ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE. November 1967. Overall rating: ***

HARRY KEMELMAN “Man on a Ladder.” Novelette. Professor Nicky Welt solves the murder of a scholar [committed to academic work.] I may be in the minority, but I found this story wordy and flat, and if I may, stagey, The chess analogy is good, but isn’t it clear? (2)

JACOB HAY “The Belkamp Apparatus.” A sales representative for a Grand Rapids firm is mistaken for a master spy. It is humorous. (4)

COLIN WATSON “The Infallible Clock.” If a wife disappears and a large clock stops working, what would you suspect? (2)

WILLIAM BRITTAIN “Mr. Strang Finds the Answers,” The key to Mr. Strang’s chemistry exam is stolen, but the mystery is outweighed by the human factors involved. (4)

RICHARD CURTIS “Odds Bodkins and the £1000 Wager.” The odds on breaking out of prison? Only in England. (3)

G. R. SPENCER “The Polite Mrs. Payne.” First story. A holdup man’s politeness is his downfall. (3)

JOYCE CARY “The Sheep.” Published earlier in Texas Quarterly Winter 1958. Tomlin is a sheep, helpless to speak out for himself; excellent characterization that collapses into nothingness. (3)

RON GOULART “Rink.” Parody. 1001st Precinct mystery. Funny. (3)

ELLERY QUEEN “Uncle from Australia.” First appeared in The Diners Club Magazine, June 1965. The Cockney aitch strikes again. Easy puzzle. (2)

THOMAS WALSH “Poor Little Rich Kid.” First appeared in Collier’s, 18 April 1936, as “The Boy on the Train.” A boy with an inheritance, and a weak father, befriends a couple of rodeo cowboys. Good story, but over-plotted. (3)

JAMES CROSS “The Man Who Called Himself James Cross.” Sebastian Nonesuch. A sequel to “The hkzmp gsv bzmp Case,” published in the November 1966 issue of EQMM (reviewed here). The revealed details of the exploits of  US agent Sebastian Nonesuch must be stopped. Often hilarious. (4)

MICHAEL HARRISON “The Fires in the Rue St. Honore.” Another “unpublished” story of C. Auguste Dupin. It seems to be better than the rest, but it turns out to be hopeless for the attentive reader. (2)

ARTHUR PORGES “The Nose of a Beagle.”That the detective is Charles Darwin is obvious from the title. (2)

CHRISTIANNA BRAND “Here Lies…” How to drown a wife who is a swimming champion, and how to build an atmosphere of suspense most effectively. (5)

(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION. Summer 2025. Issue #69. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 34 pages (including covers).

   THE LATEST ISSUE of OLD-TIME DETECTION focuses on one of detective fiction’s all-time greats, PETER LOVESEY (1936-2025), who passed away in April. OTD editor ARTHUR VIDRO has gathered comments, a 1980 EQMM interview with Lovesey, even a letter that the author wrote to Arthur about OTD, and personal recollections, among them DOUGLAS G. GREENE (“THE LOSS OF PETER LOVESEY, A GREAT WRITER”), JEFFREY MARKS, and MARTIN EDWARDS (“PETER LOVESEY, R.I.P.”).

   JON L. BREEN offers a JURY BOX appraisal of print publications that were spawned by Warren Beatty’s 1990 movie interpretation of DICK TRACY, some of which might surprise you, boasting really big names in detective and science fiction.

   NEXT UP, TOM MEAD manfully tackles what has been a vexatious topic for years, the “10 MOST PUZZLING IMPOSSIBLE CRIME MYSTERIES.” Long-time detective fiction readers might be familiar with most, if not all, of them, but Mead’s appraisals offer new insights: Carr’s THE THREE COFFINS (a.k.a. THE HOLLOW MAN), Dickson’s THE RED WIDOW MURDERS, Hoch’s “The Long Way Down,” McCloy’s THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY, Dunsany’s “The Two Bottles of Relish,” EQ’s THE CHINESE ORANGE MYSTERY, Rogers’s THE RED RIGHT HAND, Shimada’s THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS, Halter’s THE SEVEN WONDERS OF CRIME, and Crispin’s THE MOVING TOY SHOP. “When done right,” says Mead, “the puzzle and the atmosphere are perfectly intertwined; all the clues are there but they are so ingeniously disguised as to make it nigh-on impossible for the reader to suss out what is going on.”

   PERCEPTIVE REVIEWS of a diverse collection of books come next: ARTHUR VIDRO discusses King’s CARELESS CORPSE; LES BLATT talks about Crispin’s THE CASE OF THE GILDED FLY; HARV TUDORRI takes on Berkeley’s THE WYCHFORD POISONING CASE; RUTH ORDIVAR reviews Gardner’s THE CASE OF THE BAITED HOOK; TRUDI HARROV appraises Christie’s POSTERN OF FATE; and RUTH ORDIVAR returns with her take on Guigli’s UNDER THE BLACK FLAG – PIRACY IS NOT A VICTIMLESS CRIME, a 2024 novel which “shares many of the old-time qualities we love.”

   THE FICTION SELECTION is excellent, as usual. This time it’s William Brittain’s ingenious “FALLING OBJECT,” which first appeared in EQMM in 1971.

   CHARLES SHIBUK continues to chronicle THE PAPERBACK REVOLUTION, that wonderful time when publishers discovered there was gold in them there classic reprints, this time from the mid-seventies: Allingham, Carr, Christie, Ellen, Francis, Hammett, James, Levin, Liebman, Post, Queen, Roueche, Stribling, and Symons.

   BACK IN 2016, MARTIN EDWARDS wrote an introduction to MURDER AT THE MANOR: COUNTRY HOUSE MYSTERIES, and it’s reproduced in full here. “Today,” writes Edwards, “enthusiasm for the country house crime story remains as strong as ever.” The same could be said for 2025.

   ARTHUR VIDRO continues his series about collecting, “THE VAGARIES OF THE MARKET,” with his and others’ experiences thrown in.

   NEXT IS “CHRISTIE CORNER” by DR. JOHN CURRAN, probably the world’s foremost expert on all things Agatha Christie, and, as usual, the ways the good lady’s properties are being handled (and mishandled) come under his close scrutiny. His wise advice for the ages: “LEAVE HER PLOTS ALONE!”

   THIS ISSUE of OTD ends with readers’ letters and a baffling puzzle. Overall, the Summer 2025 issue of OLD-TIME DETECTION is worth a look, and maybe even a subscription.

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 30 pounds sterling or 40 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

ANALOG SF – November 1967. Editor: John W. Campbell Cover art: Kelly Freas. Overall rating: **

GUY McCORD “Coup.” Novelette. [Guy McCord is a pen name of Mack Reynolds.] A planet originally settled by colonists from Scotland is rediscovered by the crew of an explorer ship. Their ignorance of local customs, developed by necessity, enables the natives to count coup on them A coup is a telling blow inflicted by an unarmed warrior upon one who is armed. Standard but interesting, yet unsatisfying. (3)

PIERS ANTHONY “Prostho Plus.” Dr. Dillingham #2. Dr. Dillingham’s dentist’s office is taken over by two aliens, one of whom has a problem with his teeth. The story ends just as it’s beginning. (1)

MARTIN LORAN “The Case of the Perjured Planet.” The Librarian #2. Novelette. [Martin Loran is a joint pen name of John Baxter and Ron Smith.] Librarian Stephen Quist uses hard-boiled private eye techniques to discover the secret of planet Napoleon 6. An unlikely premise that fails miserably, though the story is barely tolerable. (1)

JACK WODHAMS“The Cure-All Merchant.” To the consternation of an inspector representing the drug industry, Dr. Malmy practices medicine without the use of drugs, relying on human resources for his cures. Too long. (2)

JOE POYER “Mission: Red Plague.” A super-high-altitude reconnaissance pilot observing warfare in Asia is exposed to a Chinese bacteriological attack and comes down with … the flu. A story hidden in technical junk. (2)

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTION. October 1967. Seventeenth anniversary issue. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Gray Morrow. Overall rating: ****

ROGER ZELAZNY “Damnation Alley.” Novelette. Previously reviewed here. (*****)

POUL ANDERSON “Poulfinch’s Mythology.” Non-fact article. A look from the future at twelve gods of contemporary America. This did not interest me enough to make me want to see if I agree with Anderson or not. (1)

H. L. GOLD “The Transmogrification of Wamba’s Revenge.” Novelette. A secret formula of the Pygmies, capable of shrinking all living beings to a tenth of their former size, is used on mankind. This means the end of all warfare under the benevolent rulership of the Pygmies, on whom the formula does not work. Pretty obvious when you think about it. (3)

GEORGE O. SMITH “Understanding.” A fifteen year old boy, Terry Lincoln, without Understanding, is given a secret message to Earth that he cannot understand. To obtain the message from him, the Xanabarians must see to it that he obtains Understanding. Which is impossible to explain to he who has it and unnecessary to mention to he who has it, but it is a sort of refined premonition or intuition, necessary for all interstellar traveling cultures, ready to take on responsibility. So why not a better story to go with it? (3)

IF SCIENCE FICTION. October 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Hector Castellon. Overall rating: **½.

HAL CLEMENT “Ocean on Top.” Serial, part 1 of 3. Review to appear after my reading of the full story.

LARRY EISENBERG “Conqueror.” A short but terribly important story of how sex can humiliate the proudest conqueror. (5)

A. E. van VOGT “Enemy of the Silies.” Novelette. More incomprehensible adventures of the Silkies, attacked this time by the Nijjians. Cemp’s only weapon if his Logic of Levels, whatever that might be. You gotta admire van Vogt, if he understands this stuff. (0)

C. C. MacAPP “Winter of the Llangs.” Novelette. An intelligent cattle-like people trapped by the weather are harassed by creatures which might be wolves. Solid alien characterization. (3)

DONALD J. WALSH “Mu Panther,” First story. A hunting party goes after a mutant panther which has more than size going for it, (2)

JAMES BLISH “Faust Aleph-Null.” Serial, part 3 of 3. To be reviewed separately soon.

(Give Me That) OLD-TIME DETECTION. Spring 2025. Issue #68. Editor: Arthur Vidro. Old-Time Detection Special Interest Group of American Mensa, Ltd. 34 pages (including covers).

THE LATEST issue of OTD could be a nostalgia trip for a lot of readers, especially those who were turned on to detective fiction when they were adolescents. As you’ll see, editor Arthur Vidro will show us the part he has been playing in the nostalgic revival.

THE ISSUE begins with Edward D. Hoch, which is always a great start. There’s an interview Hoch had with EQMM in 1976, followed by an essay Hoch wrote for THE ARMCHAIR DETECTIVE in 1979. In the interview he cites the first influential adult book he ever read to be an EQ novel and explains his affinity for the short story form. (Which book? you ask. Read OTD and see.) In the essay Hoch does a good job of connecting real-life criminality with fiction. Even Theodore Dreiser got into the act!

LIKE MOST fictioneers, Stuart Palmer had his own way of going about writing detective fiction, and we have a short summary of it here.

ONE LONG-RUNNING detective fiction character was Hugh Pentecost’s John Jericho, whose adventures were collected by Crippen & Landru in 2008 and for which S.T. Karnick wrote an introduction. In it Karnick notes Pentecost’s primary interest in social corruption and personal responsibility. And were there prefigurings in Jericho of Jack Reacher?

EQ’s 1949 classic serial killer novel CAT OF MANY TAILS has recently been reissued by Otto Penzler with an introduction by Richard Dannay, Frederic Danny’s son, that provides background information on that book and the two cousins’ involvement in detective fiction in general, but focuses primarily on Frederic Dannay’s individual scholarly contribution, which in itself was prodigious.

THE FICTION PIECE is Agatha Christie’s “A CHESS PROBLEM,” a story guaranteed to make you think twice before you sit down at the board.

NEXT, the reigning expert on theatrical versions of mysteries, Amnon Kabatchnik, gives us the background for J. B. Priestley’s AN INSPECTOR CALLS, which he characterizes as a “mystery parable” with “an unexpected twist ending.”

IF YOU enjoyed THE THREE INVESIGATORS series of juvenile mysteries when you were younger, then you’ll be happy to hear that “THE THREE INVESTIGATORS ARE BACK” in deluxe paperback and electronic editions. Arthur details how he came to be involved with the project, modestly claiming to be “A SMALL PART OF THE ACT.”

WHAT WAS POPULAR in paperbacks for the detective fiction fan fifty years ago? Some of the best stuff to come along, reports Charles Shibuk, classics all: Raymond Chandler, G. K. Chesterton, Agatha Christie, John Collier, Stanley Ellin, Dick Francis, Ellery Queen, and Josephine Tey.

MICHAEL DIRDA offers his personal selection of “MYSTERY NOVELS SO CLEVER YOU’LL READ THEM TWICE,” which includes a couple of books by relatively unknown writers.

THEN WE HAVE perceptive reviews by Jon L. Breen of CLOUD NINE by James M. Cain, a wildly erratic writer, and Arthur Vidro of THE REGATTA MYSTERY AND OTHER STORIES by Agatha Christie, who never suffered from Cain’s affliction.

COLLECTING THINGS, especially detective fiction, is an honorable pursuit and two collectors, Nina Mazzo and Donald Pollock, talk about it.

THE PUZZLE PAGE might present a problem for readers who haven’t been exposed to Hollywood’s B-films from the 1930s.

THE SPRING ISSUE of OTD is well worth your time – and a subscription.

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 30 pounds sterling or 40 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

WHODUNIT MYSTERY MAGAZINE – September-October 1967. Editor: Douglas Stapleton. [This was the only issue to be published.] Overall rating: **

BURT MacDOUGALL “The Hostage.” A bank robber uses a fake little old lady as a hostage. Good ending; indifferent writing. (3)

MARY LYNN ROBY “The Practical Way.” A woman is pressured by he daughter-in-law to go modern. Done better by others. (2)

PHELPS GOODHUE “Assassin!” Plot to assassinate Lincoln fails, as does this story. (1)

DOUGLAS & DOROTHY STAPLETON “Ransom for a Rogue.” Novella. Three crises occur for protagonist Douglas Stapleton, each one of which is crucial to the life of a kidnapped boy. The reader shares these crises and has the chance to make his own decisions. Alternate story passages follow, scattered throughout the magazine. I got all three correctly, but they were not difficult, and the story is rather contrived to fit them in, Clever, but otherwise not much. **½

CAROL ARCHER STURMOND “Cheat the Devil.” Willie thinks he has the devil trapped within his pentagram but makes a bad bargain anyway. Usual bit. (2)

EMMANUEL BROZ “It’s the Details That Count,” Bank robber poses as policeman sent to stop robbery. Ending from thin air. (1)

K. S. L. STEELE “The Final War!” Sneaky story about the beginning of World War I. (3)

MICHAEL BRETT “The Seeds of Destruction.” After getting beaten up three times by bully, kid gets revenge. (2)

MARY LYNN ROBY “Pest Control.” Scientist must decide between wife or pet cat. Poor guy. (1)

THOMAS BRADLEY “Love Me, Mama!” Kid falls from tree but doesn’t know he’s dead. (2)

ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE October 1967. [Special international issue.] Overall rating: **½.

MICHAEL GILBERT “The Terrorists.” Behrens & Calder. Novelette. First published in Argosy (UK) April 1967, as “Double, Double.” A plot to assassinate an Arabian ruler in London fails, thanks to the work of Behrens and Calder. (3)

JOHN D. MacDONALD “No Business for an Amateur.” Novelette. First published in Dime Detective, February 1947 as “Dead to the World.” Roadhouse protection racket, told in pulp style so strong you can smell the yellow pages. One great line, on page 36. (3)

HEINRICH BOLL “Like a Bad Dream.” First published in Harper’s Magazine, October 1965. Translated by Leila Vennewitz. A wife has to show her husband how to have an excavation bid accepted. Distinctly German. (5)

NOEL BOSKER “Best Laid Schemes.” A murder plan is ruined when someone beats him to it. (3)

JUNICHIRO TANIZAKI “The Thief.” First appeared in Seven Japanese Tales by Junichiro Tanizaki, Knopf, hardcover, 1963. The story of a highly moral thief’s college days. (4)

ALBERTO MORAVIA “Only the Death of a Man.” First appeared in The Atlantic Monthly December 1958, as “The Secret.” Translated by Helene Cantarella. Hit-and-run bothers a truck driver’s conscience, but not his girl friend’s. (2)

LEO TOLSTOY “The Man of God.” Reprint. Comparatively clumsy treatment of a man wrongly sentenced to Siberia. (3)

JOSEF SKVORECKY “The Classic Sererak Case.” First appeared in Smutek Porucika Boruvky, Prague, 1966. Young sergeant’s efforts to show suicide was murder are unnecessary: Lieutenant Vorovka needs to ask only two questions. The humor depends on an obvious situation, except for clue withheld until the end. (3)

HERNANDO TELLEZ “Enemy in His Hands” First appeared in Great Spanish Tales, Dell, 1962, as “Just Lather, That’s All. ” Translated by Donald A. Yates. A barber has an enemy captain in his chair. (3)

GEORGES SIMENON “Inspector Maigret Pursues.” First appeared in English in Argosy (UK) January 1962, as “The Man on the Run.” Maigret spends five days following man who does not dare go home. Ending misfires. (3)

M. PATRICIA DOBLE “The Quest Gest.” The ghost of Shakespeare returns. Pointless? (1)

JAMES POWELL “The Beddoes Scheme.” Acting Sergeant Maynard Bullock. Novelette. An advertising campaign on the behalf of peace and brotherhood. Wild, gets wilder, then stupid, finally boring. (0)

LAWRENCE TREAT “C As in Crime.” Mitch Taylor & Bill Decker. Mitch Taylor thinks he has solved a murder case, but he doesn’t have it quite right. Last line doesn’t make sense. (3)

ANDREW GARVE “Line of Communication.” A kite is used by a boy to escape from kidnappers. Nothing more. (3)

WORLDS OF FANTASY #1, 1968. Editor: Lester del Rey, Cover art by Jack Gaughan. Overall rating: ***½.

JOHN JAKES “Mirror of Wizardry.” Brak the Barbarian. Novelette. Brak the Barbarian is of course based on Conan, but that doesn’t make his adventures any less enjoyable. This time Brak’s escape through the mountains is hindered by a wizard hunting the girl he has befriended. (4)

BILL WARREN “Death in a Lonely Place.” A vampire who preys on prostitutes shows that he has a heart. (4)

ROBERT SILVERBERG “As Is.” Novelette. A computer salesman buys a car with a mysteriously sealed trunk. Easy to read, but not believable, with a miserable ending. (3)

MACK REYNOLDS “What the Vintners Buy.” Trust Reynolds to put a lecture on hallucinations into a fantasy. (2)

LIN CARTER & L. SPRAGUE de CAMP “Conan and the Cenotaph.” Novelette. According to [Webster], a cenotaph is a monument for someone whose body is buried elsewhere. The one Conan is lured to is magnetic, and the home of a slime-monster. (4)

PARIS FLAMMONDE “After Armageddon.” Suppose the last man in the world had happened to have found the Fountain of Youth. (3)

ROBERT HOSKINS “The Man Who Liked.” Before the bombs fell, Death was a happy person. (1)

ROBERT E. HOWARD “Delenda Est…” Hannibal’s ghost comes to life to help a barbarian’s attack on Rome. Obsessed with historical background. (2)

ROBERT LORY “However.” Novelette. Hamper the However’s trip from Balik to Overnon by way of [grath (?)] is hampered by his lack of magical powers, However, if people believe that one has these powers, what difference can it make? (3)

IF SCIENCE FICTION – September 1967. Editor: Frederik Pohl. Cover artist: Gray Morrow. Overall rating: ***

C. C. MacAPP “The Fortunes of Peace.” Novelette. Forced to make a deal with Kyshan pirates, “Taintless” Wend manages to doublecross them while trapped in orbit about a dead dwarf star. (3)

ROBERT SILVERBERG “Bride Ninety-One.” A tale of interworld marriage, between a Terran and a Suvornese, with insight into marriage customs or mores. (5)

PERRY A. CHAPDELAINE “To Serve the Masters.” First story; novelette. The Masters have a sensory organ which allows them to feel emotions and thus has enabled them to dominate all other life forms in their part of the galaxy. Humans are bred for generation to give them specialized intelligence. Such a specialist in genetics is given the task of improving the Masters’ race, but his solution forces them to begin the path of evolution from the beginning again. The genetics goes over my head and tends to make the story drier than it should have been. (3)

J. G. BALLARD “Venus Smiles.” Novelette. A sonic metal statue begins to grow and has to be dismembered as scrap, with disastrous results. I resent Ballard’s references to “twanging sitars” and “hack classics.”  (2)

PHILIP JOSE FARMER “A Bowl Bigger Than Earth.” Novelette. Farmer’s view of Hell: regimented life in brass houses in sexless bodies. Not to be confused with his Riverworld series, (2)

JAMES BLISH “Faust Aleph-Null.” Serial, part 2 of 3. To be reviewed when all three parts have been read.

HARL VINCENT “Invader.” Novelette. An engineer gets an impulse to help a strange girl in distress, and in actuality helps a princess’s mind trapped on Earth to return to Tau Ceti. Planet Stories brought up to date, almost. (2)