Ken Derry

Richard Helms

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers. The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery. ★ In this issue ★ In our cover feature, "All Her Diamond Rings" by C.W. Blackwell, an auto-mechanic and former car thief gets an opportunity from an unlikely source. "Corpse Cake" by Richard Helms: In 1843 London, legendary-some say notorious-thief-taker Vicar Brekonridge encounters Athelney Cribbins, a law clerk and surreptitious sin-eater, who has a curious story to tell about a possible murder. "How Do I Get To Mount Julep?" by Ken Derry: Fancy Mike was murdered last week on my watch. I was tasked to find out what happened. This was a job for a younger buck. "The Pink Coat" by Siobhan Wright: Amelia, a 17-year-old, heads South for spring break on a Greyhound bus and is lured into the world of crime in the Cleveland bus station. "Trouble At First Sight" by Edward Lodi: A private eye's search for a young girl's stolen dog leads him to a shack at the edge of a swamp, where things are not as they appear, and where survival depends on determining who is friend, and who is foe. In the caper, "Zen Man's Sandbag" by George Wilhite, a Zen master who can move through solid substances cons bank robbers. In "Cold Turkey" by Steve Liskow, Harley is doing community service and trying to be a Good Boy. Then two bank robbers on the run break in and take a classmate hostage. What's a guy with a nose ring gonna do? In "Wine Into Water," A You-Solve-It By Laird Long, a crate of wine allegedly ends up in the river. Can you decern what happened? Custom Cover Art By Robin Grenville Evans

November 2023

Mystery Magazine

William Hood

A Look over My Shoulder begins with President Nixon’s attempt to embroil the Central Intelligence Agency, of which Richard Helms was then the director, in the Watergate cover-up. Helms then recalls his education in Switzerland and Germany and at Williams College; his early career as a foreign correspondent in Berlin, during which he once lunched with Hitler; and his return to newspaper work in the United States. Helms served on the German desk at OSS headquarters in London; subsequently, he was assigned to Allen Dulles’s Berlin office in postwar Germany. On his return to Washington, Helms assumed responsibility for the OSS carryover operations in Germany, Austria, and Eastern Europe. He remained in this post until the Central Intelligence Agency was formed in 1947. At CIA, Helms served in many positions, ultimately becoming the organization’s director from 1966 to 1973. He was appointed ambassador to Iran later that year and retired from government service in January 1977. It was often thought that Richard Helms, who served longer in the Central Intelligence Agency than anyone else, would never tell his story, but here it is–revealing, news-making, and with candid assessments of the controversies and triumphs of a remarkable career.

A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency

A Look Over My Shoulder

Michael Bracken

Barb Goffman

John M. Floyd

David Dean

Richie Narvaez

Jeff Cohen

Terrie Farley Moran

James D.F. Hannah

Robert Lopresti

Jennie Milchman

From Cold Spring Harbor in 1971 to River of Dreams in 1993, Billy Joel released a dozen studio albums that remade the face of American pop music, produced twenty-six Top 10 singles (on Billboard’s Top 100 and Adult Contemporary charts), and earned the Piano Man six Grammys. Although he hasn’t released a recording of new songs in almost thirty years, Joel’s live performances continue to electrify audiences around the globe—and until COVID-19 put things on hold he had sold out New York’s Madison Square Garden for a record-shattering seventy-four consecutive monthly shows! In this collection, twelve award-winning writers of short crime fiction tackle the Joel catalog, and the result—edited by Josh Pachter, whose The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell earned rave reviews in 2020—is a journey down life’s mean streets with a soundtrack by one of the great singer-songwriters of our time, and contributors Michael Bracken, Jeff Cohen, David Dean, John M. Floyd, Barb Goffman, James D.F. Hannah, Richard Helms, Robert Lopresti, Jenny Milchman, Terrie Farley Moran, Richie Narvaez, and Pachter himself are donating a third of their royalties to support the work of the Joel Foundation. In the Gospel According to Billy, only the good die young. Within these pages, though, Death is an equal-opportunity exterminator, and the stories you’ll find here don’t just hit the charts: they go all the way to Number One … with a bullet!

Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Billy Joel

Only the Good Die Young

Richard Helms

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