The World's Finest Mystery Part 2

NICKERSON, CATHERINE ROSS. The Web of Inequity: Early Detective Fiction by American Women. Durham: Duke University Press, 1999. A study of early women mystery writers in this country.

PASCAL, JANET. Arthur Conan Doyle. New York: Oxford University Press. A new biography of Sherlock Holmes's creator.

PENZLER, OTTO. Cornell Woolrich, Part II (William Irish & George Hopley). New York: The Mysterious Bookshop. A descriptive bibliography and price guide to first editions. One of a series of booklets for collectors.

---. John P. Marquand's Mr. Moto. New York: The Mysterious Bookshop. A descriptive bibliography and price guide to first editions.

---. 101 Greatest Movies of Mystery & Suspense. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Direct. A listing, with credits and extensive commentary on each film.

PHILLIPS, GENE D. Creatures of Darkness: Raymond Chandler, Detective Fiction, and Film Noir. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. An a.n.a.lysis of Chandler's work in fiction, screenwriting, and on film. Preface by Billy Wilder.

SALLIS, JAMES. Chester Himes: A Biography. New York: Walker. A biography of the creator of Harlem detectives Coffin Ed Johnson and Grave Digger Jones.

---. Difficult Lives. Brooklyn: Gryphon Books. Revised edition of a 1993 study on the life and work of noir authors Jim Thompson, David Goodis, and Chester Himes.

SARJEANT, WILLIAM A. S. A Policeman In Post-War Paris: The Saturnin Dax Novels of Marten c.u.mberland. South Benfleet, Ess.e.x, England: Geoff Bradley. A forty-four-page booklet about the series.

THOMAS, RONALD R. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. How the development of forensic science was intertwined with the evolution of the detective story.

VANDERBURGH, GEORGE A. R. Austin Freeman: The Anthropologist at Large, Thornd.y.k.e cholars.h.i.+p and Pastiches. Shelburne, Ontario, Canada: Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. Volume 11 of The R. Austin Freeman Omnibus Edition, containing a 1980 biography by Oliver Mayo together with nearly one hundred articles by various authors, reprinted mainly from The Thornd.y.k.e File, and four pastiches.

WILLEFORD, CHARLES. Writing and Other Blood Sports. Tucson, AZ: Dennis McMillan, Essays, interviews, and reviews, eleven previously unpublished, by the late crime writer.

WINDRATH, HELEN, ed. They Wrote the Book: 13 Women Mystery Writers Tell All. Duluth, MN: Spinsters Ink. Essays on how they write.

Obituaries STEVE ALLEN (19212000). Comedian and talk-show host who published ten show-business mysteries (at least some ghost-written), as well as three collections of short stories, some criminous.

EDWARD ANHALT (19142000). Oscar-winning screenwriter for Becket, who also published some twenty-five crime stories in the pulps, most under the name of "Andrew Holt."

THOMAS BABE (19412000). Mainstream playwright who published two suspense plays in the 1970s, Billy Irish and A Prayer for My Daughter.

CONRAD VOSS BARK (19132000). British journalist who published seven novels about sleuth William Holmes, 196268.

DAVID BEATY (19191999). British author of eight thrillers, notably Cone of Silence (1959), plus three others as by "Paul Stanton."

KENNETH BENTON (19091999). British author of eight intrigue novels, notably Spy in Chancery (1972), plus two others as by "James Kirton."

H. S. BHABRA (19552000). Indian/British banker residing in Canada, author of two suspense novels under his own name and two others under the pseudonym of "A. M. Kabal."

LEONARD BODIN (19111999). British author of a single crime novel, ...And the Body Came Too (1946).

ARTYOM BOROVIK (19602000). Russian journalist and mystery writer, head of the Russian branch of the International a.s.sociation of Crime Writers.

ROBERT (WRIGHT) CAMPBELL (19272000). Novelist and screenwriter who published some thirty mystery novels, including five as R. Wright Campbell and one as "F. G. Clinton," notably the Edgar-winning The Junkyard Dog (1986) and In La-La Land We Trust (1986).

MORRIS CARGILL (19142000). Jamaican journalist and radio commentator who coauth.o.r.ed three mysteries with John Hearne, under the pseudonym of "John Morris."

SARAH CAUDWELL (19392000). Well-known British lawyer and author who produced four well-received novels beginning with Thus Was Adonis Murdered (1981). The final novel, The Sybil in Her Grave, was published posthumously.

MARIAN c.o.c.kRELL (19091999). Coauthor, with her late husband, Frank, of a 1944 suspense novel Dark Waters, based on her film script. She also published a solo suspense novel, Something Between (1946), and later was a scriptwriter for the Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k television series.

ROBERT CORMIER (19252000). Acclaimed author of novels for young adults including the suspense novel I Am the Cheese (1977), as well as the adult suspense novel After the First Death (1979).

SIR JULIAN CRITCHLEY (19302000). Member of the British Parliament and author of two suspense novels in the early 1990s, unpublished in America.

ALICE CROMIE (19142000). Travel writer and widow of bookman Robert Cromie, she wrote a single mystery novel, Lucky to Be Alive (1979).

GUY CULLINGFORD (19072000). Pseudonym of British author Constance Lindsay Taylor, who published nine mystery and detective novels, notably Post Mortem (1953).

FREDERIC DARD (19212000). Journalist who wrote more than 150 novels in French about Paris police superintendent "San Antonio," using his character's name as his pseudonym. About a dozen have been translated into English.

L. SPRAGUE DE CAMP (19072000). Famed science fiction author who published a collection of short stories, some criminous, The Purple Pterodactyls (1979).

NORMAN DONALDSON (19222000). British/American author of In Search of Dr. Thornd.y.k.e (1971, revised 1998), a biography of R. Austin Freeman, and a 1972 Thornd.y.k.e pastiche.

DAVID DUNCAN (19131999). Science-fiction writer who published five mysteries, some with fantasy overtones, notably The Madrone Tree (1949).

PETER EVERETT (19311999). British author of six suspense novels, notably Negatives (1964).

WILLIAM FAIRCHILD (19182000) British screenwriter, author of a mystery play and a single suspense novel, The Swiss Arrangement (1973).

STEWART FARRAR (19162000). British author of five mysteries, 195877.

TERENCE FEELY (19282000). British author of two mystery plays and a single suspense novel, Limelight (1984).

PENELOPE FITZGERALD (19162000). Mainstream British author whose first novel was a crime tale, The Golden Child (1977).

LUCILLE FLETCHER (19122000). Author of six suspense novels and numerous plays who achieved her greatest fame with the Suspense radio thriller "Sorry, Wrong Number," filmed in 1948.

FRANK V. FOWLKES (19412000). Banker and government advisor who wrote two suspense novels, 197686.

MARY FRANCIS (19242000). Wife of best-selling mystery writer d.i.c.k Francis, recently revealed to have been a collaborator on his novels.

THOMAS GIFFORD (19372000). Author of a half-dozen suspense novels under his own name, starting with The Wind Chill Factor (1975). He also published seven novels under the pen names "Dana Clarins" and "Thomas Maxwell," and collaborated with Edward D. Hoch on a contest novel, The Medical Center Murders (1984).

EDWARD GOREY (19252000). Artist famed for his criminous ill.u.s.trations and books in a humorous vein.

WILLIAM HARRINGTON (19312000). Author of more than two dozen mystery and suspense novels including some historical mysteries and a half dozen novels about TV sleuth Columbo. He is also credited with twenty-one novels ghost-written under the name of Elliot Roosevelt, and acted as a "research collaborator" on some novels by Harold Robbins and Margaret Truman.

ANNE HEBERT (19162000). French-Canadian author whose work included at least two crime and murder novels, Kamouraska (1970) and In the Shadow of the Wind (1983).

SHEILA HOLLAND (19372000). Author of a single suspense novel, The Masque (1979).

LAURENCE JAMES (19432000). British author of seven suspense and intrigue novels as "Klaus Netzen," bylined in the U.S. as by "Klaus Nettson." He also collaborated with John Harvey on a suspense novel Endgame (1981) as by "James Mann." He is said to have published 160 novels under twenty-one different pseudonyms, including crime, historical, romance, western, horror, and science fiction.

ADRIENNE JONES (19152000). Coauthor with Doris Meek of two mysteries, 195356, one each as by "Mason Gregory" and "Gregory Mason."

TERENCE JOURNET (19??2000). New Zealand author of four suspense novels, 196774, unpublished in America.

NORMAN KARK (18982000). Editor and publisher of The London Mystery Magazine (later London Mystery Selection) from 1951 to 1982.

JOHN KOBLER (19102000). Journalist and true crime writer, best known for Capone: The Life and World of Al Capone (1971).

DUNCAN KYLE (19302000). Best-known pseudonym of John Franklin Broxholme, British author of thirteen thrillers beginning with A Cage of Ice (1970), one of them under a second pseudonym of "James Meldrum."

ELIZABETH LEMARCHAND (19062000). British author of seventeen detective novels about Detective Superintendent Tom Pollard, notably Death of an Old Girl (1967), The Affacombe Affair (1968) and Cyanide with Compliments (1972).

PETER LEVI (19312000). British author of three mystery novels beginning with The Head in the Soup (1979).

JOHN V. LINDSAY (19212000). Former mayor of New York City who published a novel of intrigue, The Edge (1976).

EDWARD (ED) LINN (19222000). Baseball writer who collaborated with bank robber Willie Sutton on Where the Money Was (1976) and also wrote a single suspense novel, The Adversaries (1973).

ROGER LONGRIGG (19292000). British author who published one crime novel under his own name but was better known in the field for his nine thrillers as "Ivor Drummond" and others under the pseudonyms of "Laura Black," "Frank Parrish," and "Domini Taylor." Perhaps his best-known novel was the noncriminous schoolgirl farce The Pa.s.sion Flower Hotel (1962), written as "Rosalind Erskine."

J. J. MALONEY (19401999). Author of two suspense novels starting with I Speak for the Dead (1982).

ATANAS PETROV MANDADJIEV (19??2000). Mainstream Bulgarian author, at least ten of whose novels and stories are in the mystery genre. Cofounder of the International a.s.sociation of Crime Writers and head of its Bulgarian branch.

WILLIAM MAXWELL (19082000). Longtime New Yorker writer and editor, whose books include a single murder novel, So Long, See You Tomorrow (1980).

WILLIAM MCCLEERY (19112000). Author of a single play about Perry Mason, A Case for Mason (1967).

VINCENT MCCONNOR (19071999). Author of eight novels, 196589, and numerous short stories in EQMM, AHMM and elsewhere.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL (19501999). Author of eight mysteries under his own name, but better known for a series of four gay mysteries under the pseudonym "Nathan Aldyne," cowritten with the late Dennis Schuetz, notably Vermilion (1980). The team also published two mysteries as by "Axel Young."

NEIL MCGAUGHEY (19511999). Author of at least two detective novels beginning with Otherwise Known as Murder (1994).

ELOISE JARVIS MCGRAW (19152000). Author of mystery, fantasy, and historical fiction for children, winner of the Edgar Award for best juvenile mystery, A Really Weird Summer (1978).

FRED MCMORROW (19252000). Author and editor who published at least one story in the British edition of Suspense (6/59).

CHARLES MEYER (19472000). Author of the Reverend Lucas Holt mysteries, beginning with The Saints of G.o.d Murders (1995).

PATRICIA MOYES (19232000). Well-known British author of nineteen novels about sleuths Henry and Emmy Tibbett, notably Dead Men Don't Ski (1959), Down Among the Dead Men (1961), Johnny Under Ground (1965), Murder Fantastical (1967), and Many Deadly Returns (1970). A novella and twenty short stories were collected in Who Killed Father Christmas (1996).

N. RICHARD NASH (19132000). Playwright best known for his mainstream drama The Rainmaker, who also published three suspense plays, one as "N. Richard Nusbaum," a crime novel, and the espionage novel East Wind, Rain (1977).

EARL NORMAN (19152000). Pseudonym of Norman Thomson, author of nine paperback mysteries with j.a.panese and Hong Kong settings, 195876.

EMIL PETAJA (19152000). Science fiction and mystery author who published thirteen novels and more than one hundred short stories, including some two dozen mysteries in pulp magazines of the late 1930s and 1940s. One of his last crime stories appeared in The Saint Magazine, 4/67.

TALMAGE POWELL (19202000). Pulp writer and author of some 500 short stories and sixteen crime and western novels, one each as by "Jack McCready" and "Anne Talmage." He also ghosted four Ellery Queen paperbacks and was a frequent contributor to Alfred Hitchc.o.c.k's Mystery Magazine. Twenty-five of his AHMM stories were collected as Written for Hitchc.o.c.k (1989).

KEITH ROBERTS (19352000). British science fiction author and ill.u.s.trator who published a single mystery, The Road to Paradise (1988).

ROSS RUSSELL (19092000). Author of at least thirteen pulp crime stories, in Double-Action Gang Magazine and elsewhere.

HOWARD R. SIMPSON (19251999). Author of seven mystery-intrigue novels, 196588.

CURT SIODMAK (19022000). Fantasy author and writer of more than seventy screenplays including The Wolf Man. He published four suspense novels, notably Donovan's Brain (1943) which has been filmed three times.

JOHN SLADEK (19372000). Science fiction writer who also wrote a prize-winning short story and two novels about locked-room sleuth Thackeray Phin, Black Aura (1974) and Invisible Green (1977). With Thomas M. Disch he collaborated on a suspense novel, Black Alice (1968), under the pseudonym of "Thom Demijohn." They also published three Gothics as "Ca.s.sandra Knye."

ANDREW L. STONE (19021999). Director and screenwriter who published novelizations of three of his films, 195658.

NIGEL TRANTER (19092000). Pseudonym of British author Nye Tredgold, author of thirty-seven adventure and crime novels. All but The Stone (1948) are unpublished in America.

MILES TRIPP (19232000). British author of more than thirty suspense novels beginning with The Image of Man (1955), plus three under the pseudonym of Michael Brett.

A. E.VAN VOGT (19122000). Famed science fiction author who wrote two suspense novels, The House that Stood Still (1950) and The Violent Man (1962).

PHYLLIS WHITE (19152000). Widow of well-known mystery writer and critic Anthony Boucher and guiding spirit of the annual Bouchercon conventions, who contributed ten poems to EQMM.

PETER WILDEBLOOD (19231999). British author of a single crime novel, West End People (1958), unpublished in America.

NORMAN ZOLLINGER (19212000). Award-winning Western writer who wrote a single mystery, Lautrec (1990).

World Mystery Report: Great Britain.

Maxim Jakubowski.

Any literary year necessarily has its up and downs, and the first year of the millennium adopted a familiar pattern in Britain, with a surprising number of impressive new authors emerging, older names confirming the breadth of their talent, and the best-seller breakthrough of a handful of writers, some straight from the starting gate and others an ironic overnight success, when the overnight actually took a dozen years or more.

On the other hand, menacing clouds hover over the publis.h.i.+ng horizon, with many of the innovative smaller, independent publishers of the last decade under serious threat from radical new purchasing policies at the Waterstone's chain, which could have a sorry impact on smaller houses with fragile margins. This is a definite worry as these publishers (the Do-Not Press, Allison & Busby, Harvill Press, No Exit Press, Serpent's Tail, and others) have proven a fertile breeding ground for newer talent of an often unconventional nature (despite adverse financial returns Serpent's Tail and Harvill persist in translating overlooked foreign-language mystery authors), and have repeatedly taken risks that larger publishers, many of whom are part of multinational conglomerates, can't afford to. At year's end, Bertram's, one of the U.K.'s largest wholesalers, also warned of major cuts in their stock base, which can only work to the detriment of smaller imprints. Already author John Harvey's courageous Slow Dancer Press has called it a day, faced with the poor sales and difficult distribution.

As a former publisher myself, I realize similar gray clouds have been dominating the British book scene in one form or another for ages now, but with the changing pattern of the retail landscape (and the coming of age of e-retail), I am distinctively worried about the future and the growing obstacles for newer talents to make a mark on the scene, whether inside or outside of the crime and mystery genre. On the other hand, maybe any change in existing patterns should also be viewed with guarded optimism, as none of us can accurately read the crystal ball of the future. After all, the collapse of the British public library system a decade or so ago did result in many established crime writers who catered cozily to that market finding themselves both out of print and without publishers, and this was no bad thing, leaving openings for new voices and the flowering of a harder-edged school of British crime writing and a distinct elevation of literary standards. So only time will tell who is right. Just like a whodunit, in fact!

On the awards front, the year began in a jolly mood with Colin Dexter and Lindsey Davis winning the annual Sherlock Awards for best detectives, followed by Peter Lovesey being awarded the Diamond Dagger by the Crime Writers' a.s.sociation. The CWA's end-of-year awards as usual evinced some degree of controversy because of the number of American writers on the short lists (Jonathan Lethem, Donna Leon, and Boston Teran won, although Scottish author Denise Mina took the Short Story Dagger), but the big commercial news of the year was Ian Rankin's swift ascent of the best-seller lists, the debut of his character Inspector John Rebus on television (portrayed by John Hannah), and his ensuing crowning as a television pundit. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person or more worthy author!

Still on the small screen, Inspector Morse followed his literary demise in the adaptation of Colin Dexter's final novel A Remorseful Death, and Julia Wallis Martin and Gillian White also saw novels adapted for television alongside perennials like Reginald Hill, P. D. James, R. D. Wingfield, and Ruth Rendell.

On cinema screens, British gangster and crime films were sadly both unpopular and most unwelcome during the first half of the year due to a glut of bad, independent productions (many made possible by Lottery money) cobbled together with all the worst mercenary intentions in the world in imitation of the success of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, mistaking blood, guts, foul language and violence for plot. Many a critic and spectator sighed at least once a month at how low some filmmakers went in the process. Unwilling to give these terrible films further publicity by even mentioning them, all I can advise you is to ignore any British crime films dated 2000 with the exception of the pithy Ordinary Decent Criminal (with Kevin s.p.a.cey), which took a curious lens to a tale already tackled in a more political perspective of a gang leader in Ireland. Our patience was saved by the bell, though, when Guy Ritchie's follow-up to Lock, Stock, emerged in the autumn and confirmed that he is a real talent (and also now Madonna's husband, of course) with a unique approach in which material (violence, obscenity, and video-style jump cuts) can mesh into an outrageously appealing whole: s.n.a.t.c.h is a hoot and an able demonstration that East End gangsters don't have to be boorish and leaden. To confirm this view, Jonathan Glazer, a new director, also from the world of advertising and pop videos, had a great end-of-year debut with s.e.xy Beast, which gave British bad-boy perennial Ray Winstone a worthy role as a Brit gangster retired to the Spanish coast whose tranquility is shattered by the arrival of a past nemesis, hilariously if worryingly played by a less-than-saintly Ben Kingsley, far from his Gandhi image. So all is not lost on the cinematic front, with some further nuggets already in the can and awaiting release, which I've had the opportunity to view at festivals or private screenings.

Film and TV also played a major part in one of the year's major events, the Crime Scene Festival held at London's National Film Theatre on the South Bank in July, and now scheduled to be an annual event. Run by Adrian Wootton and Maxim Jakubowski, who used to organize Nottingham's Shots on the Page and the Nottingham Bouchercon, the event combines both literary events and screenings. This year's events attracted thousands of delegates, to meet American authors like Dennis Lehane, Elizabeth George, Robert Crais, Jeffery Deaver, and George Pelecanos and the creme de la creme of British crime writing, alongside many major film previews and retrospectives (and a Margery Allingham radio play performed on stage by Simon Brett and other thespians). The July 2001 Crime Scene will feature a major Agatha Christie section. Nottingham's natural successor, Manchester's Dead on Deansgate, was also a success and took place in October with a familiar blend of panels and events, making British crime fans spoiled for choice in the availability of events featuring their favorite authors.

Likewise, the British crime-magazine scene still thrives with all publications still going: CADS, Crime Scene, Shots, and Crime Wave, with varying degrees of regularity. Slipstream magazine The Third Alternative also published some crime stories. Similarly, London's two mystery bookshops still cater for all the crime in print, with Murder One now reaching the venerable age of twelve years on the fabled Charing Cross Road, and still the largest specialty bookshop in the world. Covent Garden's smaller Crime in Store, however, only survived through charitable donations openly sought from CWA members, which kept them afloat when closure loomed in the spring.

A perennial bee in bonnet of the crime community is the lack of serious review consideration afforded by major newspapers and publications. This is now very much on the mend, with prestigious critics from the field holding secure positions at leading and influential t.i.tles: Donna Leon at the Sunday Times, Marcel Berlins at The Times, Mark Timlin at The Independent on Sunday, Peter Guttridge at The Observer, Frances Fyfield and Tim Binyon at the Evening Standard, Val McDermid at The Manchester Evening News and Maxim Jakubowski at The Guardian. Mike Ripley lost his Sunday Telegraph platform but moved to the regional Birmingham Post following the death of Bill Pardoe.

Like any year, this was also one of regret, with the pa.s.sing of authors and close friends Patricia Moyes and Sarah Caudwell just months apart. Other casualties of the year include Miles Tripp, Laurence James, Duncan Kyle, Elizabeth Lemarchand, and Roger Longrigg (Domini Taylor, Frank Parrish).