| "Oh!
What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott |
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Web
Mystery Magazine, Fall 2005: Volume III, Issue 2 |
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Welcome
to Fall 2005: Volume III, Issue 2
Web Mystery Magazine is extremely proud to present this issue, featuring non-fiction articles and columns by experts in a variety of fields as well as original short mystery fiction by writers both established and new. This issue focuses on to subject of using local color in mystery fiction writing. Award-winning writers Ann Parker, Radine Trees Nehring, Eric Stone, Lorna Schultz Nicholson, and Lonnie Cruse share some of their research techniques. British investigative journalist Satish Sekar continue his non-fiction article which examines the miscarriage of justice which robbed Gary Mills and Tony Poole of years of their lives. Private investigator Kelly E Riddle generously shares some tricks of the trade. Richard Bellush Jr, BJ Bourg, Sharon Bell Buchbinder, Steve Gladis, Vinnie Hansen, Herbert Holeman, SF Johnston, MJ Jones, Polly Nelson, Dr. Katherine Ramsland, Stephen D. Rogers, Margaret Shauers, David Terrenoire, and Tim Wohlforth offer a feast of new short stories. This issue proudly introduces a new column: Large Print Mystery Reviews by Dorothy Francis. Our continuing regular columns by pulp-historian Ginger Johnson; cozy-expert Dawn Dowdle; BJ Bourg, whose column "Sharp Shootin'" deals with his experiences as a SWAT team sharp-shooter; Tim Wohlforth; private investigator Ann Flaherty; private investigator Mariah Crawford; "Idea Man" Robert Schreib Jr's innovative series of suggestions; historian Karen Guest Whitehurst, PhD, whose column "Clio's Gallery" reviewing outstanding historical fiction pays tribute to Clio, the Greek muse of history; Unsolved Crimes International Organization; Editor Rosalie Stafford's Folklore in the Internet Age column; and the very popular "Around the Block: Mystery Writers Conventions News" by David Terrenoire round out the Fall 2005 issue. Web Mystery Magazine continues to celebrate good research and good writing! |
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Direct
correspondence to Rosalie Stafford, Editor,
Web Mystery Magazine.
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Web
Mystery Magazine, Fall 2005: Volume III, Issue 2 |
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James I. Wasserman James I. Wasserman had an untimely death. He was a brilliant young man, finishing up his PhD. Loved by many, he had a subversive sense of humor, with many publication credits in a short span of time. One of the last stories he wrote was "The Expiring Man." He was only 30 ... (Douglas Holder) James' death is a tragic loss; the world is a poorer place for his untimely passing. Farewell, James. The Villain: Myths and Misconceptions by James I. Wasserman appeared in Web Mystery Magazine, Summer 2005, posthumously. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The Splitting Image It was the summer of love; it was the summer of hate. It was the summer I learned about death. Not the demise of neighborhood dogs whose “tombstones” I planted in my symbolic sandbox cemetery. This was real death, jabbing my life with the first sharp prick of my calling. I hadn’t thought about those days in years, but when I received an envelope this morning from a maximum security prison, it reminded me. I get these quite often, since I’m an expert on serial killers – which I refer to in my own wily shorthand as SeKs. People wonder how I can open these notes, since they could be anything from lascivious verse to death threats, but they don’t bother me. I’m often asked how I know these “monsters” so well, and I just shrug and say I read a lot. They accept that. People see what they want to see. That works for me. I picked up the envelope and thought again about my first lesson so many years earlier in how dangerous some people can be. Images passed through my mind of dead girls, crime scenes, cops in despair, and Clarissa. It was all just mélange now, a primer in everything I needed to know to do what I now do. And it began with the first find. Dr. Katherine Ramsland's 25th book, The Human Predator: A Historical Chronicle of Serial Murder and Forensic Investigation, examining the entire history of serial killers, will be published October, 2005. Dr. Ramsland teaches forensic psychology at DeSales University in Pennsylvania. Her works include The Forensic Science of CSI and The Criminal Mind: A Writer's Guide to Forensic Psychology; The Science of Cold Case File; Inside the Minds of Mass Murderers: Why They Kill; and A Voice for the Dead. See Archives for WMM articles by Dr. Ramsland. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Crime Writ Large [Large-print book reviews of Love is Murder by Linda Palmer, Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo, Face Down in the Marrow-Bone Pie by Kathy Lynn Emerson, Relative Danger by Charles Benoit, Wine of Violence by Priscilla Royal, Masked Reflections by Dee Stuart, File M for Murder by India Edgehill, Blind Switch by John McEvoy, and Maitland by James Patrick Hunt] While visually challenged readers have welcomed large print books for many years, other groups of people also look for them and seek their help. English Second Language students find that the large print combined with adult-oriented stories assist them in learning a new language and easing into a new culture. Parents and teachers welcome LPs, finding that yesterday’s reluctant teen readers are becoming today’s avid book fans as they discover adult-oriented plots in a print size they enjoy. Writing from her home studios in Iowa and the Florida Keys, mystery fiction writer Dorothy Francis also is a reviewer, a writing instructor, and a guest speaker. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America where she has served as chairman of the reading committee for the Edgar awards, juvenile division; Sisters in Crime; The Short Mystery Fiction Society; and the Key West Writer's Guild.
Red Declaration I opened my eyes and stared into the blackness. My heart beat a thunderous tune in my chest. What had awakened me? Something had caused the alarm to go off in my subconscious mind, but there was no sound but the ticking of my wall clock. I shrugged, mentally. Maybe an 18-wheeler had passed on the highway in front of my house. That always caused my house to shake and could have disturbed my slumber. I was about to turn over in my bed when I heard a faint squeak from the area of the living room. I eased the blankets off, slid to the edge of the bed, and let my feet drift to the floor. I tiptoed to the door and paused, listening. Nothing. Maybe the rash of burglaries in my small-town neighborhood of Mathews was just making me paranoid. I pushed my bedroom door open and made my way down the dimly lit hallway. BJ Bourg is the Chief Investigator for a Louisiana District Attorney's Office. His stories have appeared in Mysterical-E, The Writer's Post Journal, FMAM, FAME, Detective Mystery Stories, The Writer's Hood, and Web Mystery Magazine. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
After The War In every class picture, Rose was the tall girl in the back row. Her clothes were dark and secondhand. She had a small spot on her cheek that on a pretty girl would have been considered a beauty mark, but on Rose was a mole. When she spoke, which was not often, her voice was hushed and hidden behind her hand. Alton Baker held a trophy in nearly every one of his school pictures. He pomaded his hair and owned a flask. He drove a green Hudson Hornet, recklessly, and dated laughing girls who sat next to him with the gearshift between their knees. Then the war came and everything changed. David Terrenoire, writer, editor, copywriter, has been a spiker, a cook, reporter, an adman, an actor, a musician. His most recent mystery novel is Beneath a Panamanian Moon, published by St. Martin's Minotaur. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Sentencing I see I made the papers again today. There's even a picture buried back on page seventeen. It's the same one they featured during the trial: a picture of Lizbeth and me together at the lake. Lizbeth is sitting, huddled really, in the midst of that great jumble of boulders that mound alongside the cliff by our cabin. It's a good quality print, good composition, with the massive shadowing of the rocks and an angled glint of lake water breaking up the foreground. I remember
the day my father took this picture, using a vintage Zeiss-Ikon; no quickie
digital camera for the artist in him. It took most of an afternoon and
I remember the way he kept making us move until Lizbeth was finally wedged
into a crevice at the bottom while I stood spread-eagled across the gap
above her, arms spread wide for support, fingers pinched tightly into
the surrounding rocks. Daddy then rowed out onto the lake for distance,
and leaning his camera It's a very good picture — aside from its technical merits — because it seems to suggest much more than it depicts. It has an asymmetrical quality that's a little unnerving, chiefly because the picture was shot at an angle which makes the boulders look slightly off balance. There's a suggestion that only my out-stretched arms keep the rocks from collapsing downward onto Lizbeth. Polly Nelson has a story in the August, 2005 issue of Ellery Queen Magazine. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The Price of Justice – Part Two: A Shoddy Prosecution Justifiably incandescent with rage, the then-presenter of Channel Four’s sadly defunct Trial And Error, David Jessel, addressed the media brandishing a copy of Sir Phillip Otton’s judgment in April 1996. “This is yet another shoddy judgment in a shoddy case,” fumed Jessel. It would take another seven years for the truth of just how shoddy this judgment was to see the light of day.... Satish Sekar holds a BA Hons. degree in Sociology. A freelance journalist since 1990, his work has appeared in The Guardian and The Independent and has been used by television and radio stations throughout England and Wales. The Lynette White/Cardiff Three case was the first case he worked on; since then, he has worked on several cases, many of which have succeeded.
Let’s talk conflict. What’s a story without it? So, I went to Chicago hoping to document disagreements, dissension, rivalries and, if lucky, some fisticuffs in the bar. But this group of authors, fans, agents and editors was tough to tell apart from the members of St. Vincent de Paul who shared the Sheraton with us rough-and-tough crime writers. David Terrenoire, writer, editor, copywriter, has been a spiker, a cook, reporter, an adman, an actor, a musician. His most recent mystery novel is Beneath a Panamanian Moon, published by St. Martin's Minotaur. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Useful
Tips for the Serious PI
Most of you who have been at it a while know that there are ways to get the job done and then there are the things you can do to get the job done in a much easier and more simplistic way. With that in mind, I would like to offer up many of the tricks I have developed over the years. In the area of surveillance, being covert inside a vehicle has always posed a special problem. I refuse to use vans unless absolutely required and instead prefer SUV's as they attract less attention. In most states, you can put dark tint on all the windows except the driver and passenger door windows. I have found the perfect solution for these windows ... The National Association of Investigative Specialists (NAIS) has selected Mr. Kelly Riddle as "Investigator of the Year." PI Magazine has named Mr Riddle was named the #1 PI in the U.S. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The Looking-Glass Wife It was one o'clock on Tuesday afternoon when Jackson Ryan, alias Jacky O'Dell, decided to return to the wife he'd abandoned thirty years before. For one thing, there was the issue of a sizable debt owed Big Red. For another, the hard wedge of garbage served at the only chop house he could afford was even greasier than usual. His ulcer firing up made him remember Bella quite fondly. Boring, broad and frowzy. She'd hardly thrilled him, but had seemed an acceptable alternative to 'Nam. Bella's job as a cook was convenient, too, when days at the crap table took a downswing. Bella really could cook, too, and she'd been damned grateful for not remaining a spinster. "Old Bella won't have changed," Jackson decided, tossing slacks, socks and a pair of ragged tennis shoes into his carry-all. Then he hocked the landlady's gold clock and hoofed it to the nearest bus stop. No, Bella wouldn't have changed; not the way she'd carried on about marriage being "sacred" after the war when he'd hinted at divorce. "Reading Bella's mind is as easy as seeing into a looking-glass," he told himself across two states and over the beer he bought with his last two bucks in the first tavern at the end of the line. "She'll welcome me with open arms." Margaret Shauers has been a freelance writer for 40 years, with five books and hundreds of children's stories published. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Nocturne My
office window frames a thousand midnights Barry Ergang lives in suburban Philadelphia. He has published fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and is currently working on a mystery novel. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Puzzling There was only one way to do a puzzle in the Magri house. First, his mother stared at the cover of the box for five minutes before making Robert stare at it for another five. Today he could barely see the glossy image through the tears that kept welling up. Second, the box was opened and the pieces were lifted out one by one. Edge pieces were placed in the middle of the table, face up, with the straight side to the left. Corner pieces were placed below the grid of edge pieces. Interior pieces were placed – face up – on the far end of the table grouped according to color, pattern, or guiding principle. Third, the corner pieces were examined and placed in their respective corners, the correct distance apart. Robert could recite the drill in his sleep but then he should be able to after some twenty odd years of it. Mother knew the best way to do a puzzle. She knew the best way to do everything, the best thing for everyone. There was no point in arguing with her. Over three hundred of Stephen D. Roger's stories and poems have been selected to appear in more than a hundred publications. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Creating Authentic Fiction As a writer, it’s important to step away from the internet and the library to do your research. Sometimes there is a real necessity to become totally immersed in the local flavor. When I wrote See Fox Run, a book with an Inuit protagonist, I remember the day I pushed away from my desk and said, “I can do more without actually being in my setting or talking to someone face-first (not via email) who knows and understands the culture I want to write about.” I honestly felt that if I could not find someone to talk to, the novel would be dead. Eh gads. My first search was to make contacts from the setting I was writing about which was way North in the Canadian Arctic. I needed someone who could guide me and help me, someone I could take to lunch and ask questions. A friend of mine owned a jewelry store in Banff Alberta and she sold Inuit Art so I talked to her about one of her artists. He was an Inuit sculptor who was from Tuktoyaktuk, North West Territories and he lived around 45 minutes from my house. (His work is amazing.) This was my first lead. I managed to track him down — you have to be a good investigative reporter — and after I explained what I was doing, I set up a meeting with him in his town. My treat. I had questions ready although I didn’t pull out any papers as I wanted the meeting to be informal instead of a reporter-like deal where he might be made to feel uncomfortable. Over lunch we talked about his family, his childhood, his art, his passions, the work he did with the Aborginal Healing Foundation. I didn’t think of just my book and my characters but of his northern experiences. There was no need for me to push and I let the conversation flow instead of guiding it to get the answers I wanted. He told me information I never would have been able to find from the internet or books ... Lorna Schultz Nicholson has been a television co-host and reporter, radio host and reporter, fitness co-ordinator and rowing coach. Now she is a full-time mother and fiction author who along with her mystery novels writes children's sports novels. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Sharp Shootin' I read somewhere that one shouldn't use coincidences to solve a mystery in fiction writing, because that is somehow not playing fair with the reader. Well, that might be true for fiction, but in reality, a coincidence is a funny thing. This event happened many years back and it involves my former detective partner and good friend, Aaron. A deadly storm that produced at least two tornados had ripped through the lower part of our parish. Many people had evacuated their residences and members of the Sheriff's Office were out in force, working day and night, trying to ensure that no looting occurred while the citizens were separated from their homes. Aaron and I were scheduled to work the morning shift. ...MORE >>>> B. J. Bourg currently works as the Chief Investigator for a District Attorney’s Office. His stories have been accepted for publication in Future’s Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Detective Mystery Stories, Mysterical-E, and The Writer’s Hood. "My Daughter's Keeper" appears in the Spring issue of Web Mystery Magazine, and "Heartbeat to Hell" appears in WMM's Summer issue (see Archives). <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The PI Consulting Group introduces an exceptional opportunity for those interested in breaking into the intriguing field of private investigations. Associates learn the trade of private investigations while being mentored by the leaders in the PI industry. The founders of the PI Consulting Group have placed their decades of experience into the business of helping others become successful. Through tried- and-true business methods and investigation techniques, associates are given the keys to developing their own skills and business. In affiliation with the PI Institute of Education, additional on-going training is available to all associates. The PI Consulting Group provides website development, marketing assistance, one year of mentoring, and a manual with more than 600 pages of pertinent investigative training materials. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Idea Man The idea is, what if we have overlooked a method of sorting out all of the trace evidence left over by a very big explosion or terrorist act, like that of 9/11? Idea Man Robert Schrieb lives in Toms River, New Jersey. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
"Telling Details" at Ten-Thousand Feet and a Century Past ... I started from scratch and at a distance. With many, many questions. Many doubts. Wondering how I would find the information, the details, that would bring the time and place alive. As I discovered, sometimes the details can be found in books or the internet. Sometimes the place itself will yield up clues. And sometimes you can get the information straight from the experts. Ann Parker earned degrees in Physics and English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley before falling into a career as a science writer. Her critically acclaimed, award-winning historical mystery Silver Lies is set in the silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado. Silver Lies won the 2002 Colorado Gold Award (mystery category) and is listed as one of 2003's best mysteries by Publishers Weekly and The Chicago Tribune. It was nominated for the 2003 Bruce Alexander Historical Award and is a finalist for Western Writers of America's Spur Award for Best Novel of the West. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 2005)—The United States Association of Professional Investigators (USAPI), an organization that provides education, training and benefits to its members across the full spectrum of investigative specialties has begun accepting membership applications, announced Warren J. Sonne, President. Sonne, a retired NYPD Detective who has spent more than thirty years in law enforcement and private sector investigations, has brought together some of the most widely recognized experts in the field of forensics, criminology, insurance, intelligence, civil, and other specialties to establish a first of its kind Certification Board. According to Dr. Henry C. Lee, the world-renowned forensic scientist, author and consultant, "USAPI is a long-overdue credentialing and educating organization. The concept of the professional investigator will benefit both law enforcement and non-law enforcement investigators by providing cutting edge technology and training. I look forward to working with USAPI to develop training programs and educational seminars long into the future." ...MORE>>>> <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Two Historical Mysteries by Sylvia Maultash Warsh To Die in Spring (2001) & Find Me Again (2003) These two nominated and award-winning novels are mainstream mysteries, which introduce us to Dr. Rebecca Temple, a Jewish-Canadian general practitioner. These novels are historical mysteries twice and three times over: Dr. Temple lives and works in 1979 Toronto, Canada, but World War II, during which Nazi Germany overran Poland, constitutes the other major historical time period; 18th century Poland and Russia make an appearance in the second novel. These historical venues were not chosen by accident, for Sylvia Maultash Warsh was born in Germany to Polish Jews, from Krakow, who survived the Holocaust. Many others in the family perished. She and her parents immigrated to Canada when she was four. These works, therefore, are very personal to the author, to her own family history. This connection gives the novels and Dr. Temple herself a depth and genuineness not necessarily found elsewhere. MORE >>>> Karen Guest Whitehurst holds a history PhD from the University of Virginia; her area of expertise is early modern Britain – 15th to 18th centuries. While much of her scholarly work deals with the religious and political machinations of the early English Reformation (1520s-1550s), her current work focuses on the 18th century, the setting for her fictional character Richard Eden, earl of Avon and lord lieutenant of a West Midlands county. Prof. Whitehurst is presently an adjunct English professor at Shepherd University where she teaches Written English II (Forms of Literature) and World Literature to 1600. See Archives for WMM articles by Prof. Karen Guest Whitehurst.<<<<Back to Table of Contents
Suspicious Clients: A Case Not to Be Taken Every once in a while I get a call or an email from a potential client that just stops me in my tracks. The requests are sometimes completely out in left field or they are requesting you to do something that would land you in Federal prison, quicker than you can say Martha Stewart. I know that most of you are thinking that private investigators are a nefarious bunch that are violating laws and the privacy of others. The truth be told, most private investigators are true professionals who take pride in doing their job well, and doing it legally. I have been approached many, many times to obtain information that should not be obtained. Do I do it? No. ...MORE >>>> Ann Flaherty, a licensed private investigator in the state of California with over 25 years' experience in the investigative field, is the owner of the R.D.D. Detective Agency and is a noted authority on missing persons, fraud, scams, and elder abuse. See Archives for other Ann Flaherty, PI: On The Case columns. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The
Glamorous World of Surveillance
Surveillance is not what you’d call glamorous work. The man who taught my PI class described it as 95% boredom and 5% panic and fear. I’ve found that to be pretty accurate on the whole, though it goes far beyond boredom. During one brutally hot weekend, I was genuinely worried for my health as I sweat so much I was drenched, and my heart raced. After eight hours of it, I thought my brains must be scrambled. In wintertime, on the other hand, sitting in a car for hours on end can become dangerously cold. There are ways to cope with both of these problems, of course. And they can add interest, texture, even some suspense to what’s essentially a deadly-boring endeavor. Surveillance is one of the first jobs many beginning PIs do. ...MORE>>>> Meriah Crawford is a private investigator who lives and works in Virginia. Her company is called Rhino Investigations. In her other life, she’s currently studying in the Stonecoast MFA creative writing program. See Archives for previous WMM columns by Meriah Crawford, PI. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The Cudgel Stan Mathers pointed at his watch as he looked at Emily, his wife of twenty years. "Think it's time to head back?" he asked as he turned his lanky torso toward her. Emily had dragged Stan, her patient accountant husband, on yet another one of her weekend daytrips. This time they'd trekked down a winding one-mile wooded path to Historic Hinkley Cliffs, where the Potomac River carved away at hundred-foot limestone cliffs towering over a narrow beach. Having just pocketed a few small shells, Emily, still trim and petite, looked over at him, rolled her eyes, and responded, "OK, but I want a piece of driftwood, Stan." Knowing her resolve, he immediately inventoried the beach for something of reasonable size to lug back. Choice was his only option as he scanned the weather worn tree limbs strewn on the shore. Then he saw it; actually, it scared him because it looked like a snake – about two feet long and a couple of inches thick. At one end, the wood curved like the head of a serpent with eyeholes on either side. And at the other end, a distinct curl of wood formed a tail hook. The entire sculpted piece had been smoothed and buffed by the sandy, shelled beach and the relentless waves. Stan pushed the piece with his foot to be sure it wasn't one of those deadly camouflaged snakes he'd seen on the Nature Channel. Satisfied, he lifted the wood and held it in his right hand as his fingers easily aligned with the tail hook that helped him grip the wood like a weapon. Instantly, he felt a surge run through his right arm. And like an ancient warrior, he waved it in the air like a … a cudgel, a club. Yes, a cudgel he thought. Steve Gladis, PhD, has published 11 books and numerous articles for newspapers and magazines, and has served as a columnist, writer, and editor for several magazines. As a former FBI agent, he has lots of experience with the darker side of life.
Watch the Borders Gerry picked up the phone on the first ring and spoke into the mouthpiece. “Agent Brodie here.” He liked the way that sounded. “The Chief wants the case report on those container smugglers.” It was the voice of his supervisor, Dan Foster. “It’s ready. Come get it. They want it upstairs.” “I’m on my way,” Gerry managed to get in just before the phone clicked off. He grabbed his suit coat from the rack and straightened his tie while he looked around the squad room, surveying the older agents shuffling papers at their desks. He smiled inwardly as he hurried down the hall, reminding himself of the good fortune as a trainee to begin his career in the agency’s national headquarters. He had only seen the agency’s chief once. That was at the new agent orientation. Now, he had been personally selected to report to the chief’s office. Herbert Holeman, PhD is a criminologist, and by avocation a mystery writer and avid mystery reader. He is an active member of the Mystery Writers of America and his stories have been published in print magazines and in Internet E-Zines. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Someone's in the Kitchen Strange as it seems, politicians don’t get murdered very often. Maybe that's why people still like to hear me tell about State Senator James R. Rowse being killed at that cooking contest. "There he lay," I always start off. "On the kitchen floor in front of the ice box, mouth full of Cornish pasty and arsenic." Then, of course, I always have to stop and explain why a small town schoolteacher like me was there when it happened. And that involves a little history lesson, which goes like this – MJ Jones’s short mystery fiction has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and DIME, Futures Mysterious Anthology. She is a winner of Mystery Writers of America’s Robert L. Fish Award. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Presumed
Guilty
The only things you can count on in this world are taxes and death the old saying goes. Not true. There is also jury duty, imposed, like taxes, by the all-powerful state. It can be deadly, and not just for the ones found guilty. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a believer in judges, juries and the whole judicial system. Flawed but better than any of the alternatives, nooses hanging from oak trees, shoot-outs at the O.K. Corral. It’s that, like so many other good and honorable pursuits in this world, I prefer that other people partake in them. When it’s unavoidable, I pay my dues. I just refuse to be happy about it. Those thoughts occupied my mind as I trudged off towards 601 Washington Street in Oakland, California, home of the criminal court. Housed for convenience between police headquarters and the jail, the place was like an assembly line in a sausage factory. Cops dragged suspects in at one end, the courts ground them up in the middle, the jailers stored the final product in cells at the other end.It was a lovely fall morning. ...MORE >>>> Mr. Wohlforth's noir novel, No Time To Mourn, was published by Quiet Storm in 2004. See Archives for previous Jim Wolfe short mysteries in WMM. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Flash Folklore in the Internet Era Folklorist. Mystery novelist. Detective. Investigative journalist. What do these workers have in common? Trained as a folklorist, WMM Editor Rosalie Stafford's first mystery novel, Thursday's Child & The Queen of Swords, is based on two years' research into the psychic hotline occupational setting. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Pica Jane, my birthing assistant, came to my room and told me we had to ride out immediately. "Who is she?" I asked, getting dressed as fast as I could. "From what I can tell, she’s a young girl, about eleven years old. Family’s been keeping the pregnancy secret. Now they’re afraid she’s going to die. They sent her brother to lead us there." "Good Lord, a baby losing a baby. Can it be any more tragic than that?" I pulled on my riding boots. "Let’s go." It was still dark when we set out that crisp November morning. Our horses pranced, happy to be moving. The silent, skinny boy with the raggedy clothing and sagging shoulders rode bare-back on his malnourished nag. Several hours later, we arrived at a hollow with a stream chuckling nearby. A flock of dispirited chickens pecked at the ground in front of a shack and a rooster flapped his wings, gave a half-hearted crow and then seemed to shrug, as if it wasn’t worth his effort. Sharon Bell Buchbinder, RN, PhD is a Professor in the Department of Health Science at Towson University in Towson, Maryland. When not attempting to make students laugh she can be found fishing, golfing, or working on short stories and Moral Inventory, the sequel to her full-length mystery, An Unrecovered Woman. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Real Place Reality Good mystery writers are master manipulators, creating atmosphere and location inside minds. They take us to places dark and stormy or glaring and sharp, thrill us with spooky ice caves, steaming jungles and worlds far away from the familiar. The more skillful the writer, the more willing we are to believe, share, travel, and enjoy – riding along eagerly with characters and events that become real for at least the space of a novel. But there is also a real place reality in fiction that goes beyond hot Kansas or cold Minnesota, ice caves or steaming jungles. Novels using real place reality enable us to experience actual locations while we enjoy the entertainment of a mystery being solved there. This type of novel offers a mini-vacation without the expense of travel (though quite often readers end up wanting to see the described location for themselves). Radine Trees Nehring is author of the To Die For Series. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
There’s a scene in the car chase movie The Fast and the Furious that was shot on a street around the corner from where I live. The cars chase each other down the hill, turn left at the bottom – on Sunset Boulevard – and presto, they’re at the harbor. That drove me nuts. It just yanked me right out of the movie. I couldn’t believe anything in it anymore. In reality, the harbor’s 30 miles away. I swore I’d never get anything so wrong in my writing. That isn’t to say that I’ve got to have personal experience of everything I write about. But it helps. Experience and/or research are what make the difference between writing that’s believable and writing that isn’t. My book, The Living Room of the Dead, takes place in Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai (China), an island in the South China Sea, and Vladivostok, Russia. Eric Stone lived and worked as a journalist in Asia for 11 years. He’s now living back in Los Angeles, his home town. He’s got two books, his first two, out this year. The Living Room of the Dead is the first in the Ray Sharp series of detective thrillers set in Asia and based on stories he covered while working there. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
I often tell people that if ignorance is bliss, I’m probably the most blissful author ever to put fingers to keyboard. I knew so little about writing a novel, it’s a wonder I ever got past page one. Fortunately, once I chose to place my fictional mystery story in the real town where I live, I instinctively knew that I’d have to get my facts straight, or change my identity and move to another country. Readers don’t think much of authors who can’t be bothered to get their facts straight. Once you get a bad name for lousy research, it’s pretty much impossible to win back your readers. Thus began my foray into research. Because we are the only Metropolis listed in the Postal Zip Code Directory, (yes, I researched all of this) the Illinois House passed a resolution in 1972 declaring us the Hometown Of Superman. Subsequently our small town has become a large tourist attraction, boasting a privately owned Super Museum, as well as a large piece of kryptonite weighing down a prominent street corner. And then there is our wonderfully impressive fifteen foot tall statue of Superman standing at the east end of the courthouse, feet planted wide, arms on hips, huge metal cape appearing to flap in the breeze, eyes ever watchful over our downtown area. Lonnie Cruse now resides in Metropolis, Illinois, home of Superman. Murder in Metropolis, debut novel in the Metropolis Mystery series, was published in 2003, and Murder Beyond Metropolis, late 2004. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Another title from Harry Steeger's Popular Publications, Strange Detective Mysteries ran for only 28 issues, from October 1937 to May 1943. However, the title did cause problems for private collectors for years. What happened was this: ...Read MORE and see the cover of Strange Detective Mysteries, July 1942 >>>> By publishing their magazines (Behind the Mask & Action Adventure Stories, Detective Mystery Stories, and Echoes), pulp historians Ginger Johnson and her husband Tom, over the last 20 years, have shone new light on countless "lost" stories from the pulp heyday. See Archives for previous Pulp History columns in WMM.
Fish This one is so confidential that I really shouldn’t tell you. But I will. I will, because it’s a diverting tale, and one that bears repeating. But for God’s sake, don’t repeat it, because then Mr. Raoul will come looking for me. It all started when the old phone in my tiny apartment jangled, sending my cat Cairo up the kitchen curtains. Cairo is crazy, and my upstairs neighbor Mrs. Dobbs says it’s because he needs to get fixed. Somehow, I keep putting that off. Anyway, he hung there, wild-eyed, as I stammered through a one-minute conversation with Ms. Carolyn Walsh. Yes, that Carolyn Walsh, who's at the top of her class at Harvard, drives a Porsche Carrera GT to Martha’s Vineyard every summer and whose father is Mr. Sutherland Walsh. She said she'd heard of me from somebody who knew somebody who knew my friend Rainbow. Really. Her parents named her Rainbow. The conversation was short. Carolyn's father needed somebody in a hurry and had already sent a ride. Sure enough, I could see an idling silver Town Car outside my kitchen window. It took longer than usual to extract my psychotic pet's claws from the curtains so I didn’t have time to change, and had to make do with jeans and a happy face T-shirt. I poured some Kitty Kibble in Cairo's tray and five minutes later the driver and I were closing in on the Walsh mansion over on Creighton Street. You know, the one with all the turrets. SF Johnston was born in Ireland, raised in Canada and now lives in the Netherlands with his wife and two children. His flash fiction piece "Paris Absinthe" appeared in Amsterdam Scriptum, and his short story "Mr. Sparks" will be appearing in the print anthology Doses of Death this October. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
The Smell of Bacon Sheryl was neither Sioux nor Klingon, and she did not think today was a good day to die. It seemed all too likely it would happen anyway. She lay in the backseat. Her hands and feet were tied with video cable. The duct tape blindfold pulled annoyingly at her hair roots. The tape over her mouth made it difficult to breathe. Her nose was alarmingly stuffy from allergies. Sheryl felt and heard the hum of the highway through the seat. She also heard the click in the rear wheel about which she had meant to talk to her mechanic. It was probably nothing. The Dodge Intrepid had 90,000 miles on it and had earned a few creaks and rattles. She couldn’t believe she was going to die for a jar of olives. Richard Bellush, Jr. is a self-employed denizen of the Garden State. He enjoys horses – for riding, not for betting. He is usually single. He is also a writer, primarily of science fiction. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
A Perfect Place to Die Buford Callahan already had the gun. The Colt .45 semi-automatic had been his father’s in World War II. He had wanted a silencer, too, but had discovered, to his chagrin, that such a request raised eyebrows, even in large, anonymous gun shops... A high-school English teacher for twenty-one years, Vinnie Hansen lives in Santa Cruz, California with her husband, artist Daniel S. Friedman, and their very spoiled cat Lola. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
Casebook of Unsolved Crimes International Organization Sometime in the afternoon of August 31, 2000, probably between two and three thirty, 63 year old Ann Gipson-Lewis arrived at her elderly parents' house to deliver groceries. Instead of visiting with her parents at their designated "coffee time," police say she interrupted one of the most vicious and brutal crimes in Kalamazoo County's history and became a victim herself. ...MORE >>>> Unsolved Crimes International is dedicated to publicizing unsolved cases. <<<<Back to Table of Contents
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Sketches of New Cozies
Cozy-expert Dawn Dowdle reviews Invitation To Murder by Elizabeth Bright, Pier Pressure by Dorothy Francis, Unzipped by Lois Greiman, Southern Fried by Cathy Pickens, Dangerous Curves by Judith Skillings, Grave Review by Cynthia Thomason, Dying To Call You by Elaine Viets, and Bound For Eternity by Sarah Wisseman. Dawn Dowdle loves reading cozies. She has made friends with many mystery authors. |
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First
Annual "W" Short Story Contest Guidelines. The rules of Web
Mystery Magazine's First Annual "W" Short Story Contest are
simple: (1) write a short story using a "W" word as a motif, character,
setting, theme, or clue, and (2) include the "W" word in the title.
Three winners will be selected ...
MORE >>>>
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Web
Mystery Magazine is dedicated to investigating
the mysterious genre in print, in film, and in real-life. Web Mystery Magazine welcomes well-researched, well-written articles, reviews, and mystery fiction. Writers are invited to read the Submission Guidelines. |
| "Oh!
What a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive."
Sir Walter Scott |
| Web
Mystery Magazine (ISSN: 1547-9609)
is an on-line quarterly dedicated to investigating the mysterious genre
in print, in film, and in real-life. Web Mystery Magazine
welcomes well-researched, well-written articles, reviews, and mystery
fiction. Writers are invited to send comments and inquiries to editor@lifeloom.com. |