12/7/1996 The strange death of Eugene Izzi

December 7, 1996.  Eugene Izzi, a Chicago native, wrote more than a dozen crime novels, but he is best remembered for the strange circumstances of his death.

On this date his body was found hanging by the neck outside the window of his fourteenth-story office in Chicago.  He was wearing a bulletproof vest and had in his pockets, brass knuckles, a can of pepper spray, and a disc with an unfinished manuscript.

The coroner called it suicide but, not surprisingly, his family had doubts.

11/13/2003 The Pillowman premieres

November 13, 2003.  The Pillowman premiered on this date at the Cottlesloe Theatre in London.  The play by Martin McDonagh was about Katurian, a murder suspect because his short stories resemble the deaths of several children.  It ran on Broadway for five months in 2005.  It won the Olivier Award and two Tonys.

10/13/1989 Crimes and Misdemeanors revealed

October 13, 1989.  Woody Allen is not generally thought of as a director of crime movies, but there are Take The Money and Run, Manhattan Murder Mystery, and Small Time Crooks, among others.  And there is Crimes and Misdemeanors, released on this day.

Allen and Martin Landau star as two men in bad marriages, at least one of whom is considering murder as a solution.

The movie was nominated for three Oscars, and the Edgar.

10/7/2014 Shanks on Crime on time

October 7, 2014.  On this day Shanks on Crime was published.  Leopold Longshanks is a curmudgeonly mystery writer who just wants to create his books in peace, but true crimes keep interfering...  Most of these stories appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, but four are new.

10/1/1923 The Continental Op arrives

October 1, 1923.  "Arson Plus," by Peter Collinson appeared in the issue of Black Mask with this cover date.  Peter Collinson was really Dashiell Hammett and this was the first appearance by one of his greatest characters, the nameless, cynical, overweight, private eye known as the Continental Op.

9/19/1936 The False-Face Murders

September 19, 1936.  On this day Detective Fiction Weekly served up the first third of "The False-Face Murders" by Judson Phillips.   You can read it here.  Phillips was better known for the mysteries he wrote later under the name Hugh Pentecost.  He scored more than 100 books in all. 

8/15/1888 Waxwork begins

August 15, 1888.  The action began on this date in Waxwork, Peter Lovesey's last novel about Victorian police detective Sergeant Cribb.  The wife of a photographer is convicted of murder.  While she is awaiting execution a photo is anonymously sent to the government that seems to prove she could not have done it.  Cribb is ordered to settle the question, quietly, and before the execution date.

One of my favorite mystery novels, period.