The Culture War over History and Fiction

In this post I have three parts to present. First, the context of my piece: a battle is being fought over who should tell the narrative of history. Second, I demonstrate that the same fight is taking place in fiction: who gets to be the storytellers is changing. Third, I discuss how these cultural wars have played out in the fiction genres of science fiction and mystery. 

All of these lead up to my next three posts, a look at how this has played out in the split between The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021 and The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, two anthologies that used to be one.

History

Over the past decade the United States has experienced some particularly nasty fights over questions of what should be included or excluded from its historical narrative. 

I certainly grew up with the relentlessly heroic white American narrative. As a child, cowboys were good guys and Indians were the villains and this fit into games we played, much as we played cops and robbers. (I preferred being the Indian because shooting someone with a suction cup arrow was more satisfying than pointing a toy gun and saying bang-bang.) George Armstrong Custer was an unquestioned hero, played on the screen, in one turn, by Ronald Reagan. But times were changing. The television show Custer (1967) which glamorized the exploits of the general was successfully booted off television following Native American protests.

Custer's exploits in a Dell Book. George Maunder from the 1967 series as Custer. That wide-open mouth suggests he ate his enemies.

There is a line from Arsenic and Old Lace, a Joseph Kesselring play from 1941. The protagonist, Mortimer Brewster, is citing his crazy ancestors, "You know in those days the Indians used to scalp the settlers, [his ancestor] William Brewster used to scalp the Indians." Which was standard funny way back when. However, historically, the settlers scalped the Native Americans at a much higher rate. General bounties were set on the lives of Native Americans and scalps were proof of kill. Dark skin Mexicans and Mexican-Americans often became victims: their hair and skin could "pass." 

I love history. But what I love about history is that it is not the simplistic story I was told as a child with memorizing dates and often memorizing the prejudices of my teachers. (As a child my experiences took place in public schools.) Sometimes the prejudice was eye-popping to me, even as a gullible kid. From a Southern teacher in a New Mexican school: first of all, Abraham Lincoln was the ugliest person who ever lived.

Those who would attack a multi-perspective history often use the term "Critical Race Theory." Critical Race Theory has become an umbrella to cover all history that some people don't want to hear. More than that, it has become a selling point for fear-driven narratives in the same line as Sharia law taking over America, Happy Holidays means "War on Christmas," or Obama must have been born in Kenya. All of these are nonsense except to the very uncritical. 

This is not to say the liberal view of history is right, and the conservative view is wrong. History is more complex than that. I am saying the conservative view of history permeates the narrative. Including multiple points of view fills the picture.

Culture Wars as Played Out in Fiction

Sixty years ago, the white male narrative was the overwhelmingly dominant story. Even when minorities figured as part of the stories, those stories were written by whites. (Sometimes to great effect such as To Kill a Mockingbird. Often in cringeworthy forms.) As America became more diverse in its population, voices with authentic experience have had a greater opportunity to speak for themselves. 

The Growing Diversity of Storytellers.

I first became interested in the question of male versus female authorship when I performed analyses of those books chosen as the 100 greatest mystery novels by the Mystery Writers of America (1995) and by the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain (1990). Before I ran the numbers, I suspected female authors would be on parity with males. Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, P.D. James, among others would match, novel for novel, those of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Peter Lovesey. Of the 67 authors who wrote the novels that appeared on the MWA list, 16 were female and 51 male. Of the 64 authors who wrote the novels in the CWA list, 17 were female and 47 male. 

Times are changing. There has been no update to the CWA and MWA all-time best mystery lists, so I directed my attention elsewhere. I went on to analyze male versus female authors as to who had the most weeks atop the New York Times Adult Fiction Bestseller list and how that has changed. From the years 1960 to 1990, books authored by men were on top 81% of the weeks. Some years, even into the 90s, men had the top seller every week of the year. In the 2010s, women were on top more often than men. This switch may have occurred a decade sooner, except that, with the popularity of the Harry Potter books, the New York Times evicted JK Rowling from Adult Fiction sending her to a newly invented bestsellers list, Childrens Literature. She was later kicked off that list in favor of a list for series books. Dan Brown was safe. 

The percentage of weeks and total weeks of male and female authors having the #1 New York Times Bestselling Fiction. In this graph, the 2010s include through 2015.

It would make an interesting study to see how many weeks The Da Vinci Code would have been #1 if it was explicitly up against Harry Potter. When science switches over its methodology, it usually continues for a time with a "legacy" calculation: how the figures would rank using the old method.

The Changing Demographic of Genre Fiction and the Puppy Wars

The changing demographic of authorship extends beyond more female authors. Blacks, Latinos and Latinas, and other minorities began infusing fiction and genre fiction with distinct perspectives. Some saw this as an affront, dismissing their achievements as being praised because they were minority voices. Others saw this as finally getting in after a history of exclusion.

With inclusion came backlash. One ugly example took place in the 2010s in science fiction as some authors and supporters of the "traditional" alpha-male explore the stars and kick alien butt, felt crowded out by the diversity of voices of minority writers who were dominating the genre. Those who felt disenfranchised created a manifesto, calling themselves the "Sad Puppies" with the more aggressive becoming the "Rabid Puppies." Some members of these groups resorted to personal attacks against those favoring the newer inclusive science fiction and its minority authors, hurling invective, and threatening authors with violence. 

The Hugo Awards accepts nominees via voting at the World Science Fiction Convention. The puppies attempted to seize control of the 2015 awards. Their supporters flooded the nomination process so that every nominee in every category were those from their slate. One author, not wanting to be associated with the puppies, withdrew. The judges replaced that nominee with Liu Cixin and his novel The Three-Body Problem. He became the winner. As for the other categories, none of the nominations from the puppies were given awards.

This article from NPR, on the other hand, said the puppies won by losing.

Female authors have come to dominate science fiction awards. The Nebula award for best novel has gone to women in ten out of the last eleven years. The fresh perspectives provided by the recent writers have been thrilling, including my favorite, three-time Hugo winner, NK Jemisin.

There is a general rule behind this. Authors are often "strangers in a strange land" (a Bible verse and the name of a famous Heinlein novel). Marginalized groups can have a fresh perspective on the world we live in and they provide us their eyes. Life experience is broad and varied. Great authors who are white can also see as strangers: Joseph Conrad or Truman Capote. Conrad was an immigrant to England from Poland and could see colonialism more clearly than British authors. Capote, being gay, was an outsider who had a calculating eye when it came to describing the world.

Being a Latino who looks nothing like a Latino, I have often thought of myself as an undercover spy. Over the years, racists have confided in me, saying remarkable things.

Coming Up Next. A Divide in the Mystery Writing Community

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I have several short stories coming out soon, including ones in Mystery Magazine and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. A science fiction story has been accepted in El Porvenir ¡Ya! Chicano Scifi Anthology. It has a Kickstarter page now, a new experience for me. My late mother, a Chicano activist, would be proud.

Martin Hill Ortiz is a Professor of Pharmacology at Ponce Health Sciences University and has researched HIV for over thirty years. He is the author of four novels and numerous short stories and poems.

https://mdhillortiz.com/

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Dial M for Murder, Wait Until Dark, and. . .

Frederick Knott wrote three plays during his career. These were clever mysteries, carefully plotted, with whiplash twists. Two, his first and his last, became all-time classic films: Dial M for Murder and Wait Until Dark. This left me with the question: what about the one in the middle?

Write Me a Murder began its life with great promise. It ran for a decent 196 performances on Broadway, starring James Donald, Denholm Elliot and Kim Hunter. It won the 1962 Edgar for Best Mystery Play.

Dial M for Murder was filmed by Hitchcock and stands at the lower end of his top tier films. It has been filmed repeated times in slightly variant forms.

Wait Until Dark was filmed by Terrence Young, a veteran director, best know for this film and three of the four original Bond movies, providing Audrey Hepburn with one of her classic roles.

Write Me a Murder never made it beyond television productions, the first for BBC's Thursday Theater in 1964, and a second by the Australian Broadcasting Company in 1965. Neither have gained the minimum five votes to be rated on IMDB.

From time to time it gets revived in small and moderate-sized theaters, and, coincidentally, there is a current staging going on at Person Playhouse in Pacific Palisades. (Probably produced by Peter Piper.)

And that's it. It has never returned to Broadway or off-Broadway as far as I can find. This intrigued me. I had to investigate, so I ordered a copy of the acting edition.

The story plays out as follows (no major spoilers).

Although the Rodingham estate has been in family hands for 500 years, financial pressures force the heir, Clive Rodingham, to sell. The buyer is a crass businessman, Charles Sturrock, who has secret plans to chop-up the estate and convert the acreage into suburban housing.

Clive's brother, David, writes mysteries. David discovers that Sturrock's wife, Julia shares this and–soon enough–other passions. Together David and Julia write a story about the perfect murder. When they decide to use the plot to kill her husband, they burn the drafts.

Of course there are some twists between the murder plans and the murderers living happily ever after.

So, what's the verdict? Is this play the poor relation of its famous siblings or is it equal in quality?

Write Me a Murder is only available for reading as a stage play. This relegates the action to stage directions. Being a clockwork mystery I found myself struggling to visualize "cross to chair A," while wondering if this direction was significant to the murder. It wasn't.

That aside, Knott has a distinct and economical way of drawing characters. Consider the line "world's champion blind lady" from Wait Until Dark and you know deep down she is tougher than the killers. When Julia tells David she has written twenty stories over seven years and not one was published, David remarks that she must be a real writer: anyone else would have given up.

The story is compelling, richly plotted. There was one major coincidence/twist that drove the plot that I felt was deux ex machina and a couple of minor plot holes which could easily be fixed in an adaptation. I haven't read the play treatments of Dial M for Murder or Wait Until Dark. Maybe minor glitches were repaired in the screenplays. 

Those are quibbles. My final verdict is that Write Me a Murder is worthy of a major revival or a screen treatment. For those who love clever mysteries it is an unjustly neglected masterpiece.

Kim Hunter and Denholm Elliot, original Broadway production.

Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Martin Hill Ortiz is also the author of A Predator's Game. His epic poem, Two Mistakes, recently won second place in the Margaret Reid/Tom Howard Poetry Competition. He can be contacted at mdhillortiz@gmail.com.

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A Complete Ranking of Mystery Television of the 1980s

Having previously undertaken to present the rankings of television mystery shows of the 1960s and 1970s, I thought I'd complete this quixotic quest by taking on the 1980s. This will be the last decade. I believe a number of the series presented below were down-rated because they debuted at the nexus of the availability of the internet in the 1990s. (IMDB was launched in 1990, an early online presence.)

Among the sins of the internet is that people who have strong, often uninformed opinions have come to believe that all opinions are equal*. Anonymity helps give voice to vitriol and I believe the recent past has suffered. Everyone wants to express their opinions and those views for good or bad are exaggerated.

*All carefully weighed, well-thought-out, and informed opinions are equal.

Edward Gorey

In contrast to the 60s and 70s lists, here you will find a number of much beloved programs scoring lowly. Cult programs score highly. Of course, ofttimes cult status is deserved and some of the most highly-rated cult programs on this list are quite good. I have not seen many other high-ranking entries but have become intrigued by their descriptions.

My cut-off for the 1980s were those with at least 150 votes, and even with this higher number, the list greatly expanded over the 60s and 70s. As before, I left off TV movies, and mysteries with fantasy or sci-fi elements. I did include miniseries even when the total episodes were two.

There was a painful number of shows with a technologically-advanced car or helicopter helping to solve the crime. I cut these out. Beyond bordering on science fiction, they seemed to be mostly adventure rather than mystery. For this decade I grouped together series with multiple entries such as Miss Marple.

Two worthwhile trends in the 1980s. A lot of the classic mystery detectives made their debuts or were reincarnated, Marple, Dalgliesh, Marlowe, Morse, Holmes, etc. Gangster-themed shows are among the highest-rated. Perhaps this is a carryover from the popularity of The Godfather.

Not having seen Froutopia, the show with the number one ranking, I will not dismiss its status. I will say, that there were no other programs from Greece which made the list. Similarly, the number seven spot is held by an Iranian series. Iran has certainly made an international splash in recent years for their film-making.

Popular American series did poorly in the rankings in this decade.

This is a decade in which I personally watched little television. I was busy getting my PhD for several years and had little time for outside interests. I still have yet to see an episode of MacGyver, the show with the most votes.

I plan to do another post, to sort out the 60s through the 80s and separate American and British and look at the leaders of the three decades combined.

1. Froutopia (1985–1988) 9.1, Votes: 266
Greek. Puppets act out topical mysteries in this obscure show with a fanatical following.

2. Masterpiece Mystery (1980–continuing) 9.0, Votes: 583
British mysteries and Edward Gorey. This series showcased a lot of other great productions some of which are ranked individually below.

3. The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes set of series. Two series were in the eighties (listed below) and two were in the nineties (not listed). The novels became TV movies (not listed).

  a. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984–1985) 8.8, Votes: 14,897
  Jeremy Brett and David Burke in the canonic of the Holmes television series.
  b. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (1986–1988), 8.8, Votes: 6,396
  Each of the Jeremy Brett series is worth watching.

4. The Singing Detective (1986) 8.8, Votes: 3,615
Unique, hallucinatory, musical episodes of the reminisces of a mystery writer hospitalized with a crippling disease.

5. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) 8.8, Votes: 3,194
German. A criminal can't put his past behind him.

6. La Piovra (The Octopus) series. Four series in the eighties, ten in total.

  a. La Piovra. (The Octopus) (1984) 8.8, Votes: 2,293
  Italian. An inspector fights the mob. Popular, iconic Italian series.
  b. La piovra 2 (The Octopus II) (1985–1986) 8.5, Votes: 802
Man versus the mob, part two.
  c. La piovra 3 (The Octopus II) (1987) 8.6, Votes: 714
Man versus the mob, third installment.
  d. La piovra 4 (The Octopus IV) (1989) 8.8, Votes: 763
The fourth part in the series.

7. Hezardastan (1988) 8.8, Votes: 688
Iranian. Political intrigue, assassins and a jewel thief.

8. The Beiderbecke series. All three series were in the eighties.

  a. The Beiderbecke Affair (1985) 8.8, Votes: 417
  A jazz-lover and an environmentalist stumble into evidence of corruption and a lot of eccentric characters.
  b. The Beiderbecke Tapes (1987) 8.7, Votes: 254
  A jazz-lover and an environmentalist stumble into evidence of corruption and a lot of eccentric characters.
  c. The Beiderbecke Connection (1988) 8.7, Votes: 224
  A jazz-lover and an environmentalist help a refugee and stumble on to more eccentric characters.

9. Smiley's People (1982) 8.7, Votes: 2,758
George Smiley finally bests Karla.

10. Cuna de lobos (Cradle of Wolves) (1986–1987) 8.7, Votes: 166
A popular Mexican novella follows the treachery of the heirs to a pharmaceutical company.

11. Dobrodruzství kriminalistiky (1989–1998) 8.7, Votes: 154
Russian. The history of criminology, dramatized.

12. Edge of Darkness (1985) 8.6, Votes: 2,958
Environmentalism and murder in 80s England.

13. Traffik (1989) 8.6, Votes: 1,308
Inspired the Oscar-winning movie. Drug-trafficking, international.

14. Monaco Franze - Der ewige Stenz (1983) 8.6, Votes: 543
German. Police officer likes to chase women more than chase criminals.

15. The Men Who Killed Kennedy (1988–2003) 8.6, Votes: 464
A conspiracy-laden documentary look at JFK's murder.

16. Mother Love (1989) 8.6, Votes: 288
Problems with the mother-in-law. With Diana Rigg and David McCallum.

17. Shang Hai tan (1983) 8.6, Votes: 191
Hong Kong. Two friends grow up: one with the mob.

18. Mathnet (1987–1992) 8.6 , Votes: 177
Mathematicians work to solve crimes. From the Children's Television Network. The Sesame Street of math detectives.

19. Police Squad! (1982) 8.5, Votes: 11,121
Sometimes failure leads to success.

20. The Russian version of Sherlock Holmes. Two other installments of this series appeared in the 1970s, along with five made-for-TV movies. One more installment would appear in 2006.

  a. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Treasures of Agra (1983) 8.5, Votes: 1,831
  The well-regarded Russian series which began in the seventies, continues.
  b. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson: The Twentieth Century Approaches (1986) 8.1, Votes: 1,663
  More of the popular Russian Sherlock series.

21. The Jewel in the Crown (1984) 8.5, Votes: 1,570
Follows the story of a man unjustly arrested for rape.

22. Duarte & C.a (1985–1989) 8.5 Votes: 184
Portugal. A wild comic detective show.

23. Crime Story (1986–1988) 8.4, Votes: 1,884
Dennis Farina as a Chicago detective versus the mob.

24. The Gangster Chronicles (1981) 8.4, Votes: 163
The story of organized crime in America.

25. Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983) 8.3, Votes: 1,071
Real-life spy gets a mini-series telling of his exploits.

26. Hill Street Blues (1981–1987) 8.2, Votes: 5,311
Bochco's groundbreaking police series set in a very busy precinct.

27. Jane Eyre (1983) 8.2, Votes: 2,544
Who knows what evil lurks in the attic of your employer?

28. Chiefs (1983) 8.2, Votes: 1,236
The changes in a Southern town as seen through three generations of police chiefs.

29. Philip Marlowe, Private Eye (1983–1986) 8.2, Votes: 263
British series of the iconic L.A. private detective.

30. Inspector Morse (1987–2000) 8.1, Votes: 7,048
A police inspector solves baffling and twisty cases.

31. Cover Up (1984–1985) 8.1, Votes: 353
Fashion photographer and ex-soldier solve crimes, world-wide.

32. Maelstrom (1985) 8.0, Votes: 320
UK and Norway. It's a smorgasbord of murder and violence.

33. Harry's Game (1982) 8.0, Votes: 313
Undercover soldier versus IRA.

34. Bangkok Hilton (1989) 7.9, Votes: 3,801
Australian. Nicole Kidman is imprisoned after being tricked into smuggling drugs.

35. Lovejoy (1986–1994) 7.9, Votes: 2,143
Ian McShane as an antique dealer/detective. Ian McShane!

36. Wiseguy (1987–1990) 7.9, Votes: 1,520
Undercover takedown of the mob.

37. If Tomorrow Comes (1986) 7.9, Votes: 1,307
Sidney Sheldon and jewel thieves and con men and lots of etc.

38. Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. Three were mini-series (listed below), several were television movies (not listed) and several more were part of Masterpiece Mystery (not listed).

  a. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced (1985) 7.9, Votes: 1,280
  A newspaper announces a murder.
  b. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) 7.6, Votes: 1,274
  Miss Marple knows where to find the bodies.
  c. Agatha Christie's Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) 7.6, Votes: 1,057
  The moving finger, having written, writes another installment.

39. Fatal Vision (1984) 7.9, Votes: 693
Did his son-in-law kill his daughter? From a true story.

40. The Inspector Dalgliesh series. Five of the Roy Marsden series were in the eighties. Three more were in the nineties. Also TV movies.

  a. A Taste for Death (1988) 7.9, Votes: 216
  Inspector Adam Dalgleish on the scene.
  b. Cover Her Face (1985) 7.7, Votes: 225
  Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh takes on another crime.
  c. Death of an Expert Witness (1983) 7.7, Votes: 224
  More Dalgliesh.
  d. Shroud for a Nightingale (1984) 7.6, Votes: 231
  Yet another adaptation of the well-regarded Dalgliesh series of books.
  e. The Black Tower (1985) 7.5, Votes: 233
  Another Dalgliesh mystery.

41. Widows (1983) 7.9, Votes: 210
A botched job of armed robbery kills the perpetrators. Their widows take on the job.

42. Protivostoyanie (1985) 7.9, Votes: 166
Soviet Union. A dismembered body leads to a war deserter.

43. The Equalizer (1985–1989) 7.8, Votes: 3,244
Edward Woodward as an ex-spy turned P.I.

44. I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989) 7.8, Votes: 1,949
Years after a kidnapping, a child comes home.

45. Midnight Caller (1988–1991) 7.8, Votes: 894
Ex-police officer takes on radio show.

46. For the Term of His Natural Life (1983) 7.8, Votes: 155
A false conviction sends a man to Tasmania, 1830s.

47. MacGyver (1985–1992) 7.7, Votes: 29,305
Who knew that you could make a bomb out of a toothpick, a hair comb,

48. Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985–1989) 7.7, Votes: 1,324
Remakes of stories from the original series reusing introductions by Hitchcock.

49. Jack the Ripper (1988) 7.7, Votes: 3,542
Michael Caine works for Scotland Yard investigating the Ripper killings.

50. Mystery!: Campion (1989–1990) 7.7, Votes: 532
The Mystery series takes on another classic detective.

51. Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) 7.7, Votes: 289
Ben Vereen and Jeff Goldblum as an unlikely pair of crime-fighters.

52. Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House (1985) 7.7, Votes: 265
Dicken's mystery masterpiece. With Diana Rigg and Denholm Elliott.

53. Night Heat (1985–1989), 7.7, Votes: 241
Police detective stories as told by a reporter.

54. Fox Mystery Theater (1984) 7.7, Votes: 175
Anthology of twisty mysteries.

55. The A-Team (1983–1987) 7.6, Votes: 27,247
Four misfit vets solve crimes while on the run.

56. Moonlighting (1985–1989) 7.6, Votes: 14,103
Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd play P.I.s at a firm with a shaky fourth wall.

57. Mission: Impossible (1988–1990) 7.6, Votes: 2,602
Still Peter Graves, still impossible.

58. A Perfect Spy (1987) 7.6, Votes: 600
From Le Carré's tome on what makes a perfect spy.

59. Stingray (1985–1987) 7.6, Votes: 520
A mysterious do-gooder helps out strangers.

60. Partners in Crime (1983) 7.6, Votes: 423
Agatha Christie's merry married detectives.

61. The Two Mrs. Grenvilles (1987) 7.6, Votes: 256
Acid-filled rivalries, murder, Ann-Margret and Claudette Colbert.

62. Sidekicks (1986–1987) 7.6, Votes: 222
Karate kid police apprentice.

63. Nero Wolfe (1981) 7.6, Votes: 179
Classic mysteries with the classic detective.

64. Vizit k Minotavru (1987) 7.6, Votes: 178
Soviet Union. A Stradivari violin is stolen.

65. Miami Vice (1984–1990) 7.5, Votes: 17,881
Iconic 80s police series featuring cool and more cool.

66. Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988) 7.5, Votes: 16,556
A-hunk-a-hunk of Hawaiian P.I.

67. In the Heat of the Night (1988–1995) 7.5, Votes: 2,466
Carroll O'Connor calls him Mr. Tibbs.

68. Dempsey and Makepeace (1985–1986), 7.5, Votes: 1,081
Tough NY cop relocates to London force because.

69. Röd snö (1985) 7.5, Votes: 432
Norwegian, Swedish. Intrigue and murder in 1942 near the Swedish border.

70. TASS upolnomochen zayavit... (TASS Is Authorized To Declare. . .) (1984) 7.5, Votes: 236
Soviet Union. Spies and revolution.

71. The Charmer (1987) 7.5, Votes: 170
Killer, magna cum laude, Charm School.

72. 48 Hours (1988–continuing) 7.4, Votes: 1,167
Documentary show investigates true crimes.

73. Return to Eden (1983) 7.4, Votes: 967
Australia. After her husband tries to murder her by pushing her into a crocodile, Rebecca Gilling plots revenge. Remade as a TV series also starring Rebecca Gilling.

74. The Murder of Mary Phagan (1988) 7.4, Votes: 555
From the true story of the miscarriage of justice and those who tried to prevent it.

75. A Man Called Hawk (1989) 7.4, Votes: 227
Spenser for Hire spin-off.

76. 21 Jump Street (1987–1991) 7.3, Votes: 9,027
Edward Scissorhands proves that he was more than just a cut-up.

77. Remington Steele (1982–1987) 7.3, Votes: 5,373 
Zimbalist and Brosnan make for an unlikely detective team.

78. Spenser: For Hire (1985–1988) 7.3, Votes: 1,430
Robert Urich as Robert Parker's iconic private detective.

79. America's Most Wanted: America Fights Back (1988–2012) 7.3, Votes: 1,333
Be on the lookout: actual crimes are presented.

80. Taggart (1983–2010) 7.3, Votes: 920
Gritty series investigating murders in Glasgow.

81. Return to Eden (1986-1987) 7.3, Votes 323.
Australia. Rebecca Gilling relives the mini-series as a TV series.

82. Police Rescue (1989–1996) 7.3, Votes: 255
Australia. New South Wales rescue squad.

83. Street Legal (1987–1994) 7.3, Votes: 155
Canadian. Toronto attorneys.

84. Bassie en Adriaan en de huilende professor (1982) 7.3, Votes: 154
Netherlands. A clown and a strongman team up against an angry, although not mad scientist.

85. Matlock (1986–1995) 7.1, Votes: 4,661 
Andy Griffith stars as Grandpa Simpson's favorite defense attorney.

86. Simon & Simon (1981–1989) 7.1, Votes: 3,134
Brothers and private eyes.

87. Crying Freeman 1: Portrait of a Killer (1988) 7.1, Votes: 800
Japan. Animated. A woman witnesses a mob hit.

88. Le crime d'Ovide Plouffe (1984) 7.1, Votes: 336
French. Did Ovide blow-up a plane to kill his wife?

89. Hardball (1989–1990) 7.1, Votes: 153
Veteran and new cop team up and they don't always play by the rules.

90. L.A. Law (1986–1994) 7.0, Votes: 3,131
Bochco (Hill Street Blues, Columbo, etc.) strikes again.

91. Crazy Like a Fox (1984–1986) 7.0, Votes: 381
Father and son solve mysteries in San Francisco.

92. Dress Gray (1986) 7.0, Votes: 291
A murder at the military academy.

93. Murder, She Wrote (1984–1996) 6.9, Votes: 13,777
Jessica Fletcher brings order to the mean streets of Cabot Cove. Starring all-time heartthrob Angela Lansbury (not being sarcastic, she's wonderful).

94. The Bourne Identity (1988) 6.9, Votes: 3,474
Sometimes you have to go where nobody, not even you, knows your name.

95. The New Mike Hammer (1984–1989) 6.9, Votes: 685
Stacy Keach as the two-fisted P.I.

96. Brotherhood of the Rose (1989) 6.9, Votes: 682
Romulus and Remus are orphans, trained from childhood to be brilliant CIA operatives. Hoo-boy.

97. Linda (1984–2001) 6.9, Votes: 265
Hungary. Black belt karate-wielding policewoman.

98. Cagney & Lacey (1981–1988) 6.8, Votes: 2,242
Two female detectives are as tough as they need be.

99. Riptide (1984–1986) 6.8, Votes: 1,691
Vietnam vet detectives.

100. Bergerac (1981–1991) 6.8, Votes: 874
A detective with a drinking problem.

101. The Ruth Rendell Mysteries (1987–2000) 6.8, Votes: 218
The mystery novelists explores the dark side.

102. Lady Blue (1985–1986) 6.7, Votes: 181
Tales of a tough female cop.

103. Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop (1988–1993) 6.7, Votes: 148
Dogs also have nine lives. A police dog playing opposite Officer Katts. Rough.

104. C.A.T.S. Eyes (1985–1987) 6.7, Votes: 103
An all-female British P.I. enterprise. These two were below the cut-off for votes, but seemed to fit together, one after the other.

105. The Bill (1984–2010) 6.6, Votes: 2,103
London police, day-in, day-out.

106. Hardcastle and McCormick (1983–1986) 6.6, Votes: 1,580
Criminal and legal cases get a second going over with a retired judge and his helper.

107. Matt Houston (1982–1985) 6.6, Votes: 695
A Texan (note surname) moves to California and acts as a P.I.

108. The Atlanta Child Murders (1985) 6.6, Votes: 283
Based on the investigation into the murder of children in Atlanta in the early eighties.

109. Ein Fall für zwei (A Case for Two) (1981–continuing) 6.5, Votes: 495
German. Lawyers and private investigators worked to find justice. Just wrapped up its 36th season.

110. Großstadtrevier (1986–continuing), 6.5, Votes: 225
Hamburg Germany police comedy/drama. Thirty-one years and counting.

111. The People's Court (1981–1993) 6.5, Votes: 224
Small claims, big drama.

112. Jake and the Fatman (1987–1992) 6.4, Votes: 1,672
Gruff-voiced D.A. works with a P.I. to solve cases.

113. Boon (1986–1992) 6.4, Votes: 518
Ex-firemen solve crimes.

114. Windmills of the Gods (1988) 6.4, Votes: 233
Jaclyn Smith and Robert Wagner in a potboiler mystery.

115. B.L. Stryker (1989–1990) 6.4, Votes: 216
Burt Reynolds returns as a laconic detective.

116. Booker (1989–1990) 6.3, Votes: 487
Investigator Booker plays by his own rules.

117. The New Adam-12 (1989–1991) 6.2, Votes: 181
The iconic cop car gets new treads.

118. Seagull Island (1981) 6.1, Votes: 155
Her sister has disappeared.

119. T.J. Hooker (1982–1986) 6.0, Votes: 2,652
How many Shatner fans mob him for this role? Police drama.

120. Navarro (1989–2006), 5.9, Votes: 354
French. It is hard being police in a country with 246 different kinds of cheese.

121. Police Academy: The Series (1988–1989) 5.7, Votes: 600
Comic nouveau cops. Not to be confused with the even less well-regarded Police Academy: The Series (1997-98).

---------------------
 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

A Complete Ranking of Mystery Television of the 1970s

I was perusing the IMDB, the International Movie Database, website where millions of fans vote for their favorite films and television shows. I asked myself a simple question: of the two iconic 1970s detective shows (and personal favorites), Columbo and The Rockford Files which did fans rate higher?

Not being the sort of person who likes to leave simple at simple, I decided to sort out which were the most popular and most highly rated mystery TV series of the seventies.

I was rather strict in my criteria for mystery.  The show could not include fantasy elements (a mystery-solving ghost) or sci-fi (a robotic or android police officer). Scooby-Doo, although, at that time, did not include spectral solutions, was a fantasy with a dog who could speak near intelligibly and ten-decker sandwiches that could be swallowed in one bite.

I excluded a couple of shows that had traditional mystery settings but no mystery plotting (e.g., Barney Miller).

I used those with 99 votes or more as my cutoff. I included miniseries such as the Ian Carmichael Lord Peter Whimsey two-parters as individual entries. With these criteria, 99 shows were included from the very highly-rated Godfather Saga miniseries to the cringe-worthy, Mrs. Columbo.

Even though IMDB is a truly international database, it has a bias in voting toward English-speaking countries and 42 entries were from the United States and 29 from British telly. That placed another 27 from a variety of countries.

Along the way I discovered that the Soviet Union has several highly ranking entries, but not so many that it appears that fans are rigging the votes. Germany has three police shows that started in the 1970s and are still continuing 40-some years later.

Below are the shows, their fan ratings (1 to 10). When the ratings were equal, the order is given by which one had the most votes.

By the way, The Rockford Files and Columbo were both rated 8.2, but Columbo received many more votes. Columbo might have more international appeal. Peter Falk appeared as Peter Falk who is revealed to be an angel in the 1980s German film, Wings of Desire. In this film, he said that being an angel explains his acting career. Why not?

1. The Godfather Saga (1977) 9.5, Votes: 3,084
The Godfather I and II are woven together with additional footage for a mini-series.

2. The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979) 9.0, Votes: 3,028
(Soviet Union) In the late forties a young detective tries to take down organized crime in Moscow. Great title.

3. The Sandbaggers (1978–1980) 8.9, Votes:  474
Adventures of an elite group of British spies.

4. Kottan ermittelt (1976–1983)   8.8, Votes:  311
Austrian satirical police series with the lead played by three different actors.

5. Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson: The Acquaintance (1979)  8.7, Votes:  2,403
Soviet Union. Vasiliy Livanov as Holmes and Vitali Solomin as Watson in the most famous encounter since Hercule met Poirot. Two parts but then repeated in future years with further adventures. This appears to be a formidable presentation of Sherlock Holmes.

6. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) 8.6, Votes: 5,558
Alec Guinness as George Smiley who investigates who among British intelligence is a Soviet spy. I've long said that Alec Guinness in this program was the best job of acting, ever.

7. Boney (1972–1973)  8.6, Votes:  128
James Laurenson as an aboriginal Australian police inspector.

8. 12 stulyev (12 Chairs) (1977) 8.5, Votes: 3,229
Soviet Union. One of twelve chairs holds jewels. Mel Brooks made an American version.

9. The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1972), 8.5, Votes: 199
Ian Carmichael in his highest-rated outing as Lord Peter Whimsey.

10. Ellery Queen (1975–1976)  8.4, Votes:  896
Jim Hutton starring as the classic detective.

11. Eight Deadly Shots (1972) 8.4, Votes: 643
Finland. Mini-series. How a small farmer becomes a cop-killer.

12. Rebecca (1979) 8.4, Votes: 240
Joanna David dreams she returned to Manderlay.

13. Search (1972–1973)  8.4, Votes: 177
Hugh O'Brian, Doug McClure, Anthony Franciosa, and Burgess Meredith are high-tech private eyes.

14. Who Pays the Ferryman? (1977) 8.4, Votes: 108
A World War II veteran returns to the Isle of Crete where he was stationed in the war and finds a mystery.

15. Porridge (1974–1977)   8.3, Votes:  3,887
Ronnie Barker as a convict.

16. Five Red Herrings (1975) 8.3, Votes: 192
More Ian Carmichael as Whimsey.

17. Zatôichi monogatari (1974–1979)   8.3, Votes:  122
Japan. Shintarô Katsu as the blind vector of justice.

18. Columbo (1971–2003)  8.2, Votes: 20,652
Peter Falk as a rumpled-suited Los Angeles police detective.

19. The Rockford Files (1974–1980)  Votes:  5,121
James Garner solves crimes by sheer gaw-shucks charm.

20. The Persuaders! (1971–1972)    8.2, Votes: 3,468
Roger Moore as an English lord who joins forces with Tony Curtis, New Yorker.

21. Prisoner: Cell Block H (1979–1986)  8.2, Votes:  1,345
Women behind bars.

22. The Nine Tailors (1974) 8.2, Votes: 248
Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Whimsey who solves a mystery of bells.

23. Clouds of Witness (1972– ) 8.2, Votes: 235
Ian Carmichael as Lord Peter Whimsey solves another canonic case.

24. Murder Must Advertise (1973) 8.2, Votes: 216
More whimsy.

25. The Professionals (1977–1983)  8.1, Votes:  1,837
Gordon Jackson and Martin Shaw are Bodie and Doyle, part of the investigative force of the British intelligence service.

26. Rupan sansei (1971–1972) 8.1,Votes: 1,279
Master thief Lupin III and his adventures are an institution in Japan.

27. Lupin the 3rd (1977–1980) 8.1, Votes:  1,108
Yet another incarnation of master thief Lupin III.

28. The Sweeney (1975–1978)    8.1, Votes:  1,207
John Thaw as a tough London police detective.

29. Longstreet (1971–1972)  8.1, Votes: 298
James Franciscus as a blind insurance investigator.

30. Hec Ramsey (1972–1974) 8.1, Votes:  163
Richard Boone as a detective in the Old West.

31. Nichols (1971–1972) 8.1, Votes:  155
James Garner as an Arizona sheriff. Also starring Margot Kidder.

32. Kidnapped (1978) 8.1, Votes: 144
A young kidnap victim, sold to the colonies, works out his return.

33. The Tiger Brigades (1974–1983)  8.0, Votes:  128
France. Early twentieth century motorized police brigade.

34. Budgie (1971–1972)  8.0, Votes:  115
Adam Faith as a petty crook.

35. Raffles (1975–1977)   8.0, Votes:  99
Anthony Valentine as master thief Raffles.

36. QB VII (1974) 7.9, Votes: 507
A physician may have been a Nazi war criminal.

37. Arsène Lupin (1971–1974)  7.9, Votes: 193
France. Georges Descrières as the gentleman thief.

38. Q & Q (1974–1976) 7.9, Votes:  128
Netherlands. Bob De Lange and Erik van 't Wout as boy detectives.

39. Minder (1979–1994)    7.8, Votes:  1,296
George Cole as a small time crook who hires a bodyguard.

40. The Snoop Sisters (1972–1974)   7.8, Votes:  171
Helen Hayes and Mildred Natwick are mystery writers and elderly sleuths.

41. Toma (1973–1974)  7.8, Votes: 113
Tony Musante as a New Jersey undercover detective.

42. Great Mysteries (1973–1974)  7.8, Votes: 113
If Orson Welles introduces mysteries, you'd better pay attention.

43. Kuda idu divlje svinje (1971–1971 ) 7.7, Votes: 265
Yugoslavia. Smugglers versus police in 1940s Zagreb.

44. Kortik (1974) 7.7, Votes: 220
Soviet Union. A family heirloom has a secret message inscribed. 

45. Bassie en Adriaan en de diamant (1979–1980) 7.7, Votes: 147.
Netherlands. A clown and acrobat are framed as jewel thieves.

46. The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977–1979) 7.6, Votes:  973
Shaun Cassidy, Parker Stevenson and Pamela Sue Martin as teenage sleuths.

47. Banacek (1972–1974) , 7.6, Votes:  893
George Peppard solves impossible mysteries.

48. Harry O (1973–1976)   7.6, Votes:  414
David Janssen as a San Diego private eye.

49. The Magician (1973–1974)  7.6, Votes:  289
Bill Bixby is a magician who helps people in trouble and catches the bad guys.

50. Armchair Thriller (1978–1981)  7.6, Votes:  125
Anthology series.

51. Police Story (1973–1979)   7.5, Votes:  560
Anthology, police drama.

52. Jane Eyre (1973) 7.5, Votes: 384
A governess is hired to work at a mansion with a mystery.

53. The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971–1973) 7.5, Votes:  121
Sherlock Holmes's detective competitors back in the 1890s.

54. Blind Ambition (1979) 7.5, Votes: 108
Martin Sheen as John Dean. Nixon cries out, "What with all the talent here, let's have a Watergate!"

55. Petrocelli (1974–1976)   7.4, Votes:  500
Barry Newman is a small town lawyer.

56. 07 zglos sie (1976–1987)  7.4, Votes:  144
Poland. The investigative unit of the militia.

57. Quincy M.E. (1976–1983)    7.3, Votes:  3,729
Jack Klugman as a medical examiner who solves crimes.

58. The Streets of San Francisco (1972–1977)   7.3, Votes:  3,724
Karl Malden and Michael Douglas on the streets.

59. Switch (1975–1978) 7.3, Votes:  287
Robert Wagner as an ex-con and Eddie Albert as a retired police detective who become private eyes.

60. Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law (1971–1974)  7.3, Votes:  156
Arthur Hill as a small town lawyer.

61. Van der Valk (1972–1992)   7.3, Votes:  155
Barry Foster in a British-made police show set in Amsterdam.

62. Cade's County (1971–1972)   7.3, Votes:  127
Glenn Ford as a Southwestern sheriff.

63. Tatort (1970–continuing)  7.2, Votes: 1795
German cop show which has now run for over 1000 episodes.

64. McMillan & Wife (1971–1977)  7.2, Votes: 1,455
Rock Hudson and Susan Saint James as San Francisco Police Commissioner and wife.

65. The New Avengers (1976–1977)  7.2, Votes:  1,303
Patrick Macnee as the suave head of an espionage unit.

66. Jason King (1971–1972)   7.2, Votes:  189
Peter Wyngarde as a womanizing spy.

67. Crown Court (1972–1984)  7.2, Votes:  132
Legal drama with an audience casting the verdict.

68. Crime and Punishment (1979) 7.2, Votes: 130
More like crime and capture.

69. Kojak (1973–1978)   7.1, Votes:  4,625
Telly Savalas as a lollipop-loving police detective.

70. The Protectors (1972–1973)   7.1, Votes:  247
Robert Vaughn, Nyree Dawn Porter, Tony Anholt are international, freelance crime fighters.

71. Father Brown (1974) 7.1, Votes:  222
Kenneth More as the clergyman detective.

72. Return of the Saint (1978–1979)   7.1, Votes:  196
Ian Ogilvy as Simon Templar.

73. The Blue Knight (1975–1976)    7.1, Votes:  124
George Kennedy as an L.A. cop.

74. Starsky and Hutch (1975–1979) 7.0, Votes: 5258
Cool cops keep the peace on the streets.

75. McCloud (1970–1977)   7.0, Votes: 1844
A Southwestern sheriff in the streets of New York.

76. Barnaby Jones (1973–1980) 6.9, Votes:  1,504
Buddy Ebsen as an older private eye.

77. Delvecchio (1976–1977)   6.9, Votes:  108
Judd Hirsch as an LAPD Detective.

78. Serpico (1976–1977)   6.9, Votes:  104
David Birney as the famous undercover New York City detective.

79. Baretta (1975–1978)  6.8, Votes:  1,410
Robert Blake as an undercover New York City cop.

80. Vega$ (1978–1981) 6.8, Votes: 1045
Robert Urich as a Vegas P.I.

81. The Rookies (1972–1976)  6.8, Votes:  641
Three rookie police officers.

82. Out (1978)  6.8, Votes:  161
Out of prison, an ex-con tracks down those who framed him.

83. Shaft (1973–1974)   6.8, Votes:  146
Richard Roundtree as a tough PI.

84. Hart to Hart (1979–1984)    6.7, Votes:  3,934
Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as socialites who solve crimes.

85. Cannon (1971–1976)  6.7, Votes: 1,798
William Conrad as an ex-cop, now private investigator.

86. The Dain Curse (1978) 6.7, Votes: 144
James Coburn as the Continetal Op. 

87. Police Woman (1974–1978)  6.6, Votes:  1,165
Angie Dickinson as a female cop.

88. La porta sul buio (1973)   6.6, Votes:  132
Italian mystery, thriller anthology.

89. S.W.A.T. (1975–1976)  6.6, Votes:  1,123
Police strike squad.

90. Derrick (1974–1998)  6.6, Votes: 1,074
German. Horst Tappert is a police inspector in Munich.

91. Charlie's Angels (1976–1981)  6.5, Votes:  7,163
Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith as private eyes.

92. Bukow and König (originally: Polizeiruf 110) (1971–continuing )  6.5, Votes: 291
Police drama which began in East Germany in 1971 and which continues 46 years later.

93. The Rhinemann Exchange (1977) 6.5, Votes: 127
Espionage and diamonds in WWII. Cast includes José Ferrer and Larry Hagman

94. CHiPs (1977–1983) 6.4, Votes:  5,254
Erik Estrada and Larry Wilcox as California Highway Patrol officers.

95. Get Christie Love! (1974–1975)   6.4, Votes:  170
Teresa Graves as a groovy soul-woman undercover cop.

96. Der Alte (The Old Fox) (1977–continuing )  6.1, Votes:  415
A detective near retirement solves cases. Now running for 40 years.

97. 30 prípadu majora Zemana (1975–1980)  5.7, Votes:  171
Czechoslovakia. Vladimír Brabec stars as police inspector Major Zeman.

98. SOKO 5113 (1978–continuing)  5.7, Votes:  155
Another forever-long-running German police show, now in its 40th year.

99. Mrs. Columbo (1979–1980) 5.6, Votes:  216
Kate Mulgrew as Columbo's wife who also solves mysteries. The mystery of "why this show?" was never solved.

 --------------

 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble

Continue reading →

Review of Janet Dawson's Cold Trail

Cold Trail

In Cold Trail by Janet Dawson, her Northern California detective, Jeri Howard, takes on a personal case: her brother is missing. His medical bracelet is found at a murder scene. The opening line is gripping:

I felt cold and it wasn't only because of the morgue's temperature.

As Howard tracks down her brother, Dawson takes us on a tour of Northern California where wineries are overrunning apple farms and marijuana growers scar the land by razing trees for their operations. Having grown up on an apple farm, I found it pleasant to have apple folk as the underdog heroes and to read praise of how delicious a Red Delicious is, when it's fresh off the tree.

Okay, a side rant: kids won't eat their fruits and vegetables these days because the food is six-months old and selected for types that can be picked early and survive international shipping. I find it unlikely that GMO is health-hazardous, but its use has resulted in profits over taste (and perhaps has added to diabetes).

So, back on the Cold Trail. One of the questions posited early on: why would an adult disappear? Answer number one: he wanted to. He ran off. Answer number two: he is lost and injured or else dead. Answer number three: he is being held against his will.

Through methodical sleuthing Howard comes to accept that third, albeit unlikely, scenario. Then she must still find and rescue him.

The writing is understated; the investigation and details believable, adding to the suspense. Although not a "gotcha" thrilling book, it burns at a steady pace and makes for a fine read.

Janet Dawson's website.

--------------

 Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

The Coming of Age of the Legal Mystery

 Having put together an epic Hammett versus Chandler smackdown, I thought I might do the same for Grisham versus Turow. Then I realized that, while I have read nearly all of Hammett and Chandler, I've only sampled a few of the works from the modern masters of the legal thriller – and Grisham continues to crank out novels at a pace faster than the human eye can read.

So, here instead, is a brief look at the coming of age of the legal mystery and thriller with a special focus on two of the top legal mysteries: Anatomy of a Murder and Presumed Innocent.

"Who you stealing from, Chandler or Hammett or Gardner?" the detective to his mystery writer friend in Dorothy B. Hughes, In A Lonely Place (1947).

Along with Encyclopedia Brown and Doc Savage, I read Erle Stanley Gardner as a kid. The Perry Mason novels series ran to over 80 novels and they were each as chewy as bubble gum.

The first novel I fell in love with was a legal mystery: Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird (1960). I first read it to get a star pasted above my reading rocket ship in its trip to the moon and then immediately read it again, space flight be damned.

Mockingbird made me feel like I was peeking at the secrets of the adult world: the boogieman wasn't the bad guy and the good knight sometimes lost the jousts. Instinct told me these accounts spoke the truth: life was not what it seemed; life could be unfair.

In this same time period, the legal mystery was growing up. Published three years before Mockingbird, attorney Robert Traver's 1957 novel Anatomy of a Murder stood pivotal in the change between the fantasy courtroom mysteries wherein the killer confessed during cross-examination and the real-life dramas of the intricacies of the legal gaming between prosecutor and lawyer wherein innocence and guilt were the prizes and the client was of secondary importance.

Traver was acutely aware of this. His main character, attorney Paul Biegler, bemoans his secretary burying her nose in a mystery novel. "Mystery thriller indeed, I thought. Here she was working on a case that had more real mystery about it than a dozen contrived thrillers. . ." Whodunnit was known. The suspense lay in whether the lawyer would win the perpetrator his innocence.

The author described the mission of his book in his introduction to the 25th anniversary edition. "For a long time I had seen too many movies and read too many books and plays about trials that were almost comically phony and overdone, mostly in their extravagant efforts to overdramatize an already inherently dramatic human situation."

Readers responded. Anatomy of a Murder spent 29 weeks in the number one position on the New York Fiction Bestseller list.

Saul Bass's ingenious poster/opening sequence design for Anatomy of a Murder (film).

Jimmy Stewart starred in the 1959 Otto Preminger film version and for my part it was hard to read the book without thinking of Jimmy Stewart voicing the main character (I saw the movie first). The film is excellent, in fact, one of the key pleasures of the book is getting to spend more hours with the characters.

Has any actor ever had a greater first and second act to his career? Perhaps Stewart's success was due in part to following the coming of age of America. First he was the naive Boy Scout leader turned Senator, then the underdog Savings and Loan banker fighting the encroachment of Pottersville. In the 1950s and turning fifty, he could no longer play the gosh-shucks kid and he became the hero of films that took apart the conventions of various genres: Anatomy of a Murder (the courtroom drama), Vertigo (the detective fiction), and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (the western).

Otto Preminger (left), Batman (right) Batman also came of age. :(

Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent has many of the trappings of a real-world courtroom mystery, but perhaps it is closer in spirit to that of a stinging satire, along the lines of Paddy Chayefsky's The Hospital. Political intrigue is more important than justice, evidence is misplaced, experts aren't expert, and no one is presumed innocent – and no one is innocent.

Rusty Sabich is a prosecutor accused of murder and all of the tricks used by prosecutors (including those he used) are now played against him.

Anatomy of a Murder also had a cynical view of prosecutors. In his novel, Traver quoted John Mason Brown: "The prosecutor's by obligation is a special mind, mongoose quick, bullying, devious, unrelenting, forever baited to ensnare and by instinct dotes on confusing and flourishes on weakness."

Bonnie Bedelia (left) and Harrison Ford (right) and that might be Raul Julia lurking back there.

Again, it is hard for me to separate Rusty Sabich in the novel from the image provided me by Harrison Ford in the 1990 Alan Pakula adaptation of the book. I believe the novel works better on several levels, in part because of the cumulative intricacies of the broken judicial system, in part because of Turow's moving descriptions of Sabich's despair. "Every life, like every snowflake, seemed to me then unique in the shape of its miseries, and in the rarity and mildness of its pleasures." The book's ending is more satisfying. The final summation of the crime as Rusty imagines it comes from the pain of his character and the formality of having spent so many years propounding law and order. In the film, the twist ending is revealed with the killer confessing, which is a better cinematic choice.


Author: Robert Traver (pen name of John D. Voelker)
Novel: Anatomy of a Murder
Publication: 1957
Rank: #11 on the MWA list.
Word Count: 164030
Age of author at time of publication: 54.
Previous novels published by this author: none.
Opening line: After serving for fourteen years as district attorney of the northern Michigan county where I was born, one chilly fall election day I found myself abruptly paroled from my job by the unappealable verdict of the electorate.
Significance: Changed the drama of the legal mystery from the fantastic whodunnit into that of a real life struggle for justice.

Author: Scott Turow
Novel: Presumed Innocent
Publication: 1987
Rank: #48 on the CWA list, #5 on the MWA list.
Word Count: 141704
Age of author at time of publication: 38.
Previous novels published by this author: none.
Opening line: This is how I always start: "I am the prosecutor."
Significance: Helped initiate the recent wave of legal thrillers.

Final note: Erle Stanley Gardner, Robert Traver, Scott Turow and John Grisham have each practiced law. This is a hard field to break into without a specialized background.

---

Martin Hill Ortiz is the author of Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble 

Continue reading →

A Mystery Writer's Guide to Drugs and Poisons. Part One.

I have a doctorate in Pharmacology--the science behind drugs--and have taught the subject to medical students for twenty years. I have also taught Toxicology, the science of poisons. The two subjects overlap. As any pharmacologist can tell you, every drug can be a toxin, it just depends on the dose.

Drugs and Poisons.

Drugs and/or poisons take their place in mystery literature as murder weapons, as addictive substances related to character flaws or criminal ventures and, in thrillers, as potential terrorist threats which can wipe out whole cities.

On a less dramatic note, characters use drugs for their various ailments and may suffer from their side effects and it is important to get the details right.

Pharmacology and Toxicology are vast subjects with issues related to the thousands of drugs and poisons. In this series I will try to deal with some of the most common situations the mystery writer may encounter. First, however, some basics on how drugs and toxins work.

What Makes Drugs and Toxins Work.

The human body is run by chemicals that it produces. These can be hormones that are released by glands which act elsewhere in the body on organs and tissues or else they can be locally acting substances such as neurotransmitters. What's a neurotransmitter? Nerves, both those that run like wires around the body, and those that comprise the brain, act by releasing stimulants and depressants which affect tissues or act at another nerve. These chemicals are neurotransmitters and run the communication system of the body, giving orders to both the automatic systems that govern functions such as breathing and digestion and the voluntary system that controls movement and willful actions. Neurotransmitters also control the brain functions: consciousness, memory, wakefulness, euphoria, etc.

So, what does a drug do? In most cases* it either acts like the natural chemical or blocks the effect of the natural chemical at its site of action.

Let's have a couple of examples. You are probably familiar with adrenaline (also called epinephrine). It is a chemical released by the body in response to stress or danger. Among other actions, it opens up the lungs for breathing, it makes the heart beat faster, it raises the blood pressure and it directs blood flow to the skeletal muscles. The set of effects from adrenaline are often described as preparing you for "fight or flight."

Adrenaline can be given as a drug. Shock involves a precipitous drop in blood pressure. A doctor may want to raise blood pressure using adrenaline in the case of anaphylactic shock (the type of shock that occurs with a severe allergic reaction such as bee-sting allergies).

Adrenaline was formerly given for asthmatic attacks: it relaxes the bronchiole muscles of the lungs to make breathing easier. In this case, we get to a toxicity: adrenaline not only opens up the bronchioles, it causes the heart to race. It can cause death in those prone to heart attacks. As a general principle of toxicity, some people are more susceptible than others. There are other drugs which can be used for asthma that do not have this effect.

To get back to what I noted above, some drugs mimic while other block the effects of natural compounds. Instead of raising the blood pressure with adrenaline, you might want to lower the blood pressure by providing a drug that blocks the action of circulating adrenaline (and its companion which is released by nerve endings, noradrenaline). Such drugs are often called blockers or inhibitors or else by the more technical term, antagonists.

How Do Drugs Achieve Their Effect?

Drugs, and their natural chemical counterparts, work by binding to receptors which turn on or off cell processes. What is a receptor? The following analogy is over a century old. A drug is the key, the receptor is the lock (or ignition switch). The receptor is typically on the outside of a cell. The drug is carried by blood to the outside of the cells where the drug turns on the cells causing a tissue effect. Why a particular tissue? That's where the receptors are which fit the keys: adrenaline on the heart tissue (and blood vessels and elsewhere where it has its actions).

Let's look at another example. Acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter with many effects throughout the body. Nerves which go to the skin release acetylcholine causing a person to sweat. Nerves which go the salivary glands release acetylcholine causing a person to salivate.

Acetylcholine is also released at the nerves which connect the brain to the skeletal muscles. The skeletal muscles are those that control voluntary movement. Drugs that act like acetylcholine are given to patient with myasthenia gravis. Why? Myasthenia gravis is a disease in which a person's immune system attacks the acetylcholine receptors on the outside of skeletal muscles. The person thereby loses muscle strength. By acting like acetylcholine, a drug can activate some of the remaining receptors.

However, in other circumstances you might want to give a drug that blocks acetylcholine at the skeletal muscles. Why would you want to do that? These drugs (skeletal muscle blockers) are given prior to surgery to prevent the patient from flinching. (General anesthesia does not paralyze the patient, anymore than sleep does not paralyze us.) A good plot device: a murderer substitutes or cuts off the skeletal muscle blocker being infused during a delicate life-or-death surgical procedure.

Let's look at the skeletal muscle blockers from the point of view of poisons. Tubocurarine (Curare) paralyzes the muscles and was discovered by a researcher who noted South American tribes using poison-tipped blow darts to capture animals. It can be fatal in animals or humans because one set of skeletal muscles helps us to breathe. (During surgery, the patient is placed on mechanical ventilation.)

After curare was discovered, but well before it was purified well enough from its plant source to be used as a drug, it made for a popular poison in mystery stories. No one interested in murder cares whether a poison is pure enough to avoid additional toxic effects.

Another set of toxins work through the acetylcholine system. Popular as the villainous weapons in thrillers and popular with villains in real life (Saddam Hussein, the Tokyo attacks), the nerve gases first overload and then knock out the acetylcholine receptors. The effects are several fold. First you have the twitching and spasms from having the skeletal muscles activated. You have the sweat glands and salivary glands turned on. Then you have the skeletal muscles shut down, including those that help you breathe. The nerve gases make for the more terrifying sort of poisons in part because they are active in small concentrations, they can be absorbed by breathing and through the skin (not many toxins can), and they can be spread in a suspended gaseous form. They also make for great plot devices because they have specific antidotes—and not many poisons do.

The Differences Between Drugs and the Natural Body Chemicals.

Although human-made compounds such as adrenaline can be used as drugs, a general rule is that the body exquisitely regulates its own compounds, producing them as needed and then quickly stopping the effect. One of the main ways in which the body stops the action is by breaking down the chemical into ineffective parts (metabolites). Adrenaline has a half-life of about 2 to 3 minutes. Acetylcholine, at the nerve ending, has a half-life of seconds. One major difference between synthesized drugs and the natural compounds is that the synthesized drugs act for a longer time. For example, an asthmatic patient might be taking a drug that acts like adrenaline in the lungs but has a half-life of hours.

So what is half-life? Unless the drug (or toxin) overwhelms the body's system of elimination, the body will eliminate half of the drug dose in a given period of time. A simple illustration is this:

Digoxin (for heart failure or arrhythmias). Half-life: 40 hours.

• Concentration in blood. (micrograms per milliliter)

• Zero hour. First measure: 8 ug/mL
• 40 hours later: 4 ug/mL
• 40 more hours later: 2 ug/mL
• 40 more hours later: 1 ug/mL

The drug is disappearing by halves, moving like the traveler on Zeno's bridge.

I provide this table to overcome a misconception. Half-life is not how long a drug acts. It may still be acting the level of 1 ug/mL. -- Or else it may not, it may be at a concentration that is no longer causing an effect. Half-life describes the elimination of the drug. The elimination of its effect is determined by the lower threshold of its effective concentration.

Extending This To Other Drugs.

There are thousands of drugs belonging to hundreds of systems. The differences between them is what receptors they act on, individual toxicities, half-lives, and routes of administration. 

For example, morphine-related drugs act through receptors which are naturally activated by the endorphins. These receptors are located in places which cause pain relief, euphoria, depressed breathing (the main fatal effect with an overdose), and constipation (the common problematic side effect). These receptors are present in other places to provide minor effects such as pinpoint pupils.

Morphine-blockers such as naloxone (Narcan) block the receptors. This won't make much of a difference (they are blocking pain-relief rather than causing pain) unless someone has a dose of morphine-related drugs or endorphins present. In such a case the drug wipes out the euphoria, pain-relief, etc. and restores the breathing.


*A final note on this part. Does every drug either mimic or block the action of a natural human substance? No. One alternative mechanism of action comes with the antibiotics which interfere with the chemistry of microorganisms.

Next. Some Differences Between Drugs and Toxins.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
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The Black Female Detective in Mystery Literature

When comparing the impact of racial prejudice to that of misogyny, it is worth noting that the United States allowed black males the right to vote 50 years before they gave females full suffrage (black or white). Correspondingly, the acceptance of black male detectives in mystery literature was slow in coming but preceded that of black female detectives.

Suffrage in the United States.

• White male: 1789.
• Black male: 1870.
• Female: 1920.

The Relative Rarity of the Black Female Protagonist in Mysteries.

The initial pioneer was all but forgotten, her efforts not repeated for decades. The editor of Colored American magazine, Pauline Hopkins, wrote a mystery novel in serial format in 1901-02 called Hagar's Daughter. Here, a black maid, who goes by the name Venus, is treated as an equal partner in solving the crime alongside a black male detective.

Being in public domain, the book is available for free on-line.

The next occasion? Over the decades to follow, male black detectives (although not many) appeared in book form, notably the works of Chester Himes and a peak coming after the popularity of the 1967 film, "In the Heat of the Night."

On television a remarkable early entry into the female black detective field came in the form of Get Christie Love, a made-for-television movie followed by a one-year series that first aired in 1974. The next example of a female black detective getting the title role in a television series? Rashida Jones in Angie Tribeca (2016).

During the blaxploitation era of the seventies, Angela Harpe (The Dark Angel) made her way into four pot-boiled novels, all written in 1975 by James D. Lawrence. Promoted as being the female Shaft, she was an ex-police officer who (wince) worked on the side as a high-price call girl and ex-fashion model who then became a high-priced private eye. I have not read the books, but several critics have described them as soft-porn, racist and misogynist.

In 1984, Susan Moody, now the author of over twenty novels, began a series of mysteries featuring Penny Wanawake, a photographer and amateur sleuth. The first of these was the novel, Penny Black. The book was ranked #56 in the 1990 Crime Writers' Association's list of all-time-best mystery novels.

I have read the first in the series. On the plus side, the character is a strong heroine, the mystery is compelling, and much of the dialogue is smart and brassy. Still, the international, globe-trotting near-perfect Wanawake was more of a fantasy figure than a character.

The late 1980s also hosted the appearance of a single volume of Clio Browne: Private Investigator. An internet rumor says that the author Delores Komo was actually a pen name of the horror author, Dean Koontz. The Bibliography of Crime Fiction states that she was Dolores Komoroski who died a couple of years after the book came out.

The 1990s brought us several black female detectives and finally their presence was more than a rarity. Black female writers led the way.

Bland's Detective Marti McAllister graced some cool book covers.

The Black Female Detective Written by Black Female Authors.

One breakthrough came in the form of Blanche White, first appearing in Blanche on the Lam, in 1992. The author, Barbara Neely, described herself as being schooled by the novels of Toni Morrison and although the main character is a maid, the choice of occupation is a commentary on race and roles. Blanche's character is strong-willed and defiant. Her ties to her family and community are important in solving the mystery, which plays out in classic Southern gothic form among the genteel and mentally unbalanced rich. Neeley knows how to wield both comedy and cutting social criticism. The novel received several awards including the Agatha Award for best first novel. Neely went on to write three sequels.

About the same time, Nora DeLoach came out with the character, Grace "Candi" Covington who appeared in Mama Solves A Murder, 1994, along with seven more entries in this cozy series.

Nora DeLoach spent much of her life as a social worker venturing into writing in her fifties. Among all of my job experiences, social work provided me with the best understanding of character from the unalloyed humanness of the desperate to the pomposity of bureaucrats.

In the hands of less diligent authors, the maid and the mother figure could have played out as stock characters. In both of the above cases, they were given a fierce humanity.

The author Eleanor Taylor Bland first presented the world with the female police detective, Marti MacAlister in Dead Time, 1992. MacAlister is a strong woman who must balance career and family while solving crimes. For Bland, racial commentary often appeared in the subject matter of the plot. In the 2003 novel, Fatal Remains, MacAlister and her partner deal with murder at the excavation of a site that was said to have been part of the Underground Railway for slaves, but may have had more sinister uses.

The late 1990s brought the arrival of LAPD Detective Charlotte Justice in Inner City Blues, by Paula L. Woods. Misogyny and racial tension are up-front and center as Det. Justice is plunged into the midst of the "Rodney King" riots and becomes involved in solving the mystery of who killed the man who killed her husband and child. The internal politics and prejudices of the LAPD make a formidable, albeit uncomfortable, backdrop to the novel which went on to win the Macavity Award and spawned three sequels.

The voices of black female authors offered an authenticity to the above novels. No longer were prejudice and racial issues defined solely in the "black and white" stories familiar to middle-class white consciousness. As much as anything, racism comes out in a thousand small ways. The protagonists experience both an external and internalized struggle.

The most successful mystery series featuring a black female detective began in the 1990s with Alexander McCall Smith's The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency, 1998. Set in Botswana, the private detective Precious Ramotswe takes a mostly gentle and intuitive approach to solving crimes. It is always a delicate balance for someone who could be described as being from the colonial class to undertake writing about another culture. Smith mostly avoids falling into traps by exuding love for his characters and for their nation. In doing so, he consciously seeks to define Botswana on its terms rather than something that is foreign. Is this love enough? Love without condescension is better than the alternatives.

I am half-Latino. Although none of this heritage appears in my facial features, I grew up raised by my mother, who was what was then called a Chicano activist. Perhaps it is this undercover persona that has provided me with a sense of otherness as I approached writing. I grew up on a farm and in the urban city, the smallish isolated town and the medium-sized town, in the cold and in the heat. For me, every culture, even my own is foreign to me.

My novel, Never Kill A Friend, (Ransom Note Press, 2015) features a black female detective. This choice seemed inevitable. I had decided to set the novel in Washington, DC, and the Washington of which I am familiar is the urban city with the national politics just being background noise. As I have said before: urban DC is Duke Ellington; political DC is John Phillips Souza on a tuba. I was immersed in urban DC and had only occasional glimmers of the weirdness of the political side. As a second reason for choosing a black protagonist, I had just finished researching a lot of African-American history for a different project.

I am proud to have contributed to the increased presence of black female detectives. As to how successfully I have honored the genre, I will leave that to others to judge.

Never Kill A Friend, Ransom Note Press

Never Kill A Friend is available for purchase in hard cover format and as an ebook.
The story follows Shelley Krieg, an African-American detective for the Washington DC Metro PD as she tries to undo a wrong which sent an innocent teenager to prison.

Hard cover: Amazon US
Kindle: Amazon US
Hard cover: Amazon UK
Kindle: Amazon UK
Barnes and Noble  

Continue reading →