When Rex Stout met John le Carré.

The Spy Writes blog discusses the interview of John le Carré by Rex Stout for Mademoiselle's July 1964 mystery issue. Stout calls le Carré "unobtrusively handsome" and covers le Carré's revision process; le Carré thinks his own strongest quality is his "critical faculty" (61).

Bonuses for Nancy Drew and Patricia Moyes fans: There's a piece on the girl sleuth plus Moyes's novel Falling Star in the issue. Also, pp. 62–63 features a photo that includes Edgar awardees of that year and other MWA members. Among the luminaries, one can spot Clayton Rawson, Hillary Waugh, and Lawrence Treat in the back; Stout and Dorothy Salisbury Davis in the middle; Howard Haycraft in the front row at left; and Phyllis Whitney in the front row at right.

August Derleth: Best mysteries of 1969.

Essential Solitude: The Letters of
H. P. Lovecraft and August Derleth
Hippocampus P

In the Dec. 6, 1969, issue of the Capital [WI] Times, August Derleth (creator of the Holmes-like Solar Pons) listed his selections for the best fiction, nonfiction, and poetry books of 1969. Mysteries and sci-fi appeared under the subtitle "Entertainments" rather than the "Fiction" category. It may have been ethically questionable that he listed H. P. Lovecraft et al.'s Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos—which was issued by Arkham House, the publishing firm he cofounded.

The Godfather by Mario Puzo and Daphne du Maurier's The House on the Strand were two of his fiction selections, whereas two of his sci-fi picks were Fritz Leiber's A Spectre Is Haunting Texas and Douglas Warner's Death on a Warm Wind. His mystery selections included:

Allingham, Margery. The Allingham Casebook. Campion and Charlie Luke short stories
Bernkopf, Jean F., ed. Boucher's Choicest. Some of Anthony Boucher's picks for best mystery short stories
Carr, John Dickson. The Ghosts' High Noon.
Carter, Philip Youngman. Mr. Campion's Farthing. Carter was Allingham's widower
Christie, Agatha. By the Pricking of My Thumbs.
Davies, L. P. Stranger to Town.
Fish, Robert L. The Murder League.
Gardner, John. A Complete State of Death.
Kahn, Joan, ed. Hanging by a Thread.
Marric, J. J [John Creasey]. Gideon's Power.
Marsh, Ngaio. Clutch of Constables.
Queen, Ellery, ed. Queen's Minimysteries.
Simenon, Georges. Maigret in Vichy (aka Maigret Takes the Waters)
Stout, Rex. Death of a Dude.
Whitney, Phyllis A. The Winter People.

Dr. Barbara Mertz, trailblazer.

Barbara Mertz, right, with Charlotte MacLeod, 1989
Photo by Elizabeth Foxwell

It is impossible to grasp that the ebullient Barbara Mertz, aka MWA Grand Master Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels, has left us at age 85. I first met her when I interviewed her for a University of Maryland journalism class. After 2 hours I emerged, somewhat dazedly (a typical state of affairs in Mertzdom), with a 17-page, single-spaced transcript and a friendship that would endure for nearly 30 years. To her I owe a great deal, not least my career in mystery and—like many other writers—warm memories of her encouragement, support, and singular presence.

Barbara's storming of considerable bastions in her life and career has benefited women from many walks of life as well as mystery readers and writers. When she was a graduate student in Egyptology at the University of Chicago, she was asked, more than once, why she was taking the place of a man, and why was she there anyway, because she was "just going to get married." She was divorced at a time when single parents were regarded as strange creatures, and she worked hard to support two children by publishing a minimum of two books per year and reviewing books. Well into her seventies, Barbara was descending into Egyptian tombs and maintaining a schedule that would make someone a quarter of her age relapse onto a Victorian fainting couch. Always embroiled in some offbeat enterprise, she once took me with her to purchase a cowboy hat, because she was embarking on a tour with Sharyn McCrumb and Joan Hess that would feature their country-music song stylings.

Given today's popularity of intrepid Victorian archaeologist Amelia Peabody Emerson and her inimitable spouse and son, as well as Barbara's Agatha Award for the Jacqueline Kirby novel Naked Once More, it is easy to forget that she had to fight to write humorous mysteries. Unease existed in the publishing world about reader receptivity to humor, and she had to adopt the Peters pseudonym for these books while maintaining the Michaels pen name for her twists on the Gothic novel. She created a stir with Borrower of the Night when art-historian heroine Vicky Bliss ditched two handsome men for a more attractive new job.

The appeal of romantic suspense.

The unknown editor on the Mysterious Matters blog discusses the appeals of the Gothic, mentioning Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, and Phyllis A. Whitney along the way. I think this sort of book makes for

Hayley Mills in
The Moon-Spinners
(dir. James Neilson, 1964)

excellent relaxing beach reading. My particular Stewart favorites are The Ivy Tree (with one of the greatest reader fakeouts of all time) and The Gabriel Hounds, although you can't go wrong with The Moonspinners; Madam, Will You Talk?; This Rough Magic; and My Brother Michael. Those looking for the books that started it all can consult Valancourt Books' many selections; others who want a more modern take might enjoy Susanna Kearsley and Lillian Stewart Carl. Another invaluable resource is Dean James's Mystery Scene appreciation.

Phyllis A. Whitney, 1903-2008.

It is sad to learn that bestselling novelist, MWA Grand Master, and Malice Domestic Lifetime Achievement recipient Phyllis A. Whitney died of pneumonia on February 8 at the age of 104.

A two-time Edgar winner and author of some 75 books, Phyllis was a lady in every sense of the word and was known for her kindness and graciousness, especially to new writers. In conveying a sense of place in her work, few were her equal. I had the privilege of working with her, as she introduced Malice Domestic 5, and received lovely, handwritten notes from her that thanked me for making her "feel a part of things." One colleague told me that she had been an indifferent reader until she opened one of Phyllis's novels. After that, she became a voracious reader—a fine testament to Phyllis's skill as a storyteller.

In my books I've dealt not only with everyday human problems. I've written about racial prejudice. I've given young people a picture of Hiroshima as it is today. I've written about apartheid in South Africa. Not to bog down the story, remember, never to preach. But to give substance and meaning and value, so that the book can't be dismissed as "just another mystery." And, of course, to satisfy my own need to write about precepts I believe in.

—Phyllis A. Whitney, "Writing the Juvenile Mystery." Writing Detective and Mystery Fiction. Ed. A. S. Burack. Boston: The Writer, 1967. 265.

About the photo: Elizabeth Peters (left), Anne Perry (center), and Phyllis A. Whitney at Malice Domestic V in 1993. Photo by Laura Hyzy.