Ernie Bulow

Walter Satterthwait

Conversations with Walter Satterthwait

Sleight of Hand

A girl's stepmother is murdered, and only Lizzie Borden can find the killer . During the summer of 1921, a strange spinster rents the seaside cottage next door to Amanda Burton and her family. The new neighbor dresses in black, does card tricks, and reminisces about a long-ago trip to Paris. Her name is Lizzie Borden, and two decades earlier she was acquitted of one of the most notorious crimes in American history. Although her stepmother warns her to stay away, Amanda has no patience for her father's doughy wife, and befriends their infamous neighbor. When tragedy strikes the seaside town, Miss Lizzie is the only one who can help. Amanda finds her stepmother hacked to pieces in her blood-soaked bed. The police suspect Miss Borden, but Amanda knows her new friend is innocent. As the township closes ranks, Miss Lizzie and Amanda hunt for the real killer. Guilty or innocent, Lizzie Borden does not go down without a fight.

Miss Lizzie

John M. Floyd

Stephen Marlowe

James O. Born

John Shepphird

Arthur Klepchukov

Josh Pachter

Jeff Vorzimmer

Don Stoll

Kyle Stout

Ken Luer

Steven Nester

There are a number of noteworthy articles in this issue of The Magazine. We are fortunate to feature some of the correspondence between two legends of crime fiction, Walter Satterthwait and Bill Crider, both of whom recently passed away. For those who knew Walter and Bill, or were just fans of their work, there is a touch of their personalities that comes through in these exchanges and, at least for a moment, gives us an opportunity to experience their unique voices just a little bit, just one more time. Jeff Vorzimmer, editor of last year’s The Best of Manhunt collection, tells us about Stephen Marlowe’s career in the piece leading into his story The Blonde at the Wheel. Jeff also contributed a story of his own and we’re happy to have this opportunity to showcase his many skills. We also have a couple of repeat appearances by writers who have appeared in previous issues. Arthur Klepchukov is back, as is John M. Floyd and John Shepphird. And with original stories by veterans like Josh Pachter and James O. Born, and newer offerings by Michael Cahlin, Steven Nester and Ken Luer, we’re showing the art of the crime fiction short story is still going strong. May it ever be so.

Down & Out: The Magazine Volume 2 Issue 2

Croft looks for evidence to free a tarot reader accused of killing a satanist Strong cosmic energy and stunning scenery have long made Santa Fe a destination for New Age enthusiasts. At a gathering of New Mexico’s most renowned mystics, known satanist Quentin Bouvier flaunts a priceless tarot card; a few hours later, he is found hanged from a rafter, head bashed in, the card missing. Suspicion falls on Giacomo Bernardi, a tarot reader and owner of the scarf with which Bouvier was strung up. To crack the state’s airtight case, Bernardi’s lawyer hires Joshua Croft, a private investigator with no patience for the supernatural but a strong understanding of earthly vice. To prove Bernardi’s innocence, Croft reconstructs the events of that strange, deadly dinner party, interviewing all the participants and finding that even the spiritually minded are capable of murder.

The Hanged Man

A girl’s stepmother is murdered, and only Lizzie Borden can find the killer During the summer of 1921, a strange spinster rents the seaside cottage next door to Amanda Burton and her family. The new neighbor dresses in black, does card tricks, and reminisces about a long-ago trip to Paris. Her name is Lizzie Borden, and two decades earlier she was acquitted of one of the most notorious crimes in American history. Although her stepmother warns her to stay away, Amanda has no patience for her father’s doughy wife, and befriends their infamous neighbor. When tragedy strikes the seaside town, Miss Lizzie is the only one who can help. Amanda finds her stepmother hacked to pieces in her blood-soaked bed. The police suspect Miss Borden, but Amanda knows her new friend is innocent. As the township closes ranks, Miss Lizzie and Amanda hunt for the real killer. Guilty or innocent, Lizzie Borden does not go down without a fight.

Sarasota Police Detectives Sophia Tregaskis and Jim Fallon race against time to stop an obsessed serial killer who is targeting seriously obese women and killing them in a ritualistic manner. 15,000 first printing.

Perfection

Introducing 'The Pinkerton Pair' - the cool and urbane Phil Beaumont, detective with the famous Pinkerton Agency, and Miss Jane Turner, an innocent English rose anxious to walk on the wild side of life. It is the summer of 1921 and the guests are arriving at the stately country house (haunted, of course) of Lord Purleigh in Devon; among them a Viennese psychoanalyst, a mysterious medium there to conduct the obligatory seances which were all the rage, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the great escapologist and showman Harry Houdini. Ostensibly hired to act as Houdini's bodyguard, following threats from a jealous fellow magician, Phil Beaumont finds himself casting a wise-cracking American eye over English high society whilst dealing with the energetic attentions of Lady Purleigh's daughter and having to solve the murder - in a locked room - of the wheelchair bound head of the family, the Earl of Axminster. With assistants such as Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, the case should not be difficult, though of course it is, but the one who shows the most promise could be Jane Turner... When published in the USA in 1995, the Los Angeles Times called Escapade 'A classy and classic whodunnit...A seemingly effortless, beguiling style and a mesmerizing story smartly told.' This will be its first UK publication

Escapade

Pinkerton agents Jane Turner and Philip Beaumont have just finished another difficult assignment abroad; now the office is sending them to Germany. Their job: to find the assassin who almost succeeded in killing Adolf Hitler when he was in Berlin. Their first surprise is a pleasant one---the Nazi big shot assigned to be their guide, Ernst (Putzi) Hanfstaengl, is a huge, jovial man who amazes his guests immediately; his English is almost without any accent! Hanfstaengl has learned American ways during his student days at Harvard. He is a talented pianist and as friendly as a puppy. Jane and Phil have no reason to think his fellow Nazis are not just as personable. This isn't going to be so bad. Everything starts to go downhill after that, however, although a handsome Nazi almost turns Jane's head with his attentions. Their job becomes a questionable one as the agents see more and more of the new party's dreadful face. A woman who gives them some information is found murdered. There are other deaths, all clearly connected to the Nazi Party. By the time Jane and Phil meet Hitler, they are not only horrified and puzzled about why the Pinkerton agency accepted the job, they are very aware that they are in danger themselves. Walter Satterthwait has uncannily taken his readers to the Germany of 1923, introducing them to characters from the actual front pages of the period's newspapers---Hanfstaengl, Rudolf Hess, and many others. As in the previous two books of this series, the crimes that Turner and Beaumont encounter are committed against a genuinely historical background. It all adds up to a suspenseful story of two likable people at risk in the treacherous atmosphere of Germany's postwar nightmare.

Cavalcade

Masquerade

The second case for 'The Pinkerton Pair': Phil Beaumont, the laconic professional and the innocent, but far from naive Jane Turner who is keen to earn her spurs with the famous detective agency.

At a meeting of thirteen of Santa Fe's leading New Age healers, Quentin Bouvier, a magician and possibly a reincarnated Egyptian pharaoh, has been hanged from the rafters. He outbid Leonard Quarry for astrologer Eliza Remington's antique tarot card and now he's dead and the tarot card is missing. The police quickly arrest Giacamo Bernardi, a tarot reader, and charge him with the murder and theft. Bernardi's court-appointed attorney hires private investigator Joshua Croft to prove Bernardi's innocence. Suspects from the meeting and the community abound, including astrologers and psychics, a young hermit immersed in "Spiritual Alchemy," an aging movie star who acts as a medium for an entity from Alpha Centauri, a Native American shaman who gets accountants in touch with their warrior within, and a mysterious Asian woman whose equally mysterious brother displays a near-lethal familiarity with martial arts.

A Joshua Croft Mystery

A film star begs Croft to find his missing wife and daughter. Hollywood icon Roy Alonzo has just learned that in Los Angeles there is no such thing as a simple divorce. After years of bitterness and jealousy, his wife Melissa leaves him, taking most of his money, property, and five days a week with their only child. When Roy begins dating again, Melissa accuses him of sexually abusing their daughter, and disappears with her. Alonzo asks Santa Fe detective Joshua Croft to find them and prove his innocence, but there's a problem: Croft thinks Alonzo is lying. Croft refuses to help the star -- but a surprise visitor changes his mind. Norman Montoya, underworld kingpin of Santa Fe, is Alonzo's uncle, and he convinces Croft that the fugitives are in jeopardy. The women have been swallowed by an international conspiracy, and it will take brute force -- not star power -- to bring them back.

A Flower in the Desert

Fred Hunter

Barbara Burnett Smith

An original short story featuring hero Joshua Croft by Walter Satterthwait accompanies two full-length novels--Barbara Burnett Smith's Mistletoe From Purple Sage and Ransom for a Holiday by Fred Hunter, in a collection of holiday mysteries. Original.

Christmas Crimes

'Tis the Season for Murder

A savage killer haunts the lecture tour of a vaunted Irish playwright. Though a world-renowned dandy, Oscar Wilde is not too refined for Colorado. As he travels across America on the lecture circuit, the famously witty playwright has found much to love about the western states. Whiskey, saloons, and friendly conversation with notables like John 'Doc' Holliday -- Wilde loves it all. There is even, in every town his entourage visits, a sensational murder. In the nights after Wilde gives his talks, a man with a knife goes lurking in the back alleys and red-light districts of these dusty western towns. Each morning, the police find the remains of a savagely murdered prostitute. Booze-addled detective Earl Grigsby is tracking the killer, and suspects Wilde may be the one with blood on his hands. If he ever wants to leave America, Wilde will have to use his wit to unmask the savage killer.

Wilde West

Roman

Das Gold des Mayani

A conversation with a jewel thief draws Croft into an insurance investigation. It is April in Santa Fe, and a blizzard draws near. Private investigator Joshua Croft sits bored in his office, hoping he'll get home in time to avoid the storm. Just before closing, a man enters, wearing jeans, a Stetson, and a hard-eyed squint that tells Croft he wears the outfit for work, not fashion. A friend of the cowboy's possesses of a haul of stolen jewels, and wants Croft's help selling them back to the insurance company. Croft humors the cowboy, fishing for information on the heist, but the stranger leaves without giving away the scheme. The next day, the cowboy is found stone-cold dead, riddled with bullets. The owners of the stolen jewels hire Croft to find their missing property. Along the way he dips deep into Santa Fe's underground, looking for the killers of the cowboy who came in from the cold.

Wall of Glass

A savage killer haunts the lecture tour of a vaunted Irish playwright Though a world-renowned dandy, Oscar Wilde is not too refined for Colorado. As he travels across America on the lecture circuit, the famously witty playwright has found much to love about the western states. Whiskey, saloons, and friendly conversation with notables like John “Doc” Holliday—Wilde loves it all. There is even, in every town his entourage visits, a sensational murder. In the nights after Wilde gives his talks, a man with a knife goes lurking in the back alleys and red-light districts of these dusty western towns. Each morning, the police find the remains of a savagely murdered prostitute. Booze-addled detective Earl Grigsby is tracking the killer, and suspects Wilde may be the one with blood on his hands. If he ever wants to leave America, Wilde will have to use his wit to unmask the savage killer.

April Kelly

Kellye Garrett

Brendan DuBois

Ray Daniel

Richard Risemberg

J. Kingston Pierce

Robb T. White

Dane F. Baylis

Benjamin Boulden

Richard Prosch

Sylvia Maultash Warsh

In this issue, pioneering TV writer and producer April Kelly opens with a wicked story that may remind you to pay attention to what you eat. Brendan DuBois appears with the story of an assassination and its aftermath—from the killer’s point of view. Ray Daniel & Kellye Garrett team up with a story that brings together characters from their own series. Our feature is by Walter Satterthwait, who comes at us with his first new story in a while. The lead character, Fallon, helps—in his own way—solve a murder at a monastery. Edgar Award-winning author Sylvia Maultash Warsh brings us a piece about deception in the world of art, and we welcome Benjamin Boulden back with his second story for us. Robb T. White returns following his Best Mystery Stories of 2019 entry in our pages, and Dane F. Baylis, Richard Prosch and Richard Risemberg debut in our magazine with some of the most entertaining crime fiction you’ll find.

Walter Satterthwait

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