Mon 19 Dec 2022
A 1001 Midnights Review: MIRIAM ALLEN deFORD – The Theme Is Murder.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[3] Comments
by Bill Pronzini
MIRIAM ALLEN deFORD – The Theme Is Murder. Abelard Shuman, hardcover, 1967.
Miriam Allen deFord is best known for her scholarly works on a variety of historical subjects, and for her true-crime studies — the full-length books, The Overbury Affair (for which she was awarded an MWA Edgar in 1961) and Ma Barker (1970), and the collection of short pieces, Murderers Sane and Mad (1965).
But she was also an accomplished writer of short stories, both mysteries and science fiction (and in some cases a combination of the two); beginning in 1944, she published an aggregate of more than 1O0 until her death in 1975 at the age of eighty-seven.
The Theme ls Murder is her only criminous collection, and a first-rate gathering it is. There are seventeen stories here, most of which first appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine; others were originally published in such diverse publications as Shadow Mystery Magazine, the Sixties men’s periodical Dude, and Windsor Quarterly. Most are of the quiet variety, with emphasis on character and unusual backgrounds (an actual homicide case preserved on a cuneiform tablet from 1850 B.C., for instance, in “The Judgment of En-Lil”; or Ancient Rome in “De Crimine”).
One of her favorite themes is familial strife that builds into violence, as in such stories as ”Beyond the Sea of Death,” “The Oleander’ and “A Death in the Family.”
Each of these seventeen tales is finely crafted and thought-provoking — a single-volume legacy from a gifted spinner of mysterious webs. Recommended.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
December 20th, 2022 at 10:24 pm
A writer not appreciated as much as she should be, her shorts in both genres were always worth reading.
December 20th, 2022 at 10:31 pm
This is her only entry in Hubin, and it’s not easy making a reputation as mystery writer when your only book is a collection of short stories. I’m sure she’s been long forgotten by all but a few folks like us who remember everything.
Here’s a complete list of the contents of this book:
Beyond the Sea of Death · nv Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine May 1949
De Crimine · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Oct 1952
A Death in the Family · ss Dude Nov 1961
The Death of Eric Heilkram · ss Mercury Mystery Magazine Feb 1959
Death Sentence · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine May 1948
Full Circle · ss Keyhole Mystery Magazine Apr 1960
He Was Frightened · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Aug 1953, as “The Crazy Houseâ€
Homecoming · ss 1935
The Judgment of En-Lil · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine May 1954
Mortmain · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Mar 1944
Musca Domestica · ss The Shadow Fll 1948
Nameless Enemy · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Mar 1966
The Oleander · ss Every Week 1930
Right the Wrong · ss The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) Nov 1965
Something to Do with Figures · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Mar 1945
To Be Found and Read · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Dec 1958
Walking Alone · ss Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Oct 1957
December 21st, 2022 at 10:28 pm
The Oleander is a gem.