

JULIAN SYMONS “The Main Chance,” First US printing. A con-man gets caught up in a truly fantastic scheme for murder, (5)

BOB BRISTOW “No Margin for Error.” A woman has a secret way of knowing when her husband is out with other women. (4)

H. R. F. KEATING “The Justice Boy.” Novelette. A pet robin is killed at a British boys’ prep school, and an investigation is begun. The appeal is that of reading details of the background. (3)

(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION. Spring 2024. Issue #65. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 36 pages (including covers). Cover image: Stuart Palmer’s The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree.

   It goes without saying that Old-Time Detection is an indispensable repository of information for the devotee of classic detective fiction, mixing the old with the new in this particular literary genre; and who better than Arthur Vidro to curate it.

   First up is a short 1976 EQMM interview with Stanley Ellin: “The problem here was to get an ending which was right.”

   Next, Charles Shibuk continues his Paperback Revolution from 1974: “As I write this, 1973 is slowly dissolving into a hopeful new year, and 1973 has certainly not been a good one — especially in the reprint field.” Shibuk notes reissues from Margery Allingham (“an extremely erratic performer, but she seems to be her best in the short form”); James M. Cain (“hardboiled prose by a master of the genre”); Agatha Christie (“presents Poirot as a Nero Wolfe imitator”); Carter Dickson/John Dickson Carr (“exploits in farce and detection”); Dick Francis (“a superb work”); R. Austin Freeman (“the creator of Dr. Thorndyke was one of the giants in this field”); Jacques Futrelle (“they [his stories] still retain their freshness and devilish ingenuity today”); Frank Gruber (“a fast and funny romp”); John D. MacDonald (“the patented brand of MacDonald philosophy, which this reader could live without”); Ngaio Marsh (“not among Marsh’s best work”); Rex Stout (“one of Stout’s better early novels”); and Trevanian (“overpraised”).

   Dr. John Curran, the foremost Christie expert extant, sadly traces the damage committed by meddlesome Hollywood and its even more heavily politicized ugly twin, the BBC, when adapting Agatha’s Murder Is Easy (a.k.a. Easy To Kill) and looks forward apprehensively to an upcoming “adaptation” of Towards Zero. Curran hits the truth button on why Agatha Christie’s “entire back catalogue is still in print”: “It is because she stuck to writing what she knew she could write: clever, entertaining whodunits. . . she rarely, if ever, weighed down her stories with discussion of religion or politics.”

   The second part of Francis M. Nevins’s article about Erle Stanley Gardner has a wealth of information concerning ESG’s middle period (including the two largely unknown prototypes of Perry Mason and Della Street) and his first Mason novels, featuring a far different character than most readers and TV viewers are accustomed to (“The Mason of these novels is a tiger in the social Darwinian jungle . . .”). And there’s more to come.

   In 1958 Julian Symons compiled a heavily annotated list of what he regarded as the “100 Best Crime Stories,” starting with William Godwin’s Caleb Williams (1794), and running up to 1957. Those familiar with Symons’stastes in detective fiction won’t be surprised at some of his choices, but it’s heartening to see that he didn’t overlook Freeman, Futrelle, Van Dine, and EQ, among deserving others.

   Pietro De Palma offers up this issue’s fiction piece, “A Double Locked Room” (6 pages): “In the seafront office of the Bari Police Station, two men were discussing this fresh case, which seemed less a police matter than a matter for an escapologist.”

   From the mid-80s we have Jon L. Breen’s in-depth reviews of three contemporary novels: Max Allan Collins’s Kill Your Darlings (1984: “excellent dialogue, characterization, and mystery plot”); Robert J. Randisi’s Full Contact (1984: “a well-crafted and quick-paced story”); and Reginald Hill’s A Clubbable Woman (1970, first U. S. publication 1984: “one of the outstanding firsts in detective fiction history”).

   Editor Arthur Vidro shares his thoughts about the (usually) benign madness associated with book collecting, which sometimes becomes uncontrollable at auctions, and his own personal “game plan.”

   From a 1979 issue of The Armchair Detective we delve once more into “The Non-Fiction World of Edward D. Hoch,” as he reminisces about “Growing Up with Ellery Queen” (“I think I wanted to be a writer even then”).

   When he reviewed Doug Greene’s recently published John Dickson Carr: The Man Who Explained Miracles (1995), Michael Dirda rightly entitled it “The Houdini of the Mystery” (“Carr excels in his plotting and narrative pacing, in the rush of unfathomable, seemingly unconnected clues . . . reading a writer like Carr is being reminded that good fiction doesn’t require richly beautiful sentences or complex psychological probing . . .”).

   Arthur Vidro returns with two concise reviews: Agatha Christie’s By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968: “her enthusiasm comes through in the prose”) and Stuart Palmer’s The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree (1933: “The fourth outing for Hildegarde Withers takes her to California”).

   Letters from OTD-ers and a fiendish puzzle wrap up what we’ve come to expect, a quality issue of Old-Time Detection full of good stuff.

      ____

   Subscription information:

   Published three times a year: spring, summer, and autumn. – Sample copy: $6.00 in U.S.; $10.00 anywhere else. – One-year U.S.: $18.00. – One-year overseas: $40.00 (or 25 pounds sterling or 30 euros). – Payment: Checks payable to Arthur Vidro, or cash from any nation, or U.S. postage stamps or PayPal. – Mailing address: Arthur Vidro, editor, Old-Time Detection, 2 Ellery Street, Claremont, New Hampshire 03743.

Web address: vidro@myfairpoint.net

IF SCIENCE FICTION, July 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover art by Jack Gaughan. Full text and illustrations available at archive.org. Overall rating: ***½

PHILIP JOSE FARMER – The Felled Star. Serial, part 1 of 2. See review later after both parts are available. [The entire two-part serial is a section of Farmer’s novel The Fabulous Riverboat.]

E. A. WALTON “Pelandra’s Husbands. First story. Love proves stronger than possible immortality. (1)

ANDREW J. OFFUTT “Population Implosion.” Novelette. The plague hits only old people, in direct correspondence to the birth rate. Excellent idea suffers [is marred] only by jumps in the story. (5)

C. C. MacAPP “A Ticket to Zenner.” Novelette. A thief leaves behind a ticket, in a SF intrigue story, reminiscent of Eric Ambler, but without the convincing background. (3)

ALAN DIRKSON “Adam’s Eve.” Novelette. A world without humans has only waiting robots, but two find how to obtain services for themselves. (3) [His only published SF story.]

KEITH LAUMER – Spaceman! Serial, part 3 of 3. See review coming up soon. [Book publication as Galactic Odyssey.]

OTHER WORLDS SCIENCE STORIES. June-July 1951. Editor: Raymond A. Palmer. Cover art: H. W. McCauley. Overall rating: *

RUSSELL BRANCH “Time Flaw.” Novelette. The love betwen Captain Hunter of the S. S. Stella and one of his passengers is interrupted by disaster and application of Einstein’s theories. Poor writing keeps plot from any depths it might have been capable of. (1)

POUL ANDERSON “The Missionaries.” Alien worship of machines is carried to its logical conclusion, cannibalism. (2)

R. BRETNOR “The Fledermaus Report.” Martin Fledermaus, chosen as first human to fly to the moon, discovers that the beauty of one’s wife is relative. Tripe. (0)

ROBERT BLOCH “The Tin You Love to Touch.” Low-grade comedy about the female robot maid that comes between Roscoe Droop and his domineering wife, This is really low. (0)

RAY PALMER “Mr. Yellow Jacket.” Galactic census-takers discover that some humans have the power yo make thoughts real, Included (page 81) is one of the silliest theories of meteors ever. (0)

S. J. BYRNE “Beyond the Darkness.” Novella. Intrigue aboard one of a fleet of FTL ships seeking new worlds for humanity. The passengers are subjected to a memory-erasing device so that the rebellious navigators can return to contest for already inhabited worlds. Nad, our hero, finds the ex-captain still alive; the plan fails, escape, discovery, loss of heroine, villain returns from oblivion, cowardly brother redeems himself. People don’t really talk and act this way, do they? *½

THE SAINT MAGAZINE. July 1967. Editor: Hans Stefan Santesson. Overall rating: ***

FLEMING LEE “The Gadget Lovers.” Simon Templar. Complete novel (73 pages), adapted from a teleplay by John Kruse. Russian spies are being murdered by exploding equipment, and naturally enough the Western allies are suspected. The Saint is sent to stop the assassination of a Colonel Smolenko, who turns out to be a woman. It is her idea to play the part of his secretary, as he becomes the target. The trail leads to Switzerland and to a monastery taken over by the Chinese. The handicaps of TV restrictions, and the required flashy beginning, are very well overcome. If the idea of a beautiful woman as a Russian officer can be accepted, the story becomes an interesting study of East meeting West. ****

MICHAEL INNES “Imperious Caesar.” John Appleby. First appeared in MacKill’s Mystery Magazine, April 1953. A malevolent professor commits suicide during a bloody Shakespearean production (4)

HELEN McCLOY “Through a Glass, Darkly.” Novelette. First appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, September 1948. Basil Wiling takes on the case of a woman who fears meeting her supernatural double. She has reason, for it is part of a plot to frighten her to death. Too many people take it too seriously, (2)

LEIGHLA WHIPPER “Death Comes of Chuchu Valente.” Miss Bennett [a recurring character], professional assassin, is hired to kill a Mexican bullfight announcer. Ridiculous. (1)

EDWARD D. HOCH “The Oblong Room.” Captain Leopold. An LSD religious experience leads to murder in a dormitory room. (3)

CORNELL WOOLRICH “Screen Test.” Jimmy Galbraith. First appeared in Dime Detective, November 1934, as “Preview of Death.”. A request for police protection fails as the heroine’s dress goes up in flames on the [movie] set, but the detective solves the case by watching the film rushes. A good story. (3)

ANALOG SF.  June 1967. Editor: John W. Campbell. Cover art: John Schoenherr. Overall rating: **

HARRY HARRISON “The Men from P.I.G.” Novelette. Porcine Interstellar Guard, that is. Nothing more than the title suggests: rather poor Analog-type adventures on a colonial planet. (2)

CHRISTOPHER ANVIL “Compound Interest.” About 12 pages summarizing “Experts in the Field” (Analog, May 1967; reviewed here) plus [four more with] a new ending. (1)

JOHN T. PHILLIFENT “Aim for the Heel.” Novelette. Not SF. The “Man from CODE” this time, able to avenge the deaths of thousands by acting strictly within the law. (3)

E. G. VON WALD “Something Important.” The aliens’ message for help is ignored because of previously garbled transmissions. (2)

MACK REYNOLDS “Computer War.” Serial, part 2 of 2. See review to follow shortly.

LAWRENCE A. PERKINS “Bite.” An unpopular doctor is infected with rabies. (2)

(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION. Autumn 2023. Issue #64. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 36 pages (including covers). Cover image: The White Elephant Mystery by Ellery Queen, Jr.

   If you like detective fiction in any or all of its permutations then you can’t go wrong with Old-Time Detection. The new mingles with the old (which means, in most cases, the classic), leaving plenty for the reader to feast on.

   Among the delectations: an interview with a science fiction/fantasy/detective story author; plenty of well-researched background on the creator of the world’s most famous criminal lawyer; the latest (at the time) paperback reprints from the seventies; a review of a collection of stories by the master of noir; a long-lost Dr. Poggioli story and a witty and amusing self-assessment by its author; a view of the “master conjurer” of fair play detection and a look at how he lived; news about the creator of Poirot and Marple and how the current generation is handling (and, in too many cases, mishandling) her works; a glance at how today’s publishers seem to be on some sort of nostalgia kick, which is good news for detec-fic aficionados; words about the undisputed “king of the classical whodunit”; and the editor’s appraisal of a kids’ novel that even adults can enjoy.

   In it you will find:

(1) A 1976 interview with Isaac Asimov in EQMM: “I was the comic relief …”

(2) Francis M. Nevins gives us the first part of a multipart essay (2010) about Erle Stanley Gardner; however: “Those wishing to read about Gardner’s Perry Mason character must wait for Part Two.”

(3) Charles Shibuk continues his summary (1973) of the “paperback revolution” in detective/mystery publishing that was occurring half a century ago, focusing on Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, Amanda Cross, Carter Dickson (otherwise JDC), Erle Stanley Gardner, Frank Gruber, Ngaio Marsh, Bill Pronzini, Rex Stout, Julian Symons, and Charles Williams.

(4) This is followed by Shibuk’s review (1975) of Nightwebs (1971), a collection of Cornell Woolrich’s “mainly unfamiliar works,” edited by Francis M. Nevins, Jr.: “Some of these stories are of extremely high quality, but alas, there is also much dross.”

(5) The issue’s centerpiece story is T. S. Stribling’s “The Mystery of the Paper Wad” (EQMM, 1946), which hasn’t been seen generally since first publication, followed by Stribling’s own “The Autobiography of an Ingenious Author” (1932): “The criminologist smiled at the illusion held by every man that with him all things, crimes and virtues, are possible.”

(6) In “The Full Mandrake” (2023), Rupert Holmes offers us “an appreciation of John Dickson Carr”: “If the classic fair play detective story is the magic act of literature, then John Dickson Carr is forever its master conjurer . . .”

(7) Douglas G. Greene’s assessment (1995) of JDC’s A Graveyard To Let (1949) (“. . . still, the swimming-pool gimmick is beautifully handled”), as well as Carr’s lifestyle as a New Yorker: “While he wrote in his attic study, Carr smoked continuously and tossed the cigarette butts on uncarpeted parts of the floor . . .”

(8) Dr. John Curran’s “Christie Corner” (2023) looks at what’s happening to AC’s heritage and finds all is not well, warning us about one project: “AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS.”

(9) Michael Dirda’s survey of the current scene, “Classical Mysteries Are Having a Moment” (2023): “. . . for devotees of old-time detection, recent publishing does seem surprisingly retrospective, even nostalgic.”

(10) Jon L. Breen’s article “Edward D. Hoch: King of the Classical Whodunit” (2008): “He practiced the increasingly lost art of the classical detective short story better than all but a handful of writers in the history of the genre.”

(11) There’s a mini-review of The White Elephant Mystery (1950) by Arthur Vidro: “It’s well-plotted and well-written . . .”

(12) As usual there’s a puzzle (and it’s a dilly).

(13) The issue ends with the sad news of Marvin Lachman’s passing: “Without Marv, we [at OTD] would have lacked the participation of leading professionals.”

      ____

   Subscription information:

   Published three times a year: spring, summer, and autumn. – Sample copy: $6.00 in U.S.; $10.00 anywhere else. – One-year U.S.: $18.00. – One-year overseas: $40.00 (or 25 pounds sterling or 30 euros). – Payment: Checks payable to Arthur Vidro, or cash from any nation, or U.S. postage stamps or PayPal. – Mailing address: Arthur Vidro, editor, Old-Time Detection, 2 Ellery Street, Claremont, New Hampshire 03743.

Web address: vidro@myfairpoint.net

ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE – July 1967. Overall rating: ***½

CHARLOTTE ARMSTRONG “The Second Commandment.” Short novel. A minister’s wife falls to her death while answering a “call of nature” along the highway. Afterward the minister discovers he can no longer love all his neighbors. Fine personal point of view, but fails as a mystery story. (4)

AGATHA CHRISTIE “At the Stroke of Twelve.” First appeared in The Sketch, 10 OctobeR 1923, as “The Kidnapping of Johnnie Waverly.” Poirot deduces a man has kidnapped his own son, but then he has all the clues. (3)

JOHN DICKSON CARR “The Lion’s Paw.” First appeared in The Strand Magazine. July 1938, as “Error at Daybreak” by Carter Dickson. Colonel March. A fake suicide attempt is mistaken for a mysterious murder on a deserted hearth. (3)

CORNELL WOOLRICH “Divorce – New York Style.” Serial, part 2 of 2. The girl in a staged hotel room bit dies in the bed, end of Part 1. Scene two in the police station is disappointing. (3)

DENNIS M. DUBIN “Elroy Quinn’s Last Case.” First story. Elroy stops a plot designed to disrupt international relations. Clever! (5) [Note: the author’s only work of short crime fiction.]

ELLERY QUEEN “The President Regrets.” Puzzle story with presidential names. (2)

SHIRLEY WALLACE “The Tiger’s Cub. First story. A man defends his son. (3) [Note: The author’s only work of short crime fiction.]

CELIA FREMLIN “The Special Gift.” An amateur authors’ club meets a man with a strange deadly dream (3)

GUY CULLINGFORD “Something to Get at Quick.” Juvenile delinquency and a stabbing in London. (4)

MIRIAM ALLEN deFORD “The Impersonation Murder Case.” An actor discovers that he is the fall guy in a murder investigation. Sorry, I don’t Believe It. (3)

JOAN RICHTER “Intruder in the Maize.” An arrogant man in Africa should not deal with poison. One bad flaw. (2)

BRIAN HAYES “Security Risk.” First appeared in The (London) Evening News, 19 April 1961. A test works beautifully. (4)

LAWRENCE TREAT “B As in Burglary.” Bankhart of the Homicide Squad is led to the stolen jewels by the murderer’s daughter, and the romance is over. (4)

INTRO. This is the fifth and final story in the February 1936 issue of Dime Detective that I covered in its entirety in my column “Speaking of Pulp” in the April/May/June, 1979 issue of The Not So Private Eye.
         —

   The cover illustration is taken from the final story, a long novelette by T. T. Flynn entitled “Bride of the Beast,” which sounds more like a horror story from Dime Mystery than it docs a detective story. Flynn was an extremely prolific detective story writer from the pulps. He’s never seemed to have gathered much attention, but his stories are always filled with action, and more, they seem to know where they’re going.

   In this one, a circus is about to go bankrupt — strange things are happening on the midway! Trouble-shooter Steve Waring is sent out by the bank to find out what’s going on, and on his first night on the job an elephant rider in the opening procession is decapitated, almost in full view of the horrified audience.

   The circus atmosphere is excellent, the menace is effectively scary, and no holds are barred in producing sudden and violent death. It ends with a furious train ride through the night and with the nightmarish capture of a crazy killer about to torture Joan Wells, tied and helpless, running the circus in her father’s absence, with a twisted replica of love. Hence the title. I guess it sounds like corn, but it’s still the best story in the magazine.

   As you’ll have already gathered, if you’ve been paying attention, the emphasis [in the stories in this issue of this magazine] has not been on ordinary detective work, This had probably been even more true in earliest days of Dime Detective, which was first published in the early 1930s but the trend away from grotesque mystery had not yet eliminated it from the magazine by 1936, as we’ve just seen. Many people tell me they prefer the 1940s version of DD, when the accent changed slightly from the incredibly fantastic to the merely screwy.

   Give me a hand, will you? Help me clean up these little shreds of brown paper that are all over the floor here …