This is the eighth in my occasional series about the history of our beloved field. I haven't run out of days yet.
May
5, 1902. Bret Harte died on this day. He was best known for his
short stories about the California gold rush but in our field he is
remembered for "The Stolen Cigar-Case." No less an authority than Ellery Queen called this story "probably the best parody of Sherlock Holmes ever
written." In the field of true crime, he wrote about the Wiyot
Massacre, in which more than 100 Indians were slaughtered by White
settlers. Death threats followed and he had to leave the region.
May 5, 1950. This is the birthday of Susan Grafton's great character, P.I. Kinsey Milhone. I'll bet you didn't send her a card.
May 5, 1961. Today saw the publication of Ross Macdonald's ninth Lew Archer novel, The Wycherly Woman.
May 5, 1973. Peter Falk was the cover boy at TV Guide today, playing a certain L.A. police lieutenant.
May 5, 1980. The issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine with this date included Edward D. Hoch's very clever "The Most Dangerous Man Alive," which was an Edgar nominee. I still remember it.
May 5, 1992. Kinsey Milhone celebrated her birthday with the publication of I is for Innocent. Exactly a year later came J is for Judgment.
May 5, 2014. Trace Evidence, the Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine blog, posted "Shanks Holds The Line," which I offered to them for free as a sort of public service announcement.
May 5, 2015. Craig Faustus Buck's novel Go Down Hard was published on this day. It's about an ex-cop trying to solve the decades old murder of a rock singer.