In EQMM’s upcoming September/October issue (on sale August 13), talented new writer Kai Lovelace has a story in the Department of First Stories. Entitled “Head Start,” it’s a scary Halloween tale of the psychological suspense variety. When he isn’t writing fiction, Kai works at an independent bookstore and as an entertainment journalist. He tell us that he’s been attracted to the macabre, especially the work of Edgar Allan Poe, from an early age, and when he decided to start writing seriously he found that many of his ideas fit into our genre due to the complex psychological exploration involv ..read more

Andrew McAleer is the author of 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists and coeditor (with Gay Toltl Kinman) of Edgar & Shamus Go Golden. He recently completed two books featuring his father John McAleer’s Golden Age detective Henry von Stray, which will be published in 2025 and 2026: Look for A Casebook of Crime, Volume 1 January 2025 and Volume 2 January 2026, from Level Best Books. Also coming up soon are two more anthologies he’s coedited with Gay Totl Kinman: Shamus & Anthony Commit Capers (Level Best, September 2024) and Agatha & Derr ..read more

In 1991, John J. McKeon’s first novel, The Serpent’s Crown, was called “powerful, riveting and timely” by the New York Times Book Review. But shortly thereafter he became engrossed in a quarter-century career as a freelance business journalist. He’s recently started focusing exclusively on fiction again and has a story entitled “The Great Wolf” in EQMM’s next issue, July/August 2024 (on sale June 11). The story turns around a writer and his career, so the following post, in which the author reflects on the current state of the fiction marketplace, ties right in.   —Janet Hutchings I ..read more

This week we have a post from an author who will make his fiction debut in the Department of First Stories of our July/August 2024 issue (on sale June 11) with the moving story “Letters From Tokyo.”  Yoshinori Todo is a Japanese citizen, but he was born in Vienna and has also lived in Munich and London. He speaks four languages fluently—English, Japanese, German, and Russian—and although he currently lives in Tokyo, he writes fiction only in English. In this post, he talks about what is, for him, the most essential element of fiction.   —Janet Hutchings It is my long-held belie ..read more

Art Taylor has won the Edgar and Anthony and multiple Agatha, Macavity, and Derringer awards for his short fiction. He is one of a very rare breed of writer these days: one who devotes most of his time to the short story.  His novel-in-stories entitled On the Road With Del and Louise won the Agatha Award for best first novel. His other books are short story collections: The Boy Detective and the Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense and The Adventure of the Castle Thief and Other Expeditions and Indiscretions. Art has managed to produce such a large number of top-notch stories while a ..read more

In recent years writer, editor, and translator Josh Pachter, whose career in mystery fiction began with a story in EQMM when he was still in high school, added another role in which he contributes to our field: organizer of mystery events—something he talks about in this post. Josh manages to keep writing fiction in the midst of all his other mystery-related activities. He has a new story, “Texas Kinda Attitude,” in our current issue, May/June 2024, and his first novel, Dutch Threat, appeared in 2023 to stellar reviews and nominations for the Lefty and Agatha Awards.   ..read more

Michael Bracken, Janet Hutchings, Stacy Woodson (Credit: Ché Ryback) It’s time for our annual photo blog about the Dell Mystery Magazines’ cocktail party that immediately precedes each year’s Edgar Allan Poe Awards banquet. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking, with just a few clarifying remarks. Spring is a big season for awards in our field. Not only the Edgars but the Agathas (given at the Malice Domestic Convention in Maryland) and the Derringers  (whose winners were announced on the very day of the Edgars this year) have members of the mystery community in a state of excitement ..read more

Jiro Kimura is involved in almost everything related to mysteries as an English-into-Japanese translator, fiction writer, columnist/essayist, book reviewer, current managing editor of The Maltese Falcon Flyer (the official newsletter of The Maltese Falcon Society, Japan), and the webmaster of one of the most important mystery-fiction sites on the Internet. He has translated Edward D. Hoch, Donald E. Westlake, and Joe Gores among others.  He presently lives  in Japan. The address for his marvelous website, The Gumshoe Site, is: <http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~jkimura/>. The Edgar Alla ..read more

Andrew McAleer is the author of 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists and co-editor (with Gay Toltl Kinman) of the mystery anthology Edgar & Shamus Go Golden. He tells us that he recently completed two books featuring his father John McAleer’s Golden Age detective Henry von Stray. See A Casebook of Crime (Volumes 1 and 2), forthcoming from Level Best Books. He is also at work with Gay Toltl Kinman on two mystery anthologies: Shamus & Anthony Commit Capers (Level Best Books) and Agatha & Derringer Get Cozy (Down & Out Bo ..read more

Larry Sweazy, whose work was last featured in our pages more than a decade ago, returns to EQMM in our current issue (May/June 2024) with the memorable and moving story “The Low Waters,” in the Black Mask Department. The author is one of several EQMM contributors who are best known in the field of Western fiction. Larry won the Western Writers of America’s Spur award for Best Short Fiction in 2005 and for Best Paperback Original Novel in 2013. But he is also a mystery writer who has earned recognition with inclusion in year’s best anthologies and with a nomination for a Derringer Award in 2007 ..read more