9/14/1946 Dangerous Decoys

September 14, 1946.  We go deep into noir territory today, as Decoy premieres.  A dying female gangster explains how they rescued her boyfriend after he dies in the gas chamber, hoping to revive him.  Not out of love, but because he knows where the money is hidden.  What could possibly go wrong?  Oh yeah, she's fatally wounded...

8/28/1946 The Killers arrive

August 28, 1946.  This day saw the release of The Killers, starring Edmond O'Brien  and Ava Gardner.  Other important roles were played by Burt Lancaster and William Conrad, in their film premieres.

The first twenty minutes is an accurate filming of Ernest Hemingway's story of the same name, part of his Nick Adams cycle.  It describes hired killers coming to a small town to kill an ex-boxer called the Swede.  The rest of the flick, in which the crime is investigated,  is made up from scratch. 

It does offer an explanation of Swede's fatal mistake.  For a different take on that, read Leigh Lundin's surprising discovery.

8/27/1947 Hollywood gets the kiss of death

August 27, 1947.  On this date the movie Kiss of Death was released.  A film noir classic, it starred Victor Mature and gave Richard Widmark his first role in the flicks.  It scored two Academy Award nominations, one for Widmark.

8/18/1941 Cordially invited to meet death

August 18, 1941.  On this date Bess Huddleston, professional party organizer, came to Nero Wolfe, asking him to investigate letters her clients had received accusing her of misbehavior.  Although she had previously irritated him by asking him to play detective at a "murder party" he agrees to look into the matter.  Soon a particularly horrible death is also invited...

As World War II began Rex Stout spent more of his time on war-related activities and less time on writing, and that meant switching to short fiction.  This was his second novella (after "Black Orchids.")  It was published in American Magazine in April 1942, as "Invitation to Murder," but in the book Black Orchids, it is "Cordially Invited to Meet Death."

8/17/1942 Marlowe looks out a high window

August 17, 1942.  This date saw the publication of The High Window, Raymond Chandler's third novel about L.A. private eye Philip Marlowe.   (Has anyone else pointed out that his novels arrange the same way chronologcally as alphabetically?  Just like Sue Grafton's sort of.)

And speaking of the alphabet, this story features characters named Marlowe,  Murdock (two of them), Magic, Merle, Morny, and Morningstar.  Why do authors do that sort of thing?  What's wrong with the other letters?

8/7/1940 Eric Ambler introduces a gentleman poet

August 7, 1940.  Eric Ambler was a great author of thriller and spy novels.  On this date Sketch magazine published one of his few short stories.  "The Adventure of the Gentleman Poet" was one of six tales he wrote about Dr. Jan Czissar, a Czech refugee who helped Scotland yard.

7/5/1943 Chick Carter, Boy Detective

July 5, 1943. File this under things you never heard of.  On this date the Mutual Broadcasting System premiered Chick Carter, Boy Detective.  Chick, you see, was the adopted son of Nick Carter. who started out in dime novels in the 1880s and had an adult radio show at the time.  "Adult" in this case not being a euphemism for pornographic.  In 1946 Chick even got his own film serial, and also a comic strip.

That illustration on the left came up when I was searching for Chick Carter.  It is for a different character but it  may be the most amazing thing I have ever seen. If you offered that cover to a publisher today the only question is what sort of institution you would wind up in.

6/10/1940 Where There's a Will there's a Wolfe

6/10/1940  This date saw the publication of Rex Stout's Where There's A Will, in which Nero Wolfe tries to solve a crime involving the Secretary of State's family.  It's a weird book, full of symbolism that, to my mind, never goes anywhere.

For instance, the Secretary's wife is June.  Her sisters are May, a college president, and April, an actress.  They call June Juno,  the most powerful goddess in the Roman Pantheon, which naturally makes one think that the spinster genius May resembles the maidenly goddess of wisdom Minerva, and the beautiful April suggests Aphrodite (or Venus).  Then there is their sister-in-law who wears a veil because their brother accidentally show her in the face with an  arrow.  And a disputed will which bequeaths pieces of fruit to the three sisters.  Apples of discord?  It certainly seems like Stout had something mythological in mind here, but I don't know what.

The highlight of the book is the unexpected appearance of a second veiled widow.  The only way to determine who is the phony to yank off the veil with a fifty percent chance of revealing a horrible injury.  Brave Archie Goodwin is strangely reluctant to proceed... 

6/4/1940 George Chesbro arrives

June 4, 1940. George C. Chesbro was born on this date in Washington, D.C.  His most famous novels featured a criminologist named Dr. Robert Ferguson, better known as Mongo the Magnificent.  If that seems like an unusual nickame for a criminologist, you are probably not aware that Mongo was a dwarf and in his early years had been an acrobat in the circus.

The Mongo books had memorable titles: Second Horseman Out Of Eden, The Language of Cannibals, and so on.  They often had paranormal elements too.

5/2/1946 Ding dong. Ding dong.

May 2, 1946.  The Postman Always Rings Twice opened today.   John Garfield and Lana Turner starred in this adaptation of James L Cain's noir classic.

3/15/1948 Ludwig Wittgenstein praises you-know-what

March 15, 1948.  Ludwig Wittgenstein was one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century.  One doesn't necessarily think of such folks as reading hard-boiled detective fiction, but one might be wrong.

On this date he wrote a letter in which he compared philosophy journals to crime publications: "Your mags are wonderful.  How people can read Mind if they could read Street & Smith ['s Detective Story Magazine] beats me.  If philosophy has anything to do with wisdom there’s certainly not a grain of that in Mind, and quite often a grain in the detective stories.”

A few years earlier he had jokingly complained about the end of the lend-lease agreement between the United States and his adopted home of Great Britain: "if the U.S.A. won’t give us detective mags we can’t give them philosophy ...”


You can read more about this at Mystery*FIle's article.

2/6/1947 The Brasher Doubloon turns up

February 6, 1947.  The Brasher Doubloon premiered on this day.  The movie was based on Raymond Chandler's The High Window.  George Montgomery starred as private eye Philip Marlowe.

Film critic Dennis Schwartz said it was: "just smart enough of a film noir to be considered a classic."

1/2/1942 Dreaming of Babylon begins

January 2, 1942.  Whatever type of novel Richard Brautigan set out to write - gothic, romance, fantasy, horror - what always came out was a Richard Brautigan novel.  That could be wonderful, or not.  Dreaming of Babylon is pretty wondrful.

It's about C. Card, a private eye in wartime San Francisco who can't get into the army because he got bashed on the head once too often and occasionally finds himself in ancient Babylon.  He thinks. 

And on this date he finally has a client!  If only he can borrow some bullets for his gun...

2/28/1945. MWA files its birth certificate

February 28, 1945.  On this date, the Mystery Writers of America filed its articles of incorporation in Albany, New York, beginning a long and distinguished career as one of the country's greatest organizations for writers (or so says a man with a membership card in his wallet).

Among the organizers were Dorothy B. Hughes, Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner, Helen McCloy, and Howard Haycraft.  Clayton Rawson offered the slogan that still remains: "Crime Does Not Pay - Enough."

Source: Barry T. Nevin and Angela Nevin, "Mystery Writers of America, Inc." The Armchair Detective.  26 (2)  1993.

2/11/1949 Jim Thompson gets the bird

February 11, 1949.  Like any proper noir writer Jim Thompson had a life full of bad luck and weirdness.  But extra points for style, as they say.

On this day he was fired from his job as a reporter at the Los Angeles Mirror.  According to the gossip in the newsroom, he was sent down to the San Diego Zoo to interview a mynah bird, and while he was gone the boss called his wife and told her he was not to come back to the paper.


By happy coincidence, the same date saw the publication of his novel Nothing More Than Murder.

Source: Polito, Robert.  Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson.

2/3/1948 Henning Mankell is born

February 3, 1948.  Henning Mankell was born on this day in Stockholm, Sweden.  He is best remembered for his twelve novels about police inspector Kurt Wallender.  He received awards including Best Swedish Crime Novel, the Glass Key Award, the Gumshoe Award, and the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger.  Wallender has served as the basis for two Swedish TV series, and one in Britain.

1/24/1941 High Sierra premieres

January 24, 1941.  This date saw the release of Raoul Walsh's classic flick High Sierra.   John Huston and W.R. Burnett wrote the script, based on Burnett's novel.  Humphrey Bogart starred as ex-con Roy Earle planning to rob a California resort.  Ida Lupino played the love interest.

1/12/1943 Shadow of a Doubt released

January 12, 1943.  On this date Shadow of a Doubt was released.  It was a classic Alfred Hitchcock movie: Charlie (Teresa Wright) is a teenage girl in a small California and she's thrilled when her Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotton) comes to town.  The only problem is, he might be a serial killer...

12/5/1943 The Mysterious Traveler sets out

December 5, 1943.  This date saw (uh, heard) the premiere of the radio show The Mysterious Traveler.  Robert Arthur, Jr. and David P. Kogan wrote the show, following the success of their Dark Destiny.

Each episode began with Maurice Tarplin announcing: "This is The Mysterious Traveler, inviting you to join me on another journey into the strange and terrifying. I hope you will enjoy the trip . . . that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little. So settle back, get a good grip on your nerves, and be comfortable . . . if you can . . . ."

The Mystery Writers of America gave the Mutual Broadcasting System's show an Edgar for best radio drama. 

You can hear some of the episodes here.  Try the most famous one: Behind The Locked Door.

11/29/1945 John Dickson Carr is a no-show

November 29, 1945.  On this date John Dickson Carr was supposed to be the guest of honor at one of the first dinner meetings of the Mystery Writers of America, but Carr, who had problems with crowds, didn't show up.

Carr was an American by birth but set most of his books in England.  He was considered one of the great "Golden Age" authors, and the master of the locked room mystery.  His main detectives were Dr. Gideon Fell and (under the name Carter Dickson) Sir Henry Merrivale.

MWA apparently didn't hold a grudge about his absence.  They gave him two Edgar Awards and, in 1963, named him a Grand Master.

Source: Douglas Greene's John Dickson Carr, the Man who Explained Miracles.