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Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (June 2013)

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Apr 302013

Flu Attack Leads to Murder and Other Decisions

Flat on my back is a good vantage point to make some decisions about which is better reading–long or short. Long, of course, being novels, short being short stories, and that wonderful Mr. In-between, the novella.

I have a stack of Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock mystery mags on my beside table, and the stack is growing. I have in recent years been reading mostly novels for two reasons: first, I am writing a novel (I should say “have written” since it is in editing stages), and second, I do a lot of my reading for reviewing (and just plain pleasure) in bed and magazines are light enough to easily hold while sitting propped against pillows, or again flat on my back.

And they don’t bruise anything if I fall asleep and one lands on my chest.

A Queen or Hitchcock mystery is ideal for reading while flat on the back

I read at least a half-dozen issues of the two mags while recovering from the coughs and wheezes and all the rest that accompanies a mid-winter or late-spring flu–or whatever–attack. By the time I was back on my feet doing my usual literary things, I had decided that short stories were best for this kind of reading. I didn’t feel well enough to stick with a novel –or hold one up–but the short story was the perfect length.

Reading short story magazines when ill gives you lots of variety but you don’t have to challenge yourself trying to follow a complex plot. The plot may have its complexities but there can’t be too many twists and turns in a single story, because they don’t have that many words available. And when your head begins to throb, you can quickly finish, put the issue down, wait out the ache, then start again.

No mistake, though, Queen and Hitchcock mysteries are great reads, sick or well

I have been reading Hitchcock and Queen since I was a kid and have always enjoyed them. I’ll never forget the year when several of my relatives each gave me a set of hard-bound EQs for Christmas. I wish I still had them; they might be worth something on the used book market. But I had enough reading that year to last me for weeks. And, as luck would have it, it was a particularly snowy year. What better time to read mystery, murder, mayhem, whatever.

EQ and Hitch have a wide and fascinating variety of ways to murder, rob or otherwise commit crimes

The June issue has stories by Doug Allyn, Bill Pronzini, David Dean, Alexandre Dumas, other names familiar or possibly less so to some readers. The stories represent a variety of writing styles, locales and settings; characters, both good and bad; types of crimes and weapons; detectives of both genders, some witty and clever, some a bit on the dense side.

You will also find interesting reviews of new and old mysteries along with a review of mystery blogs. In the latter, I keep looking for a review of mine. Sigh . . . . Well, maybe someday.

Editing EQ must be a great job

Janet Hutchings does an excellent job of editing EQ, especially considering the enormous numbers of submissions they must get for each issue. The variety and quality of stories that make the cut is an indication of the attention given to the editing. Ms. Hutching leads the crew, but there are many others whose work has a direct effect on the quality that continues to appear in issue after issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine.

I can’t mention them all, but I do want to say, from an inveterate reader–thanks, Janet, and Jackie Sherbow, Susan Mangan, Victoria Green, Cindy Tiberi, Laura Tully, and Jennifer Cone, along with the many others who work in selling the magazine, and keeping track of subscribers such as MKAmysterylady.

Oh, to get back to the decision I was going to make while in bed with sniffles and worse, much worse. I was to decide which I like better, short stories or longer stories. Here is my decision, not a hard one to make. Both are great. Both have their place in the world of mystery.

I’m grateful to everybody who writes mysteries, be they long or short or in-between, and I’m equally grateful to those people who read mysteries. Writers need readers. Both have an important role in this growing mystery business.

Supreme Justice, by Phillip Margolin

Mystery & Thiller No Responses »

Aug 242012

A novel about something that affects us all—the law

I think one of the reasons, maybe the most important reason, that books about lawyers—especially those written by lawyers—are a favorite read of so many of us is that laws touch all our lives, in so many different ways.

There isn’t much we do during the course of our lives that isn’t affected by the laws of the land. From the day our birth is legally registered through the day our legal death certificate is signed, laws are part of our lives.

And reading about the American way of justice, with its constant push-pull between right and wrong, with its lawyers, its lawmakers, law enforcers, and lawbreakers, can make for an exciting and satisfying experience.

Phillip Margolin’s book covers the law, good or evil

This book takes a look at a broad spectrum of the actors in almost every aspect of American jurisprudence. Supreme Justice offers a cast of characters that includes, among many lesser roles, these elements of the justice system:

The president, who nominates candidates for justices of the Supreme Court
Supreme Court justices who differ on decisions in an important case
Clerks who work for the various justices, and who can influence the course of a case
A former policewoman, convicted of murdering her husband
A homicide detective in a sleepy college town
A private investigator, and a district attorney who ignores rules of evidence
Partners and associates of a top-ranked law firm
The CIA

A Supreme Court vacancy leads to murder

An unexpected vacancy at the Supreme Court is the basis for much of the action in this story. A case that is before the court may reveal ugliness and criminal wrong-doing at the highest levels of government—and the CIA. Justice Moss, who is known to be considering voting the “wrong” way in this case, finds herself a target for an assassin, whose attempt on her life is foiled by Brad Miller, one of her clerks.

A wide-ranging coast-to-coast story, even a “ghost ship”

Margolin connects the action in Supreme Justice to actions and situations that took place in different times and different places. He brings in characters from another book, 2008′s Executive Privilege. Those who have read the earlier story will recognize Brad Miller, Dana Cutler and Sarah Woodruff. This story, as is typical of Margolin’s writing, moves fast, and as noted above, has lots of characters; it covers a lot of ground, and uses twists and turns of plot and characterization to entertain his readers, and keep them in suspense.

He moves the story from death row in an Oregon prison to the corridors of the White House and other power centers in Washington. He adds murders in a small college town on the east coast, and an almost-forgotten story of a “ghost ship” that plays an important part in this case.

Something for everyone who enjoys legal mysteries

Supreme Justice ends with justice for all, and makes for an engaging story that doesn’t challenge the reader; rather it provides plenty of good reading and maintains interest from beginning to end through deft plot devices. Margolin’s characters offer no surprises in their actions, which are always consistent with the need to move the story forward.

There is sufficient wrong-doing, evil and criminal plotting at the highest levels of government to anger any reader. There are judges at various levels from the Supremes through lower courts who act in a less than honorable fashion, if they can get away with it. Secrets hidden away for years, even decades, are opened to the light of justice.

Although there is evil afoot from the first page to the last, this is not a horror story. This is a legal mystery in which wrongs are righted, evil-doers of all stripes get their just desserts, and the good guys come out the victors. And all is well. For now. Until Margolin’s next book.