9/18/1886 Nick Carter bursts in

September 18, 1886.  Today's issue of New York Weekly featured the first of a 13-week serial called "The Old Detective's Pupil, or the Mysterious Crime of Madison Square," by Ormond G. Smith.  Catchy title, huh?  The story introduced detective Nick Carter whose popularity led to Nick Carter Weekly, which ran through 1915.  Carter returned as the star of a pulp magazine and a radio show, which went off the air in 1955.

But you can't keep a good character down, apparently.  In 1964 he changed his profession and became Nick Carter, Killmaster, in a series of almost 300 paperback thrillers.   Not bad for a septuagenarian.

8/22/1933 Babcock breaks in to Black Mask

August 22, 1933.  On this date Dwight V. Babcock made his first sale of  a short story.  Incredible as it may seem, he broke into Black Mask.  Sounds like starting out on top to me.  "At the Bottom of Every Mess" appeared in the January 1934 issue.  He got $100 for it; good money in the Depression.

Babcock went on to write many short stories and some popular humorous crime novels.  But let's get back to that first sale to Black Mask, home of Hammett, Chandler, Gardner, etc.  He only submitted there because Underworld Magazine, which I have never even heard of, lost the copy he sent them.  Wow.

My first sale was to Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine.  Not quite so fancy.

This info came from James L. Traylor's article about Babcock in The Armchair Detective, volume 23, number 1.

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."

8/8/1891 Nick Carter Library opens

August 8, 1891.  This was the cover date of the first Nick Carter Library, the dime novel series featuring America's most popular detective, Nick Carter.  They were supposedly written by Nicholas Carter, a house name that covered Frederic Van Rensselaer Day, George Waldo Browne, and Edward Streetmayer (of Nancy Drew fame) among others.

Carter went on to movies, magazines, radio, and even became a spy-assassin in 1960s paperbacks.

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.

6/28/1843 The Gold-Bug is hatched

June 28, 1843.  This date marked the biggest payday of Edgar Allan Poe's career.  He entered his story "The Gold-Bug" in a contest sponsored by the Philadelphia Dollar News. He won, scoring a hundred bucks, and the story was published  on this day.  His tale of secret codes and buried pirate treasure inspired a huge interest in, well, secret codes and buried pirate treasure.  Logically enough.

We get a lot of our stereotypes about pirates from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island,but where did Stevenson get his ideas?  "I broke into the gallery of Mr. Poe," he confessed.  And we're all glad he did.

6/20/1925 Hugh Pentecost enters Room Number 23

June 20, 1925.  The issue of Flynn's Magazine with this cover date featured "Room Number 23," the first published story by a Columbia University student named Judson Philips.  He went on to write more than one hundred crime novels, mostly under the name Hugh Pentecost. The Mystery Writers of America gave him the Grand Masters Award in 1973.   

6/13/1953 Carr does Holmes

June 13, 1953.  Collier's Magazine, with this cover date, featured "The Adventure of the Sealed Room" by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr.  It was part of a series of stories about the Master all co-written by the original author's son and the master of locked room mysteries.  They were collected under the title The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, which always made me wonder: did they know that one meaning of exploit is "use selfishly for one's own end?"

5/25/1956 Stuart Bailey shows up, but not on Sunset Strip

May 25, 1956.  The issue of Saturday Evening Post with this cover date featured a short story by Roy Huggins called "Now You See It."  Why is that important?

It was one of three stories to feature a character named Stuart Bailey.  Huggins later based a TV show on Bailey and 77 Sunset Strip was one of the most influential series in the history of TV private eyes.

Huggins went on to have a hand in the creation of The Fugitive, Maverick, and The Rockford Files.

5/5/2014 Shanks Holds the Line

May 5. 2014.  Trace Evidence, the Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine blog, puts up a free short story.  Robert Lopresti offered "Shanks Holds The Line" as a public service, to warn people about a certain scam. 

If you like it you can read 12 more stories about the character in  Shanks on Crime.

4/24/1936 MacKinlay Kantor turns to crime

April 24, 1936. MacKinlay Kantor is best remembered as the author of the Civil War play Andersonville, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1956.  His novel Glory For Me was the basis for the excellent movie The Best Years of Their Lives.

But back in 1936 he published a crime story in Colliers Magazine.  "Rogues Gallery" is his most reprinted story, including an appearance in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine.

4/20/1841 The mystery story is born

April 20, 1841.  That was the publication date for the issue of Graham's Magazine which featured "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," in which Edgar Allan Poe invented the detective story.

Oh sure, you can find earlier stories with this or that element, but in one tale Poe included:
* A genius detective
* An admiring assistant (or "Watson") who narrates
* Bungling police officers
* Scientific crime scene investigation
* Least likely suspect

In three more stories (two about Auguste Dupin, the genius detective, plus "Thou Art The Man") he added:
* The obvious clue
* The roman a clef
* The gathering of the suspects

So happy birthday to the mystery field!

4/15/1846 Abraham Lincoln, crime writer

April 15, 1846.  Chances are when you think of Abraham Lincoln you don't immediately think of crime fiction.  But on this date he published a slightly fictionalized version of one of my most interesting cases as an attorney.  It is certainly a bizarre tale.  You can read "The Trailor Murder Mystery," as it is usually called here.

4/1/1934 The Mystery Man of Soho

April 1, 1934.  The issue of the British magazine Thriller with this cover date featured "The Mystery Man of Soho," by Margaret Allingham.  It did not feature her upper class detective, Albert Campion. She republished it in her Minibus under the title "A Quarter of a Million."  Nice cover.

3/30/1894 Ronald Adair dies before an empty house

March 30, 1894.  On this date the Honourable Ronald Adair was murdered by (spoiler alert) Colonel Sebastian Moran, formerly the right-hand-man of the evil Professor Moriarty.  This was the case that brought the supposedly dead Sherlock Holmes out of exile in "The Adventure of the Empty House."  And you thought he came back because Doyle needed the money.  Shame on you.

3/25/1951 Lady, You're Dead!

March 25, 1981.  Ellery Queen's story "Lady, You're Dead!" appeared in This Week magazine on this day.  When it appeared in an Ellery Queen book the title changed to "Driver's Seat,"  which was presumably the one they preferred.

Perhaps this was karma striking back at Frederic Dannay, one half of the writing team, since he had a reputation for ruthlessly changing titles of stories  that appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which he edited.

3/20/1937 The Murderous Mr. Coon

March 20, 1937.  The issue of Detective Fiction Weekly with this cover date featured "The Murderous Mr. Coon," by Richard Sale.  You can read it here, courtesy of Evan Lewis, an excellent contemporary short story writer.

The story stars Daffy Dill, a New York newspaper reporter with an unfortunate name.

Sale also wrote novels, such as Not Too Narrow...Not Too Deep, and directed some movies, including Let's Make It Legal, one of Marilyn's first flicks.  (Oh, you know perfectly well which Marilyn.)

3/16/1897 Sherlock Holmes sees the Devil's Foot

March 16, 1897.  On this date, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, in Cornwall for Holmes's health, encounter a bizarre case of madness and murder.  "The Adventure of the Devils Foot" was one of Conan Doyle's favorite Sherlock Holmes stories.  One stand-out feature: Good old Watson saves Holmes' life.

3/2/1929 The Saint goes short

March 2, 1929.  The issue of The Thriller  with this cover date featured "Story of a Dead Man," by Leslie Charteris.  (And what a great cover!)  It was the first short story to feature his most famous creation, The Saint.  Simon Templar had already appeared in a 1928 novel, Meet the Tiger.  Since then he has appeared in movies, TV, radio, and probably Egyptian heiroglyphics.

2/4/1911 The Locked Bag opens

February 4, 1911.  The issue of Saturday Evening Post with this cover date featured a courtroom tale called "The Locked Bag."  Melville Davisson Post wrote a lot of fiction, and created two famous characters: a sneaky New York lawyer named Rnadolph Mason, and a rural sleuth named Uncle Abner.

This story belongs to neither series.  You can read it here.