3/24/2015 MWA gets cooking

March 24, 2015.  This date saw the publication of the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook.   It features recipes by such stalwarts as Rhys Bowen, Alafair Burke, Nelson DeMille, Lindsay Faye, BIll Fitzhugh, Sue Grafton, David Housewright, Margaret Maron, Sarah Paretsky, James Patterson, and on and on.

Consdiering how many fictional poisonings they are responsible for I don't know if I want to put them in charge of my dinner.  Maybe you'll be safe with Lee Child's "Coffee, Pot of One."

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.

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.