A selection of Faber's mystery cover art.

Some historical samples of Faber's online archive of cover art include the following mystery works:

• The Black Tower by P. D. James (1975)

• Death at Crane's Court by Eilis Dillon (1953; new ed. from Rue Morgue P)

• Death by Request by Romilly John and K[atherine]. John (1933). Romilly was the son of painter Augustus John and the half-brother of cellist Amaryllis Fleming, half-sister of Ian Fleming.

George Antheil, NYPL

• Death in the Dark by Stacey Bishop (aka composer George Antheil, 1930)

• An English Murder by Cyril Hare (aka Alfred Alexander Gordon Clark, 1951)

• Famous Crimes, retold by "The Prince of Criminologists," William Roughead (1935)


• The Mummy Case by Dermot Morrah (1933; review here)

• The Ticker-Tape Murder by Milton Propper (1930; review here; partially serialized in the Border City Star, parts 1, 2, 3)

• A Tomb with a View by BBC producer Lance Sieveking (1950)

And of interest to Rex Stout fans:
• Forest Fire by Stout (1934; review here)
• Mr. Cinderella by Stout (1939; better cover of U.S. ed. here; review here)

Sayers's "Suspicion," on screen.

This September 1951 episode of Studio One, "Mr. Mummery's Suspicion," is based on Dorothy L. Sayers's short story "Suspicion" (1933) and features Roland Young as a man who fears he may be the target of poisoning.

New book on Pauline E. Hopkins, early mystery writer.

Pauline Hopkins and the American Dream by Washington College's Alisha Knight (U of Tennessee P, 2012) looks at the career of African American editor-writer Hopkins (1859–1930) and has been highly recommended by Choice Reviews. Hopkins wrote "Talma Gordon" (1900), a significant work in the timeline of American mystery.

August 1979: Hart to Hart debuts.

Robert Wagner in Hart to Hart

The Paley Center for Media remembers the debut of Hart to Hart on August 25, 1979.

Remembering Phyllis Thaxter: Cheever/Armstrong's "The Five-Forty-Eight."

In "The Five-Forty-Eight," a 1960 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Phyllis Thaxter, who died on August 14 at age 92, portrays a secretary determined to even the score with her nasty former boss. Based on a short story by John Cheever (for which Raymond Carver wrote a sequel, "The Train"), it was scripted by Edgar winner Charlotte Armstrong.

What coroner's inquests reveal.

Australian explorer Robert O'Hara Burke (of Burke and Wills
fame, NYPL). A mock coroner's inquiry in 2012
looked into the cause of their deaths in 1861.

In this podcast, researcher Kathleen Chater discusses the records of coroner's inquests housed in the UK's National Archives.

Lovesey on Conan Doyle and the Olympics.

The Public Domain Review provides a revised version of Peter Lovesey's 2002 article on Arthur Conan Doyle's role in the development of the Olympics. Lovesey began his literary career writing about sports (His first Sergeant Cribb novel, Wobble to Death, deals with a six-day race in the Victorian era that turns deadly.)

"... Underdog Is Here."

The defender of Sweet Polly
Purebread, on the job.

On Gary Shapiro's From the Bookshelf, Mark Arnold discusses his book Created and Produced by Total Television Productions: The Story of Underdog, Tennessee Tuxedo, and the Rest. Underdog and Tennessee Tuxedo are now on DVD.

"Committed" (with Alan Ladd, 1954).

In this December 1954 episode of GE Theater introduced by Ronald Reagan and starring Alan Ladd and John Howard, a mystery writer faces a frame-up for murder and confinement in a mental institution. Its previous incarnation was the 1949 "Daytime Nightmare"—an episode of the radio series Box 13, also featuring Ladd.

Ed McBain, just out on DVD.

As Television Obscurities notes, Timeless Media Group has just released 87th Precinct: The Complete Series on DVD. This short-lived (1961–62) series starred Robert Lansing (as Steve Carella) and Norman Fell (as Meyer Meyer).

Chicago's Planet Pulp exhibition.

The exhibition "Planet Pulp: A Tribute Exhibition to Pulp Magazine Art" is on view until October 7 at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago; some sample works can be seen online.

2012 Dove Awardees: Roberts, Charles.

The Detective/Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture Association has selected this year's recipients of the George N. Dove Award: Eileen Roberts and author Kate Charles, for their work on the long-running Mystery and Crime Weekend at St. Hilda's College, Oxford. The award will be presented during this year's conference on August 17–19.

The Dove Award, named for the late distinguished mystery scholar George N. Dove, recognizes contributions to the serious study of mystery and crime fiction. Past recipients include Douglas G. Greene, the late H. R. F. Keating, Catherine Ross Nickerson, and yours truly.

Clara Foltz, pioneering CA lawyer.

In this appearance at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, IA, Barbara Allen Babcock discusses her book Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz. Foltz, the first woman admitted to the California Bar, proposed the establishment of public defenders.

Faulkner's "An Error in Chemistry," on screen.

"An Error in Chemistry" (1954) is an episode of Climax! adapted from a 1946 EQMM story by William Faulkner (one of his stories with lawyer Gavin Stevens collected in Knight's Gambit). Edmond O'Brien is a carnival huckster who readily confesses to killing his wife; also featured is Lon Chaney Jr.

Journal issue, law and gender in 19C England.

Edward Bulwer Lytton, NYPL.

The latest issue of Nineteenth-Century Gender Studies focuses on law and gender in nineteenth-century England, including articles on Wilkie Collins's The Law and the Lady (1875) as well as Mary Elizabeth Braddon and Edward Bulwer Lytton.

Dirda on Ross Thomas, Robert L. Fish.

In this piece for American Scholar, Michael Dirda goes on a jaunt to Frederick (MD)'s Wonder Book & Video, praising the skill of Ross Thomas's The Fools in Town Are on Our Side (1971) and the sense of humor of Robert L. Fish along the way.
(Hat tip to PhiloBiblos)

The Lodger redux: Man in the Attic (1953).

Following up on yesterday's Lodger post, the Internet Archive offers a 1953 version: Man in the Attic, with Jack Palance. The New York Times reviewer called it a "trashy, unimaginative shellacking of an original masterpiece," although Palance himself received praise.

New score for Hitchcock's The Lodger.

Ivor Novello in
The Lodger (1926)

Today Silva Screen releases Nitin Sawhney's new score to Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger (1926; based on the book by Marie Belloc Lowndes), in which a mysterious boarder is suspected to be a serial killer at large in London.

Auction results, Poe Mummy story; Conan Doyle.

The Christie's auction on June 22 yielded some interesting results:

William Faulkner.
Library of Congress,
Prints & Photos Div.

• Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Illust. Sidney Paget. 1st ed. London: George Newnes, 1892. $1500.

• Edgar Allan Poe, "Some Words with a Mummy," "Valley of Unrest," and "The City in the Sea," April 1845. $313.

• William Faulkner, Soldiers' Pay. 1st ed. New York: Boni & Liveright, 1926. $11,875. Faulkner's first novel, with a World War I subject.

• Delightful 1969 illustration by Charles Addams of Wednesday Addams metamorphosing into a werewolf while reading The Werewolf of Paris. $4000.

• "Get into Books" illustration from 1983 by Sandra Boynton. $4000.

• "Sing Out for Books" illustration from 1965 by Hilary Knight (known as the illustrator of the Eloise series by Kay Thompson). $875.

(Hat tip to PhiloBiblos)

Conan Doyle speaks (1927).

The Public Domain Review features, via the Internet Archive, a 1927 Fox newsreel interview with Arthur Conan Doyle, in which he discusses the genesis of Sherlock Holmes, letters he receives about Holmes, and his interest in spiritualism.