Update, Westminster Detective Library.

Mark Twain, ca. 1907.
Library of Congress, Prints
and Photographs Div.

Since I last posted about the Westminster Detective Library—the effort by Edgar winner LeRoy Lad Panek (Introduction to the Detective Story) and Mary Bendel-Simso (McDaniel College, MD) to compile an online repository of short detective works published in the United States prior to 1891, some 300 pieces have been added, and there is a new Web interface. The pieces include 87 stories by 48 female authors, and Panek states, "There are no doubt many more as the majority of the stories we have cataloged have no author listed in the original." Panek also notes that he and Bendel-Simso will be issuing a book based on the works in the library.

A sample from the Westminster Detective Library:

• "The Female Assassin" (1850) by Prince Cambaceres, archchancellor of the French Empire and Duke of Parma

• "Who Is the Thief?" (1864) by Elizabeth Campbell (a writer and actress trained by Edwin Booth)

• "The Stolen Letter: A Lawyer's Story" (1855) by Wilkie Collins

• "Mrs. Fitzgerald's Life Policy" (1863) by Andrew Forrester Jr. (pseudonymous author of The Female Detective  [1864] unmasked by Judith Flanders in The Invention of Murder)

• "The Murder at Carew Court" (1868) by Amy Randolph

• "Edward Mills and George Benton" (1880) by Mark Twain

For the project, Panek and Bendel-Simso seek help from students and others with tasks such as editing, proofreading, and locating materials; clues to finding additional stories and sources; and comments on the materials in the library. Contact Bendel-Simso.

Detective Kitty O'Day (1944).

Jean Parker, ca. 1937

Jean Parker plays the title role in this screwball mystery, seeking the murderer of her crooked boss.

"The Artists Who Make Argosy."

4 Nov 1922 Argosy cover by
Stockton Mulford

In advance of July's PulpFest in Columbus, OH, Mike Chomko gives a preview of "The Artists Who Make Argosy," the upcoming session with David Saunders that will celebrate the contributing artists to the legendary pulp magazine launched in 1882. The magazine's contributing writers included Max Brand, Norbert Davis, Erle Stanley Gardner, Robert E. Howard, Mary Roberts Rinehart, and Cornell Woolrich. Saunders is the son of illustrator Norman Saunders.

"The Kids Who Knew Too Much" (1980).

This episode for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color is based on The Whisper in the Gloom by Nicholas Blake (aka poet Cecil Day-Lewis) and features a band of smart kids and Sharon Gless looking into a murder and discovering ties to a political conspiracy. It is bittersweet to see the gifted actress Dana Hill (Shoot the Moon, Cross Creek, etc.), who died much too young at age 32 from diabetes-related complications.

Intl Centre for Victorian Women Writers.

Cover of Wyllard's Weird (1886)
by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

There's a newish International Centre for Victorian Women Writers at Canterbury Christ Church University in the United Kingdom; one focus is crime and sensation fiction (especially by Mary Elizabeth Braddon). The center, which seeks to be a nexus for researchers on the writing of Victorian women and is hosting conferences and projects, is seeking information on birthdays of Victorian female writers for a list it is compiling.

Gangster Story (dir. Walter Matthau, 1959).

Walter Matthau
in Gangster Story (1959)

This low-budget, somewhat stilted film is the only one directed by Walter Matthau, who also stars as a wanted man who becomes involved with a crime syndicate. His co-star is his real-life wife, Carol Grace (who was previously married to William Saroyan).

Victorian yellowbacks in Canada.

Strange Secrets, a collection of ghost stories
(London, 1890). Image from the
Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Toronto.

The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library of the University of Toronto offers a nice online collection of cover images from Victorian yellowbacks—most notably from works by Canadian-born Grant Allen (mystery writer as well as friend and neighbor of Arthur Conan Doyle).

Diagnosis: Unknown (1960).

Lawrence G. Blochman from
UC-Berkeley's The Blue and
Gold (1922)

The series Diagnosis: Unknown featured Patrick O'Neal as pathologist Daniel Webster Coffee (created by Edgar winner Lawrence G. Blochman) who investigated cases of murder.

Rod Serling at war.

I want you to know what shrapnel and "88s" and mortar shells and mustard gas mean.

—The dedication of an unpublished short story by Rod Serling to his children, quoted in Anne Serling's As I Knew Him

Rod Serling with his 1960 Emmy
for outstanding writing
(for The Twilight Zone)

Rod Serling served as a paratrooper in World War II and was profoundly affected by his experiences. In Vincent Casaregola's thoughtful discussion "War in The Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Haunted Visions of World War II" in Horrors of War, he notes that one-sixth of Twilight Zone episodes are about war (these include "The Purple Testament" with William Reynolds and "The Quality of Mercy" with Dean Stockwell; other examples from Serling's oeuvre are "The Time Element" aired on Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, "The Strike" for Studio One, and The Rack). In the episode below from Writing for Television: Conversations with Rod Serling, Serling states, "I was traumatized into writing by war events."

"Night Ride" (1953).

In this episode of Four Star Playhouse, subway passengers wonder which one of them is a murderer sought by the police. Costars include David Niven and Rhys Williams, in a story by Lawrence B. Marcus and a screenplay by Seeleg Lester and Merwin Gerard.

Historic images of counterfeiters.

John S. Bell, chief of
the Secret Service (1888–90);
Newark (NJ) police chief (1884)

The Unwritten Record blog of the National Archives highlights historic mugshots of counterfeiters—both men and women—from the Secret Service files in its collections.

"Fraction of a Second" (w/Bette Davis, 1958).

Adapted by Kathleen Hite from the story "Split Second" (in Kiss Me Again, Stranger, 1953) by Daphne du Maurier, this episode of Suspicion features Bette Davis finding strangers in her house, although they insist they are the owners. Costars include Marian Seldes.

Exhibition on artist Everett Raymond Kinstler.

On view until July 4 at the Brinton Museum in Big Horn, Wyoming, is the exhibition "Journeys West and Beyond," which features the work of Everett Raymond Kinstler. Kinstler's oeuvre encompasses portraits of political figures, comic books, dime novels, westerns, and pulp works.

"Alter-Ego" (1972).

This episode of Circle of Fear (aka Ghost Story, 1972, creat. Richard Matheson) features a boy's troublesome doppleganger. Costars are Sebastian Cabot, Helen Hayes, and Charles Aidman; the writers are Edgar winner Stanley Ellin (story, "Robert," 1958) and D. C. Fontana (screenplay).

"True Crime" exhibition, USC.

Eugene Francois Vidocq, NYPL

On display until May 31 is the exhibition "True Crime" at the USC Libraries, which features "the history of detectives in the popular imagination" and includes a handwritten letter from legendary private investigator Eugene Francois Vidocq and the "black bird" from The Maltese Falcon. (See review of the exhibition in LA Weekly.)

Danger on the Air (1938).

Lee J. Cobb in
Danger on the Air (1938)

An unpopular sponsor is murdered during a radio broadcast, and an engineer (Donald Woods) investigates. This comedic mystery, based on Death Catches Up with Mr. Kluck by Xantippe (aka actress, writer, and radio producer Edith Meiser), features Nan Grey, William Lundigan, and Lee J. Cobb.

New pulp reprints from Altus Press.

I have ... a face like a gargoyle and the disposition of a tired tarantula. —Norbert Davis, May 1941 Argosy

A scene from Max Brand's
Champion of Lost Causes (1925)

Among the new releases of Altus Press, a specialist in pulp reprints:

• Doan and Carstairs: Their Complete Cases by Norbert Davis. Boozy PI Doan teams up with his lofty Great Dane, Carstairs.

• Champion of Lost Causes by Max Brand (introd. William F. Nolan). Samuel Loring takes up the cause of a woman accused of murder.

• Sabotage by Cleve F. Adams. Detective Rex McBride races to prevent the destruction of an important dam by an implacable enemy.

X Marks the Spot (1942).

Author Stuart Palmer,
U-Wisc Class of 1928. U-Wisc
Alumni Magazine Dec 1934

In this film, a private detective who is also an army lieutenant pursues the killer of his policeman father and discovers traffickers in rubber. One of the film's screenwriters is Stuart Palmer (creator of spinster sleuth Hildegarde Withers).

Doris Roberts on Brenner (1959).

Doris Roberts in The Taking of
Pelham One Two Three (1974)

The Paley Center for Media offers a 1959 clip with Doris Roberts and Edward Binns from the police TV drama Brenner in honor of veteran character actress Roberts, who passed away on April 17.

Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It (1941).

Alistair Sim in
Inspector Hornleigh Goes to It

In this film, Scotland Yard's Inspector Hornleigh (Gordon Harker) and his somewhat bumbling sidekick Sergeant Bingham (Alistair Sim) are on the trail of Nazi spies when murder occurs. This film is the third in a series (Inspector Hornleigh, 1939; Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday, 1939).