Several SMFS list members have stories
in the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine:
March/April 2019 issue. They are:
Kevin Egan with “The Courthouse
Paperboy.”
Terrence Faherty with “Margo and the Red
Carnation.”
Robert Mangeot with “Star of Zoe.”
William Burton McCormick with “Murder in
the Second Act.”
O’Neil De Noux with “The Peeschwet.”
March/April 2019
Courting Danger
Love and passion are
often the beating heart of enthralling crime stories. Tales from the flip side
of the Valentine’s Day card in our latest issue careen from crashing a wedding
to crashing a funeral, from fleeing an abusive partner to ensuring that one’s
love will never (completely) die. Herein are thirteen stories of love, loss,
and legally questionable choices for those passionate about crime fiction and
short stories.
A young banker’s life
is upended when he is jailed for embezzlement, but he gets out just in time to
wreak havoc as “The Wedding Crasher” in a new tale by Doug Allyn. A master
thief, meanwhile, tries crashing the funeral of his beloved ex-wife in Robert
Mangeot’s “Star of Zoe.” And O’Neil De Noux’s New Orleans P.I. Lucien Caye
takes on the case of a hapless ex-con whose ex-wife won’t allow visitations
with his son in “The Peeschwet.”
Amanda Witt’s tale of
a young mother’s desperation to escape an abusive relationship is taut and
tense in “Up in the Air.” Franz Margitza’s “Eulalia” is a nod to Edgar Allan
Poe, with its dark theme of measures taken to hold on to one’s love. Eric
Rutter’s “Mrs. Carter” recounts a wife’s heartbreak when Pinkerton detectives
show up to arrest her husband.
In “Louisa and the
Tunnel” by Marianne Wilski Strong, a Cape May resident’s love of Louisa May
Alcott stories helps her understand why a wealthy woman won’t allow historians
on her property to research the Underground Railroad. A cleaning lady working
late at night at a courthouse hears the painful wail of a departed spirit (she
thinks) in Cheryl Skupa’s “Ghost in the Nemaha County Courthouse.”
Radio producer Margo
Banning is pressed into service to help catch a German spy in Terence Faherty’s
WWII-era “Margo and the Red Carnation.” In William Burton McCormick’s “Murder
in the Second Act,” two sisters solve a crime set around a traveling theater
troupe. Kevin Egan’s savvy courthouse security officer, Foxx, aids a fellow
worker and gets involved in a consumer credit case in “The Courthouse
Paperboy.” And Mat Coward returns with a tale that begins with a menacing note
sent to a practical joker in “What Invisible Means.” Finally, the buck stops
with Mark Milstein’s fast-food restaurant manager when an electrical outage
cascades into a series of unfortunate events in “A Curious Transaction.”
Joining us this issue
is Laurel Flores Fantauzzo stepping in as our new book reviewer. Laurel is an
assistant professor in the English Department at the University of Hawaii at
Mānoa and the author of the acclaimed nonfiction mystery The First
Impulse.
Once again, we’re
pleased to present a bouquet of thirteen tales featuring characters we think
you’ll fall in love with.
FICTION
by Mat Coward
Tuesday was a great
day. Wednesday less so, of course, because that was when he got the letter
saying that someone was planning to murder him, but Tuesday went better than
Des could have hoped. The whole business with the open-top bus had started as a
throwaway gag, and ended as just about the funniest thing he’d ever been
involved in. He woke up the next morning with ribs sore from all the laughing
and a slightly acid stomach from all the champagne. He made his breakfast, had
a shower, and then he opened the post. Apart from the thing saying he was going
to be murdered, it was mostly junk.
“The good news,” said
Detective Constable Vicki, “is that this is not a real Osman warning. It’s
definitely a fake.”
“Okay,” said Des. “On
the one hand, great, phew, you’ve put my mind at rest, et cetera. On the other
hand, I don’t know what an Osmond Warning is.” READ MORE
by Kevin Egan
It was such a thin
line, Foxx realized later, the difference between him being there and not. He
might have banged in sick. He might have been assigned to a trial. The officer
posted at the security desk might have been feeling well enough that she didn’t
need to take a break. But Foxx came to the courthouse that day. The captain did
not pull him from his usual duties of circulating throughout the building. And
it was that time of the month.
The fifth floor
security desk was one of several choke points around the courthouse. It stood
at the head of a small lobby that was the only public access to the twelve
judicial chambers strung out along the corridor that followed the building’s hexagonal
outer wall. The desk was a potentially crucial security post that rarely lived
up to its potential. READ MORE
DEPARTMENTS
by Laurel Flores
Fantauzzo
In the late 2000s,
Linda Landrigan hired me as the Assistant Editor at AHMM, and my education in
mystery and publishing began. Robert Hahn’s reviews brought me reflections
about trends, foibles, and achievements in new books of the genre. I was always
curious what insights and wisdoms his columns would bring.
I’m honored that, ten
years later, after writing a debut true crime book of my own, I’m stepping into
Mr. Hahn’s formidable space in the magazine. I hope that with my own reviews I
can continue to honor the work he did here, and bring AHMM readers into the
worlds of new books still to come. READ MORE
We give a prize of $25
to the person who invents the best mystery story (in 250 words or less, and be
sure to include a crime) based on the photograph provided in each issue. The
story will be printed in a future issue. READ THE MOST RECENT WINNING STORY.
Acrostic puzzle by
Arlene Fisher
Solve the clues to
reveal an interesting observation about an author and their work! Shh! The
solution to the puzzle will appear in the next issue. CURRENT ISSUE'S PUZZLE
by Mark Lagasse
Unscramble the letters
of each numbered entry to spell the name of a famous sleuth. MOST RECENT PUZZLE
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