1/8/1989 LIttle Gray Cells Come to TV.

January 8, 1989.  This date saw the premiere on ITV of Agatha Christie's Poirot, one of the most popular and long-running filmed versions of Dame Agatha's fiction  David Suchet starred as the wily Belgian detective and by 2013 he had filmed essentially everything Christie had written about him.  The series was nominated for countless awards and won several, including an Edgar for best TV episode..

1/7/1888 The Valley of Fear begins

January 7, 1888.  On this date Sherlock Holmes gets a note from one of Professor Moriarty's henchmen.  Thus begins Arthur Conan Doyle's fourth and last novel about the great detective.  The Valley of Fear was published in 1915.  Not generally considered the best of the books, but it does have a wondErful plot twist.

1/6/1927 The Hardy Boys get signed up

January 6, 1927.  On this date Leslie McFarlane signed a contract with the Stratemeyer Syndicate to write the first books in a new series: the Hardy Boys, which were published under the house pseudonym, Franklin W. Dixon.  McFarlane wrote 19 of the first 25 highly successful books.

1/5/1965 The Doorbell Rang begins

January 5, 1965.  On this date Mrs. Rachel Bruner came to Nero Wolfe with a little problem.  The wealthy widow had sent 10,000 copies of an anti-FBI book to people of influence.  Now the FBI wants revenge.

So begins The Doorbell Rang, Rex Stout's most successful, controversial, and  popular novel.

1/4/1975 Police Woman, cover girl

January 4, 1975.  The issue of TV Guide with this date featured Angie Dickinson, the star of Police Woman.  The show premiered in September and ran for four years on NBC.

1/3/1893 A (Rufus) King is born

January 3, 1893,  Rufus King was born on this day.  Between 1927 and 1964 he published more than two dozen mystery novels.His best-known character was Lieutenent Valcour.

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...