9/30/1906 Michael Innes arrives

September 30, 1906.  J.I.M.Stewart was born on this date in Edinburgh, Scotland.  He wrote mainstream novels under his own name and crime  novels as Michael Innes.  He called those latter books - nore than forty of them - "entertainments."  His most famous invention was Detective Inspector Sir John Appleby.

9/29/1971 McMillan & Wife

September 29, 1971.  McMillan & Wife premiered on this day.  It was one of three spokes of NBC Mystery Movie, along with Columbo and McCloud.  It starred Rock Hudson as the San Francisco police commissioner and Susan St. James as his wife.  Like all police commissioners, Mac wandered around solving crimes with his spouse.

Okay, maybe it wasn't very realistic, but it was good fun and gave steady work to the wonderful Nancy Walker and John Schuck.  Plus, they based a few episodes on some tales of Edward D. Hoch.  Huh, TV based on detective short stories.  What a great idea, he said, completely without personal motive.

9/28/1913 Ellis Peters is born

September 28, 1913.  Edith Pargeter was born on this date, in Horsehay, England.  She became much better known under the name Ellis Peters.  While she wrote dozens of books under at least five names (and I am particularly fond of Black is the Colour of my True Love's Heart, one of the few mysteries set in a folk festival) she is usually remembered as the creator of Brother Cadfael, a Welsh soldier turned monk/herbalist during the middle of the twelfth century. 

She won the Edgar Award in 1963 for Death and the Joyful Woman.  The British Crime Writers Association gave her the Silver Dagger in 1980 for Monk's Hood and the Diamond Dagger in 1993 for lifetime achievement.

9/27/1906 Jim Thompson's first night in jail

September 27, 1906.  Jim Thompson, the great noir writer, used to brag that he was born in jail.  To be precise, he was born in a jailhouse.  His father, James Thompson, was the sheriff of Caddo County, Oklahoma, and like many lawmen of the time, his family got free living quarters over the jail, in return for merely providing 24/7 service to the prisoners.

It's worth noting that Thompson's books are full of violent, amoral, and downright crazy sheriffs.

9/26/1990 Cop Rock starts singing

September 26, 1990.  On this day one of television's weirdest experiments began. Steven Bochco, creator of Hill Street Blues, convinced ABC to air a grim, gritty urban police show in which characters inexplicably burst into song several times each episode.  I remember wondering "What were they smoking when they dreamed this up?"  It lasted eleven weeks.  TV Guide ranked it as the 8th worst TV series of all time. 

9/25/41 EQMM dines at the Waldorf-Astoria

September 25, 1941.  On this date Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine was announced to the world at a banquet at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.  Only a handful of surviving American magazines have lasted longer than EQMM.  You can read a short history of it here.  More than forty Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners have graced its pages.  My favorite claim to fame: EQMM was the first American magazine to publish Jorge Luis Borges in English.

9/24/1986 The Name of the Rose is revealed

September 24, 1986.  Italian literary critic Umberto Eco made quite a sensation with his first novel, the medieval mystery The Name of the Rose.  On this date the movie came out, starring Sean Connery as the brilliant Brother William of Baskerville (one of many perfect names... I recall the blind librarian Jorge of Burgos). 

Many thought the book would be impossible to film but it turned out quite well and was nominated for an Edgar.

My favorite bit of dialog, between Brother William and Dr. Watson - I mean Adso (Christian Slater).

     –Oh dear.
     –Why oh dear?
     –You ARE in love.
     –Is that bad?
     –For a monk, it does present certain problems.