Welcome to Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine! Each issue of our print publication is packed with new mystery short stories — at least seven, varying in length from short-shorts to novellas — and one "Mystery Classic" — an outstanding tale from the genre's past. Every type of mystery fiction is represented, from the classic whodunit to the hardboiled tale to suspense — and everything in between! For a taste of what’s inside the print issue, see our story excerpts, author interviews, profiles of mystery bookstores, and a mystery puzzle. Subscribe today!
Breaking News! AHMM is teaming up with The Wolfe Pack, the official Nero Wolfe appreciation society, to sponsor a new annual writing prize, The Black Orchid Novella Award, to honor an unpublished work of fiction written in the tradition of the Nero Wolfe mystery stories by Rex Stout. Rex Stout was a master of the novella form and published dozens of novellas featuring the corpulent and irascible detective Nero Wolfe and his sidekick Archie Goodwin. Today, the novella is uncommon, though AHMM has a long tradition of publishing novellas. For more information on the contest, including submission guidelines, go to www.NeroWolfe.org.
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| Our cover story this month features the return of David Edgerley Gates's 1940's West Side wise guy Mickey Counihan. In "Skin and Bones" (excerpted here), Mickey's attempt to do a favor for a friend leads him into unexpectedly deep waters of international politics and arms dealing. This exciting tale climaxes at the site of the soon-to-be-constructed United Nations building.
We are delighted to welcome Robert S. Levinson back to our pages with his story "The Quick Brown Fox," a cautionary tale of how not to deal with writer's block. Also returning to our pages this month is D. A. McGuire's teen sleuth Herbie Sawyer. In "Catch Your Death," McGuire confronts Herbie with some typical-and some not-so-typical-adolescent challenges. He proves himself once again a remarkably astute young man.
We are delighted to welcome Darrell Schweitzer to our pages this month. His story "The Stolen Venus" (excerpted here) casts the Roman historian and statesman Pliny (the Younger) in the detective's role as he investigates activities in the Roman province of Bithynia in order to report to the Emperor Trajan. And making only his second appearance in AHMM is Terrence Faherty, last seen in the November 2007 issue. He returns with a tale of an idyllic Scottish vacation gone wrong in "The Four Castles."
Our Mystery Classic this month is R. Austin Freeman's "The Blue Sequin." Rounding out the issue are our two fine book and film columnists. In his Booked and Printed column, Robert C. Hahn looks at some new books coming out by Chicago-area authors. Meanwhile, J. Rentilly, in Reel Crime, surveys some cinematic serial killers from movies released over the past two decades and now available on DVD. |
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| Macavity Award Nominee: |
Brimstone P.I.
by Beverle Graves Myers
The poke of a pitchfork punctured my dream bubble of floating on cool, blue water. Suddenly, my back remembered it was lying on a bed of ten-inch nails, and my throat gagged on fumes wafting off the mountain of flaming bitumen…
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 | Skin and Bones
by David Edgerley Gates
Art by Edward Kinsella III
New York's a city that's forever reinventing itself. In lower Manhattan, excavations for a water main or a subway line will uncover graves from a forgotten potter's field, or a shellfish midden predating the Dutch. The public library between Fifth and Sixth is built on the site of the old Croton reservoir… |
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The Stolen Venus
by Darrell Schweitzer
You have asked me, sir, to keep you informed of my progress through the province of Bithynia as I might write to a friend, rather than merely as an official might report to his emperor, and so I shall be, as requested, fulsome in the details… |
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A Mysterious Photograph contest — Submit your 250-word story inspired by an imagination-stirring photograph. The winning story is published in a future issue.
An intriguing, and challenging, mystery-themed puzzle.
Booked and Printed — Book reviews of interest to mystery readers.
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