This delightful cornucopia of crime does feature Ellery Queen, of whom Anthony Boucher once gushed, “is the American detective story” in a New York Times book review, and Boucher, for whom the World Mystery Convention was unofficially named the Bouchercon, is in these pages, too. So is Mary Roberts Rinehart, who, for about a quarter of a century, was one of the two bestselling authors in America. For aficionados of impossible crimes, you will find Clayton Rawson and his magician detective, the Great Merlini. For charming couples rivalled only by Nick and Nora Charles (who appeared only in a single novel, The Thin Man), we offer Peter and Iris Duluth and Mr. and Mrs. North, who got their name from a bridge hand. Masters of suspense are here, too, with Cornell Woolrich, the Poe of the twentieth century, and Charlotte Armstrong, whose work has inspired outstanding films of suspense. If your like humor, there’s a story by Craig Rice, the first mystery writer to grace the cover of Time magazine, and Stuart Palmer’s Hildegarde Withers, she of the weird and wild hats. Baynard Kendrick, who holds card number one from the Mystery Writers of America, which he co-founded, is here with his blind detective, and so is Mignon G. Eberhart, the Mary Higgins Clark of her era. Iconic detectives? How about Mr. Mycroft, who some seem to think is a pseudonym for Sherlock Holmes who only wants privacy as he keeps bees in Sussex, and Perry Mason, Erle Stanley Gardner’s lawyer detective who is the bestselling American mystery writer of all time.

Here, then, for our pleasure and edification, our scrutiny and curiosity, our solace and joy, are some examples of the most illustrious writers of the traditional and classic detective story.

OTTO PENZLER

New York, July 2020

THE ENEMY

Charlotte Armstrong

Detective: Mike Russell

ALTHOUGH NOT a household name, in spite of the acclaim given to her by fellow mystery writers and critics, Charlotte Armstrong (1905-1969) enjoyed a long and successful career. She found a highly specialized niche when she wrote frequently about peril to the young and to the elderly, creating stories and novels of suspense that focused on that theme.

In no work is this characterized more graphically than in Mischief (1950), in which a psychopathic hotel babysitter gradually becomes unglued as she contemplates killing her young charge. Filmed as Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), it starred the young and beautiful Marilyn Monroe in a rare villainous role. Directed by Roy Baker, it also starred Richard Widmark, Anne Bancroft, and Elisha Cook, Jr.