9/11/1862 O. Henry is sweet

September 11, 1862.  William Sydney Porter was born on this date in Greensboro, North Carolina. He spent five years in prison for embezzling $856 from the bank where he worked.

But he is remembered today as one of America's greatest short story artists, under the name O. Henry. His "Gift of the Magi" will apparently live forever.  But in our field he is revered for creating the legendary safe cracker Jimmy Valentine, who only appeared in  one story, "A Retrieved Reformation," as well as the much-copied "Ransom of Red Chief."

"The Caballero's Way," featured the Cisco Kid, but he was anything but the brave Mexican hero of TV and the movies.  Instead this Cisco was a vicious American outlaw.

Oh, and Henry coined the phrase "banana republic," when he was in Honduras, hiding out from the bank charges.  Quite a full life.

7/26/1866 George Barr McCutcheon is born

July 26, 1866.  On this date George Barr McCutcheon was born.  He is best remembered for his novel Brewster's Millions, about a man who, in order to inherit seven million dollars, has to first spend one million.  It has been made into a movie a dozen times.

His most famous contribution to crime fiction is Anderson Crow, a midwestern lawman who appears in some comic novels.

6/19/1863 Max Pembleton arrives

June 19, 1863.  Max Pemberton was born on this day in London.  He grew up to write mostly adventure novels, most famously The Iron Pirate about a modern day vessel terrifying the seas. 

You can read "The Ripening Rubies," which some consider his best crime story, here.

6/7/1866. Hornung horns in

June 7, 1866.  E.W. Hornung was born in Middlesborough on this date.  He became a published writer at age twenty.  His great claim to fame was his invention of A.J. Raffles, "the amateur cracksman."  In other words, Raffles was a gentleman burglar, essentially the first hero-rogue in the mystery genre.  The stories were narrated by Bunny Manders, Raffles' faithful companion.

If that sound vaguely familiar, you're right.  The stories were a sort of parody or answer to the Sherlock Holmes stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle, who happened to be Hornung's borther-in-law.  Doyle admitted the tales were of high quality but, like many reviewers, found them morally abhorrent.

Like Doyle, Hornung killed his hero, having Raffles slain during the Second Boer War.  Unlike Holmes, Raffles stayed dead.

5/7/1865 AEW Mason born

May 7, 1865.  A.E.W. Mason was born on this date in London. His character Inspector Hanaud, a French cop, was supposedly an influence on Agatha Christie's creation of Hercule Poirot.  His most famous book, a non-mystery was The Four Feathers, and like a lot of his other books it has been filmed repeatedly.

5/1/1868 They hanged Tom Dooley

May 1, 1868.  People who complain about modern pop music glorifying violence may forget the huge hit which helped goose the folk music revival.  The Kingston Trio's "Tom Dooley" was a number one hit in 1958.

It was written by Thomas Land, and based on the murder of Laura Foster. in North Carolina.  Tom Dula (pronounced Dooley) was hung for the  crime on May 1, 1868.  Many people say he didn't do it.

The Kingston Trio learned their version from someone who learned it from Frank Proffitt.  I have heard that when Proffitt heard their recording he was furious. Thought they were making fun of him.

That's a picture of Tom Dula in his Confederate uniform, by the way.

4/19/1869 Melville Davisson Post arrives

April 19, 1869. Melville Davisson Post was born on this day in West Virginia.  He is best remembered today as the author of short stories about Uncle Abner, a countryman with a love of the Bible and great skill at solving mysteries.  He also invented Randolph Mason (Perry's grandpa?), a New York lawyer as slick and amoral as Abner was honest.

3/14/1869 Algernon Blackwood breaks the silence

March 14, 1869.  Algernon Blackwood was born on this date in Kent.  He is considered one of the great horror writers. His works include a collection of short stories about Dr. John Silence, one of the first "psychic" investigators.  The physician copes with a variety of ghosts, werewolves, and ghoulies and modern reviewer Marvin P. Vernon said the collected Silence stories are "an essential collection" fr any fan of British supernatural fiction.

2/21/1864 Leonard Merrick appears

February 21, 1864.  You have probably never heard of Leonard Merrick, who was born on this date.  That fact would surprise his fellow Victorians, who greatly admired his work.  J.M. Barrie, creator of Peter Pan, called him a "novelist's novelist."

His first novel was a detective story, Mr. Bazalgette's Agent.  His other works included The Worldlings, a psychological crime novel.  His novels, stories, and plays have inspired more than ten movies.

2/10/1861 Varick Vanardy arrives

February 10, 1861.  Frederick van Rensselaer Dey was born in Watkins Glen, New York, beating the Civil War by two months.  He wrote more than one thousand Nick Carter thrillers, all under pseudonyms.

Using the pseudonym Varick Vanardy he wrote many pulp short stories about a character called the Night Wind, alias Bingham Harvard, a bank clerk framed for theft.  Don't you hate it when that happens?  The stories are available in collections from Wildside Press.

2/10/1861 Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey Day

February 10, 1861.  Frederick Van Rensselaer Dey was born this day in Watkins Glen, NY.  He was an attorney but started young writing fiction as well.  In 1891 he took over writing the Nick Carter novellettes, cranking out more than a thousand of them. 

Under the pseudonym Varick Vanardy he created a character called the Night Wind. THese stories have been republished by Wildside Press.

Dey shot himself to death in 1922.

2/7/1860 J.S. Fletcher is born

February 7, 1860.  J.S. Fletcher was born this day in Halifax, England.  He wrote more than 200 novels.  His first mystery was published in 1914.  Many of them featured P.I. Ronald Camberwell.

10/13/1869 Guy Boothby is born

October 13, 1869.  Guy Boothby was born this day in Adelaide, Australia.  He spent most of his life in England, where he wrote sensationalist fiction.  It was his fate to pioneer in fields where those who came later did better and eclipsed him.  His Shanghai-based occultist anti-hero, Dr. Nikola, appeared almost 20 years before Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu.  His Simon Carne was a gentleman rogue two years before E.W. Hornung produced A.J. Raffles.

6/19/1863 Max Pemberton is born

June 19, 1863.  Max Pemberton was born on this day in London.  He grew up to write mostly adventure novels, most famously The Iron Pirate about a modern day vessel terrifying the seas. 

You can read "The Ripening Rubies," which some consider his best crime story, here.

6/7/1866 Raffles' creator breaks in

June 7, 1866.  E.W. Hornung was born in Middlesborough on this date.  He became a published writer at age twenty.  His great claim to fame was his invention of A.J. Raffles, "the amateur cracksman."  In other words, Raffles was a gentleman burglar, essentially the first hero-rogue in the mystery genre.  The stories were narrated by Bunny Manders, Raffles' faithful companion.

If that sound vaguely familiar, you're right.  The stories were a sort of parody or answer to the Sherlock Holmes stories created by Arthur Conan Doyle, who happened to be Hornung's borther-in-law.  Doyle admitted the tales were of high quality but, like many reviewers, found them morally abhorrent.

Like Doyle, Hornung killed his hero, having Raffles slain during the Second Boer War.  Unlike Holmes, Raffles stayed dead.