Fri 30 Sep 2022
Diary Review: ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE April 1967.
Posted by Steve under Diary Reviews , Magazines[10] Comments
ELLERY QUEEN’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE April 1967. Overall rating: ***
JULIAN SYMONS “The Crimson Coach Murders.†Novelette. First published in The Evening Standard, 1960, as “The Summer Holiday Murders.” A detective story writer seeking background material takes a tour through southern England. Murder gives him a chance to try his abilities. (3)
ROBERT BLOCH “The Living Dead.†A World War II vampire story; not too imaginative. (2)
EDWARD D. HOCH “The Spy Who Came Out of the Night.†Rand of Double-C is sent to Berne to decode a message. His bitterness is forced to light. (3)
JACQUELINE CUTLIP “The Trouble of Murder.†A murderer burns down his inheritance unknowingly. Dry and confusing writing, but ending is good. (4)
CORNELL WOOLRICH “The Talking Eyes.†Novelette. First published in Dime Detective Magazine, September 1939, as “The Case of the Talking Eyes.†A paralyzed woman, able to communicate only wth her eyes, overhears her son’s wife plotting to kill him. Unable to stop the murder, she manages to avenge his death. Who else could attempt such a story? (4)
RHODA LYS STOREY “Sir Ordwey Views the Body.†Anagram-pastiche [by Norma Schier] of [Dorothy L. Sayers’] Lord Peter Wimsey. (1)
DOROTHY L. SAYERS “The Queen’s Square.†First appeared in The Radio Times, December 23, 1932. Lord Peter Wimsey solves a murder no one could have committed. A red costume in red light would appear white. (3)
JIM THOMPSON “Exactly What Happened.†Man disguised as another is killed by the other disguised as him. (1)
H. R. WAKEFIELD “The Voice of the Inner Ear.†First appeared in The Clock Strikes Twelve by H. Russell Wakefield, Herbert Jenkins, 1940, as “I Recognised the Voice.†A “psychic†detective solves mysteries. (2)
L. J. BEESTON “Melodramatic Interlude.†Revenge is thwarted by the victim’s wife. Obvious but still exciting. (3)
CHRISTOPHER ANVIL “ The Problem Solver and the Burned Letter.†Richard Verner reads a clue from a typewriter ribbon. (2)
LAWRENCE TREAT “P As in Payoff.†Mitch Taylor of Homicide Squad solves a hotel robbery as he tries to gain a favor. (3)
September 30th, 2022 at 11:38 pm
The Hoch, Treat and Woolrich all sound good.
Jacqueline Cutlip was talented.
She published a handful of tales.
Haven’t read this one.
October 1st, 2022 at 12:09 am
Jacqueline Cutlip is one of only two or three authors whose name I didn’t recognize when I posted this old review earlier tonight. She seems to have written only four crime stories, all for EQMM around this same time period.
No matter. As often happens, of the authors whose stories I rated as a (4) in this issue, she was one of them.
October 1st, 2022 at 12:06 pm
I know nothing of Cutlip, other than liking her stories.
October 1st, 2022 at 1:31 pm
This 1959 issue has more of cutlip w/ a side of woolrich. Or vice versa. https://archive.org/details/elleryqueensmysterymagazinev034n03195909/mode/2up
October 1st, 2022 at 2:37 pm
Thanks for the link, Tony. This issue looks like another good one, with lots of authors whose names I recognize (including Cutlip now!).
October 1st, 2022 at 8:52 pm
Lawrence Treat is unjustly neglected today. He was fairly early and important in the modern American Police Procedural and I enjoyed his often lighter contributions to EQMM.
October 1st, 2022 at 9:40 pm
Lawrence Treat was Ed McBain well before Ed McBain came along.
October 2nd, 2022 at 3:11 pm
One of the other authors whose name I did not recognize is L. J. Beeston, who may have been L(eonard) J(ohn) Beeston, (1874-1963), who wrote hundreds of short stories for the fiction magazines of the early 20th century.
If the two are one and the same, the story in this issue appears to be his last published work.
October 2nd, 2022 at 5:11 pm
Steve, according to Fictionmags Index this was Beeston’s last published work. Beeston’s short story career effectively ended in 1932, after which he published only two posthumous stories: “The Return of Blackshaw” in the October 1966 EQMM and this story six months later. It is possible that both these stories are retitlings of earlier stories since anything can happen in the magazine world, but there is no indication whether this may or may not be the case.
October 2nd, 2022 at 5:36 pm
I’m going to assume that these last two stories were written by the same fellow and published after his death. I no long have access to the 4/67 issue of EQMM, so if there was any introductory information, I don’t have it. The stories may have been retitled from an earlier appearance, or perhaps also likely, they were found in a old trunk he owned some 30 years later.