Category Archives: History

HISTORY AND MYSTERY

Posted on December 4, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

Historical fiction has always had a powerful appeal for me, and it’s probably partly because of my love of mysteries. Didn’t Voltaire say that history is “little else than a picture of human crimes and misfortunes”? Think of the poison … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Editing, Fiction, Genre, Historicals, History, Setting | Tagged historical, historical mysteries, history, literature, mystery, past, writing | 1 Comment

“Just Send Me Back” (by Mary Jane Maffini)

Posted on November 13, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

There’s always at least a touch of humor in Mary Jane Maffini’s fiction—a spice that suits the traditional mystery. The Canadian author has won two major awards for stories in EQMM, and she’s also the author of three series of … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventure, Books, Characters, Editing, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Historicals, History, Police Procedurals, Setting, Writers | Tagged classic_mystery, eqmm, fiction, genre, historicals, history, literature, locale, setting, traditional mystery, writers | 3 Comments

“Raoul Whitfield: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Best of Them” (by Boris Dralyuk)

Posted on September 18, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

Two weeks ago Mark Evan Walker contributed an article to this site about largely forgotten mystery writer Brett Halliday and his most famous character, Michael Shayne. This week another writer who has faded from memory—and was perhaps never given his … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Characters, Fiction, Guest, History, Noir, Novels, Writers | Tagged black mask magazine, blackmask, characters, history, literature, magazines, noir, novel, raoul whitfield, writers, writing_technique | 4 Comments

“Call for Michael Shayne” (by Mark Evan Walker)

Posted on September 4, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

Two weeks ago, when Mark Evan Walker posted about his career as an illustrator, I mentioned that he is also a knowledgeable fan of crime and mystery fiction. This week he shares with us some reflections on a character who’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Characters, Fiction, Genre, Guest, History, Illustration, Noir, Writers | Tagged brett halliday, crime, detective, genre, history, michael shayne, mystery, pulp | 5 Comments

“Illustrator, Author, Fan” (by Mark Evan Walker)

Posted on August 21, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

Mark Evan Walker had been an EQMM illustrator for years before, in 2011, we received a copy of his first novel, The Case of the Blood Red Stars. What a surprise that was—though perhaps it shouldn’t have been, for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Characters, Genre, Guest, History, Illustration, Magazine, Noir, Setting | Tagged art, artists, design, eqmm, illustration, illustrator, mystery, noir, thriller | 6 Comments

“A Little Amusement at His Expense: Conan Doyle’s Sly Subversion of English Society,” Part 2 (by Dr. Kenneth Wishnia)

Posted on August 7, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

See last week’s post for Part 1 of Kenneth Wishnia’s discussion: “Barbaric Kings and Plodding Imbeciles: Conan Doyle’s Sly Subversion of English Society,” Part 1. The French author Honoré de Balzac once wrote that “behind every fortune lies a great … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Characters, Editing, Fiction, Guest, History, Writers | Tagged editing, history, literature, sherlock, sherlockiana, short story, writing_technique | 1 Comment

“Barbaric Kings and Plodding Imbeciles: Conan Doyle’s Sly Subversion of English Society,” Part 1   (by Dr. Kenneth Wishnia)

Posted on July 31, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

I was editing EQMM’s February 2014 issue when this interesting two-part post by Dr. Kenneth Wishnia arrived in my in-box. Each year, EQMM’s February issue contains special Sherlock Holmes features, so the great detective and his creator, Sir Arthur Conan … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Characters, Fiction, Guest, History, Novels, Politics, Setting, Writers | Tagged characters, england, fiction, history, literature, sherlock holmes, subversion, victorian england | 1 Comment

WRAPPING IT UP

Posted on July 24, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

This week I’d like to expand on a post I made on November 8, 2010, on EQMM’s Web-site forum, concerning confession scenes. They’re a staple of our genre, so much so that I suspect most writers of crime fiction have … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Characters, Editing, Fiction, History, Writers | Tagged advice, characters, editing, fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, writers, writing, writing_technique | 6 Comments

“Collecting Detective Fiction” (by Martin Edwards)

Posted on May 15, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

The Ellery Queen Collection of Mystery and Detective Fiction, housed at the University of Texas’s Harry Ransom Center, derives from the personal libraries of Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (though primarily from the rare-book collection of the former). It … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthologies, Books, Bookshops, Fiction, Guest, History | Tagged archive, authors, bookshop, collecting, collection, crime, detective, literature, rare_books, secondhand | 2 Comments

“On Location in Paradise” (by Hayford Peirce)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by somethingisgoingtohappen

EQMM’s August issue, which mails to print subscribers a few weeks from now, contains a story set in French Polynesia—often said to be the most beautiful region in the world. Entitled “The Lethal Leeteg,” the story forms part of a … Continue reading →

Posted in Characters, Fiction, Guest, Historicals, History, Police Procedurals, Setting, Writers | Tagged elleryqueen, eqmm, exotic, fiction, hardboiled, short story, suspense, tahiti, technique, thriller | Leave a comment