Today was the last day of GoodisCon 2007, and no, I wasn’t able to go, and whether there will be another, I have no idea. But here’s a question that occurs to me. What other mystery writer has had a convention dedicated to him and him alone?

null

I’ll qualify that by saying that Anthony Boucher is not an acceptable answer, as Bouchercons were always about more than Mr. Boucher. And as a brief aside, I suspect that many attendees of Bouchercons in recent years do not even know who Mr. Boucher was.

Searching on the Internet just now, I came across several sites relating to David Goodis that may be of interest, the first one of which may contain cover images of every edition of every book that Goodis wrote. (It does say “a selection,” so it’s more than likely that I’m exaggerating, but there are certainly quite a few for you to look at here, many of which I’ve never seen before. Not the one below, but many of the later editions and almost all of the foreign editions.)

Chase

You may have to follow the link at the bottom of the page that the link above leads you to. The first page that comes up contains a short biography of Goodis by Dave Moore. There are many other sites that I might send you to, but back in Crimesquad‘s archives I found another short biography and a review of Black Friday and Selected Stories (Serpent’s Tail, trade pb, July 2006).

It’s a book I missed when it came out. I’d put it on my birthday list, but then I’d have to wait another whole year. I’d rather not wait that long.

   Contents:

Black Friday. Novel. Lion 224, pbo, 1954.
“The Dead Laugh Last.” Goodis writing as David Crewe. 10 Story Mystery Magazine, October 1942.
“Come to My Dying!” Goodis writing as Logan C. Claybourne. 10 Story Mystery Magazine, October 1942.
“The Case of the Laughing Ghost.” Goodis writing as Lance Kermit. 10 Story Mystery Magazine, October 1942.
“Caravan to Tarim.” Collier’s, October 26, 1943.
“It’s a Wise Cadaver.” New Detective, July 1946.
“The Time of Your Kill.” Goodis writing as David Crewe. New Detective, November 1948.

I wonder what a copy of 10 Story Mystery Magazine for October 1942 goes for these days.

   
   —

UPDATE: It didn’t take long for a report to appear online from someone who was there. Who better to give with some details than crime novelist Duane Swierczynski (pronounced “sweer-ZIN-ski”) on his blog, which you should be reading as a matter of course anyway…