Archives
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Death Sails the Nile by F. Burks McKinley
Death Sails the Nile by F. Burks McKinley (The Stratford Company, 1933; Coachwhip Publications, 2018) was the only mystery published by Mary Frances Burks (1907-1970). Burks was a Tennessee native, graduating from Vanderbilt University and marrying historian and...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: I Could Murder Her by E. C. R. Lorac
Between 1931 and 1959 Edith Caroline Rivett (1894–1958) published more than 70 mysteries under the names E. C. R. Lorac and Carol Carnac. Nearly all of the E. C. R. Lorac titles, about 45 of them, feature Chief Inspector Robert MacDonald, a Scot...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Death in the Willows by Richard Forrest
Richard Stockton Forrest (1932-2005) was an author of mysteries and nonfiction, as well as short stories. He also wrote under the names Stockton Woods, Lee Evans, and Rebecca Morgan. His first novel was nominated for an Edgar Award in 1975. His next...
Friday’s Forgotten BooK: The Double Thirteen Mystery by Anthony Wynne
Anthony Wynne was the pseudonym of Robert NcNair Wilson (1882-1963), a Scottish physician, writer, and politician. He specialized in cardiology and he was the medical correspondent for The Times for more than 30 years. He wrote nonfiction under his name and fiction...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Mystery at Orchard House by Joan Coggin
Joan Coggin (1898–1980) is another of those Golden Age authors who had a relatively brief writing career, about 14 years. She published a story for girls in 1935 under the name Joanna Lloyd and then published five more young adult books and four detective stories...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Dr. Priestley Lays a Trap by John Rhode
Cecil John Charles Street (1884-1964) was an amazingly productive author of Golden Age crime fiction, writing under multiple names. As John Rhode, he created a series of about 70 books with Dr. Lancelot Priestley, Inspector Hanslet, and Inspector Jimmy Waghorn,...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Suicide Season by Rex Burns
Between 1975 and 1997 Rex Burns released about a dozen fine police procedurals set in Denver, Colorado, with homicide detective Gabe Wager as the protagonist. The first one in the series, The Alvarez Journal, was shortlisted for the Edgar for Best First Novel in...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Lady to Kill by Lester Dent
Lester Dent (1904-1959) was a wildly successful pulp writer, writing 165 full-length stories between 1933 and 1949 about Doc Savage, a crime fighter who was intrigued by technology, as was Dent himself. In addition, he wrote nonfiction, novels, short stories, and...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: Bring the Bride a Shroud by D. B. Olsen / Dolores Hitchens
Dolores Hitchens (1907-1973) wrote dozens of mysteries beginning in 1938, publishing them under her own name and under the pseudonyms D. B. Olsen, Dolan Birkley, and Noel Burke. Her series characters include Jim Sader, a PI; John Farrel, a railroad detective; and...
Friday’s Forgotten Book: The Museum Murder by John T. McIntyre
John Thomas McIntyre (1871-1951) was a Philadelphia author of mysteries, noir, historical fiction, and plays. His first detective Ashton-Kirk was similar to Philo Vance and Spike Tracy, wealthy young socialites who assist the police. Ashton-Kirk appeared in four...
