Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine Short Story Podcasts.

AHMM Podcasts, listed by author and linked.

 I updated this on August 23, 2024 to include 13 more recently provided stories. 

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine generously offers a free podcast with well-narrated recent and classic mystery and thriller stories. Recently, they have moved to a new format and the above link will take you to a page called, "Classic Podcasts." Their site does not present the selections by author, so I decided to do that as presented below. They also have a newer series of story podcasts hosted by Rabia Chaudry called The Mystery Hour. 

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine also has a free podcast. I have alphabetized their offerings in this complementary post.  

Enjoy! Martin Hill Ortiz.

Betancourt, John Gregory. "Pit on the Road to Hell." From AHMM, July/August, 2006. 56 minutes.

Black, Michael A. "Inquest." From AHMM, March 2004. 43 minutes.

Black, Pat. "The Man in the Long Dark Coat." From AHMM, May/June 2022. 52 minutes. 
Bowen, Rhys. "The Wall." From AHMM, July/August, 2005. 36 minutes.

Breen, Susan. "Detective Anne Boleyn." From AHMM, May/June 2022. 37 minutes. 
Budewitz, Leslie. "The End of the Line." From AHMM, December 2006.

Budewitz, Leslie. "All God's Sparrows: A Stagecoach Mary Story." From AHMM May-June 2018. 33 minutes. Winner of Agatha Award.
Burns, Rex. "Shadow People." From AHMM, June, 2006. 42 minutes.

Campbell, Melodie. "School for Burglars." From AHMM July/August 2007. 16 minutes.

Chase, Joslyn. "The Wolf and Lamb." From AHMM May/June 2020. 41 minutes.
Cleland, Jane K. "Killing Time." From AHMM, November 2008. 57 minutes.

Cohen, Jeff. "The Question of the Befuddled Judge." From AHMM, May/June 2020. 56 minutes.
Costa, Shelley. "Strangle Vine." From AHMM, November, 2012. 45 minutes.
Crenshaw, Bill. "Poor Dumb Mouths." From AHMM, May 1984. 47 minutes.

Egan, Kevin. "The Heist." From AHMM, July/August 2016. 22 minutes.

Egan, Kevin. "Term Life." From AHMM, June 2014. 27 minutes. 
Emerson, Kathy Lynn. "The Kenduskeag Killer." From AHMM, April, 2005. 46 minutes.
Fisher, Eve. "Drifts." From AHMM, January/February, 2006. 15 minutes.
Fusilli, Jim. "Digby, Attorney at Law." From AHMM, May 2009. 27 minutes.
Fusilli, Jim. "The One-Armed Man at the Luncheonette." From AHMM, June, 2014. 19 minutes.

Gore, Steven. "The God of Right and Wrong." From AHMM, January/February 2010. 37 minutes.
Hockensmith, Steve. "The MacGuffin Theft Case." From AHMM, November, 2005. 37 minutes.
Hurst, Howell. "The First Day of Spring." From AHMM, April, 2009. 25 minutes.
Johnson, Douglas Grant. "No Trouble At All." From AHMM, July/August 2010. 65 minutes.

Jones, Brett. "Not My First Rodeo." From AHMM, March/April 2022. 34 minutes. 

Lacy, Deborah. "Taking Care." From AHMM, May/June 2018. 28 minutes.

Laskowski, Tara. "The Monitor." From AHMM, April 2014. 42 minutes.
Law, Janice. "Madame Selina." From AHMM, 2010. 29 minutes.
Lawton, R.T. "Across the Salween." From AHMM, November 2013. 34 minutes.
Lehan, Con. "Stella by Starlight." From AHMM, October 2016. 29 minutes.

Limón, Martin. "Kimchi Kitty." From AHMM, March/April 2023. 69 minutes. 
Lopresti, Robert. "Snake in the Sweetgrass." From AHMM, December, 2003. 21 minutes.
Lufkin, Martha. "A Lacking for Salt." From AHMM, September 1997. 34 minutes.
Lutz, John. "The Explosives Expert." From AHMM, September, 1967. 17 minutes.

Maxwell, Edith. "Peril in Pasadena." From AHMM, September/October 2022. 35 minutes.
Millar, Margaret. "The People Across the Canyon." Reprinted AHMM, November, 2005. 39 minutes.
Muessig, Chris. "The Hoard." From AHMM, July/August 2014. 45 minutes.

Oleksiw, Susan. "Variable Winds." From AHMM October 2016. 33 minutes.

Parker, I.J. "Akitada's First Case." From AHMM July/August 1999. 54 minutes. Won 2001 Shamus Award.

Robson, Merrilee. "Tired of Bath." From AHMM March/April 2022. 29 minutes.
Ross, Stephen. "Boundary Bridge." From AHMM, March, 2010. 29 minutes.

Rowan, Iain. "Scars." From AHMM, September/October 2022. 21 minutes.

Note: unlike most of the links which go directly to individual stories, Scars link takes you to a general page with AHMM offerings. This one was presented in July 12, 2024.
Savage, Tom. "The Method in Her Madness." From AHMM, June, 2013. 43 minutes.
Shepphird, John. "Ghost Negligence." From AHMM, July/August, 2012. 33 minutes.
Stevens, B.K. "Adjuncts Anonymous." From AHMM, June, 2009. 80 minutes.
Strong, Marianne Wilski. "Death at Olympia." With introduction. From AHMM, July/August, 2003. 55 minutes.

Sullivan, Floyd. "The Beano." From AHMM, September/October 2021. 35 minutes.

Taylor, Art. "The Boy Detective and the Summer of '74." From AHMM, January/February 2020. 72 minutes.

Thielman, Mark. "The Truculent Avocado." From AHMM, January/February 2019. 42 minutes.

Tipton, James. "The Beast of Easedale Tarn." From AHMM, March/April 2021. 52 minutes.

Tipton, James. "The Green Man." From AHMM, September/October 2022. 46 minutes.
Vernon, Gigi. "One for the Road." From AHMM, January/February 2006. 32 minutes.
Viets, Elaine. "After the Fall." With a question and answer session. From AHMM, January/February, 2006. 35 minutes.

Walker, Joseph S. "Etta at the End of the World." From AHMM, May/June 2020 issue. 28 minutes.
Wilson, Jr., L.A. "Jazreen." From AHMM, November, 1997. 53 minutes.
Wishnia, Kenneth. "Between Minke and Mayrev." 52 minutes.

Yi, Melissa. "Blue Christmas." From AHMM, January/February 2019. 36 minutes.

Note: unlike most of the links which go directly to individual stories, Blue Christmas link takes you to a general page with AHMM offerings. This one was presented in July 26, 2024.
Zelvin, Elizabeth. "A Work in Progress." From AHMM, May/June 2019. 33 minutes.

Zeman, Angela. "The First Tale of Roxanne." From AHMM, May 2013. 45 minutes.

Martin Hill Ortiz is a professor of pharmacology and author of several novels. 

My new novel, The Missing Floor, is now available from Oliver-Heber books. 

The Missing Floor, now available

Continue reading →

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Mystery Podcasts

EQMM Podcasts, listed by author and linked.

Updated to include recent podcasts, August 2024. 175 entries.

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 83 years and counting, is the premium venue for short mystery fiction. Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine generously offers a free podcast with well-narrated recent and classic mystery and thriller stories. Recently, they have moved to a new format and the above link will take you to a page called, "Classic Podcasts." Their site does not present the selections by author, so I decided to do that as presented below. They also have a newer series of story podcasts hosted by Rabia Chaudry called The Mystery Hour. 

Although many of the authors are award-winners, I mentioned awards only for those tied to the specific story in question. In a complementary post, the podcasts from Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine are similarly indexed and linked. 

Enjoy! Martin Hill Ortiz. 


Allyn, Doug. "Famous Last Words." From EQMM, November, 2009. 42 minutes.
Allyn, Doug. "Stone Cold Christmas." From EQMM January 2007. 44 minutes.

Andrews, Dale C. "Literally Dead." From EQMM, December 2003. 42 minutes.

Andrews, Dale C. "Four Words." From EQMM, September/October 2020. 36 minutes.
Andrews, Donna. "Normal." From EQMM, May, 2011. 34 minutes.
Anthony, Meredith. "Murder at an Ad Agency." From EQMM, March/April, 2013. 39 minutes.

Appel, René. "Red-Handed." From EQMM, December 2014. 15 minutes.

Bailey, Frankie Y. "In Her Fashion." From EQMM, July, 2014. 51 minutes.

Barnard, Robert. "Rogue's Gallery." From EQMM, March, 2003. 27 minutes.

Benedict, Laura. "The Erstwhile Groom." From EQMM, September/October 2007. 35 minutes.

Bernier, Ashley-Ruth M. "Rise." From EQMM, 2022 March/April issue. 79 minutes.

Black, Pat. "Twos on That." From EQMM, July/August 2023. 60 minutes.

Bracken Michael and Murphy, Sandra. "Sit. Stay. Die." From EQMM, July/August 2022. 38 minutes.

Breen, Jon L. "The Gilbert and Sullivan Clue." From EQMM, September/October 1999. 31 minutes.
Brett, Simon. "Work Experience." From EQMM, September/October, 2011. 30 minutes.

Brittain, William. "The Man Who Read John Dickson Carr." From EQMM, December 1965. 11 minutes.

Brunet, Rob. "Skinny's Beach." From EQMM, February 2016. 35 minutes. 

Buck, Craig Faustus. "Race to Judgment." From EQMM, November/December 2018. 47 minutes.

Charles, Hal. "Draw Play." From EQMM, May 2003. 16 minutes.

Chekhov, Anton. "Hush-a-Bye, My Baby." Reprinted in EQMM, February 1958. 18 minutes.
Cleeves, Ann. "The Harmless Pursuits of Archibald Stamp." From EQMM, February, 1995. 22 minutes.
Cline, Eric. "Two Dwarves and Eight Chained Ourang-Outangs." From EQMM, June, 2011. 31 minutes.
Cody, Liza. See Lovesey, Peter.
Collins, Max Allan. See Spillane, Mickey.
Cooper, Mike. "Whiz Bang." From EQMM, September/October, 2011. 38 minutes.

Cranor, Eli. "Double Fly Rocket 87." From EQMM, January/February 2022. 35 minutes.
Crider, Bill. "The Case of the Headless Man."  From EQMM, March, 1998. 35 minutes.

Cudmore, Libby. "All Shook Down." From EQMM, September/October 2020. 37 minutes.

Dana, Cameron. "Disarming." From EQMM, June, 2011. 35 minutes.
Davidson, Hilary. "Hedge Hog." From EQMM, September/October, 2011. With author interview. 69 minutes.
Dean, David. "Ibrahim’s Eyes." From EQMM, June, 2007. 64 minutes.

Dean, David. "Sofee." From EQMM, March/April 2018. 55 minutes.

Dean, David. "The Duelist." From EQMM, May/June 2019 issue. 53 minutes.
Dean, David. See also: Harvey, John.
Dean, Zoë Z. "Getaway Girl." From EQMM, November, 2014. Winner of Robert L. Fish award. 29 minutes.

De Noux, O'Neil. "Sac-a-Lait Man." From EQMM, September/October 2019. 53 minutes.
Dhooge, Bavo. "Stinking Plaster." From EQMM September/October 2011. 31 minutes.
Dickson Carr, John. "The Gentleman From Paris." From EQMM, April 1950. 59 minutes.

Dobbyn, John F. "A Little Help From My Friend." From EQMM, March/April 2020. 13 minutes.
DuBois, Brendan. "Breaking the Box." From EQMM, September/October, 2013. 32 minutes.
DuBois, Brendan. "The Lake Tenant." From EQMM, November, 2015. 32 minutes. Annual Readers Award.
Edwards, Helena. "If Anything Happens to Me." From EQMM, June, 2015. 18 minutes. Short-listed for the Margery Allingham Short Story Competition.
Edwards, Martin. "No Flowers." From EQMM, May, 2012. 34 minutes.

Elwood, Elizabeth. "The Light on the Lagoon." From EQMM, September/October 2022. 43 minutes.

Faherty, Terence. "No Mystery." From EQMM, March/April, 2011 EQMM. 24 minutes.

Faherty, Terence. "The Engineer's Thumb." From EQMM, January/February 2017. 27 minutes.

Faherty, Terence. "The Noble Bachelor." From EQMM, January/February 2018. 29 minutes.
Flores, E. Gabriel. "The Truth of the Moment." From EQMM, December, 2016. 27 minutes. Robert L. Fish Memorial Award.

Floyd, John M. "On the Road With Mary Jo." From EQMM, January/February 2019. 33 minutes.
Fredrickson, Jack. "The Brick Thing." From EQMM, September/October, 2002. 28 minutes.

Fredrickson, Jack. "For the Jingle." From EQMM, May 2009. 43 minutes.

Freimor, Jacqueline. "The Picardy Third." From EQMM, January/February 2023. 37 minutes.

Fulton, Cecilia. "The Father of the Corpse." From EQMM, January/February 2019. 45 minutes.

Goffman, Barb. "Bug Appétit." From EQMM, November/December 2018. 34 minutes.

Goffman, Barb. "Dear Emily Etiquette." From EQMM, September/October 2020. 33 minutes. Winner of an Agatha Award along with the EQMM 2020 Readers Award.
Goodrich, Joseph. "The Ten-Cent Murder." From EQMM, August, 2016. 26 minutes.

Goodrich, Joseph. "Shame the Devil." From EQMM, March/April 2022. 23 minutes.
Gorman, Ed. "Comeback." From EQMM, March/April 2009. 23 minutes.

Grimala, Michael. "A Trunkful of Illegal Fireworks." From EQMM, July/August 2021. 12 minutes.

Hall, Parnell. "The Petty-Cash Killing." From EQMM, November, 1999. 39 minutes.
Harris, Charlaine. "Dead Giveaway." From EQMM, December 2001. Also an interview with the author. 42 minutes.
Hart, Carolyn. "Spooked." From EQMM, March 1999. Includes panel interview with Maron, Hart and Pickard. 89 minutes.

Three stories together in one podcast: 26 minutes.
Harvey, John. "Ghosts." From EQMM, September/October, 2009.
Dean, David. "Awake." From EQMM, July, 2009.
Raines, Dave. "Suitcase in Slow Time." From EQMM, June, 2009.

Herron, Mick. "Remote Control." From EQMM, September/October, 2007. 24 minutes.

Hill, Bonnie Hearn. "Feliz Navidead." From EQMM, January/February 2020. 22 minutes.
Hill, Edwin. "White Tights and Mary Janes." From EQMM, January/February 2018 issue, 27 minutes.
Hinger, Charlotte. "Lizzie Noel." From EQMM, November/December 2022. 40 minutes.

The Edward Hoch series of locked room mysteries are from a 1970s radio dramatizations produced by Dave Amaral.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of Cell 16." Dramatization. 27 minutes. From EQMM, March 1977.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Christmas Steeple." Dramatization. From EQMM, January, 1977. 27 minutes
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Country Inn." Dramatization. From EQMM, September, 1977. 28 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Covered Bridge." Dramatization. From EQMM, December, 1974. 29 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Haunted Bandstand." Dramatization. From EQMM, January 1976. 28 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Little Red Schoolhouse." Dramatization. From EQMM, September, 1976. 27 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Lobster Shack." Dramatization. 27 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Locked Caboose." Dramatization. From EQMM, May, 1976. 27 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Old Gristmill." Dramatization. From EQMM in the March 1975. 27 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Old Oak Tree." Dramatization. From EQMM, July, 1978. 27 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Time Capsule." Dramatization. Originally published as "The Problem of the County Fair," in EQMM, February, 1978. 28 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Voting Booth." Dramatization. From EQMM, December, 1977. 28 minutes.
Hoch, Edward D. "The Problem of the Whispering House." Dramatization of a story appearing in EQMM, April, 1979. 28 minutes.

Hoch, Edward D. "The Man Who Drowned in Champagne." From EQMM, April 1998. 17 minutes.

Hochstein, Peter. "The Client, the Cat, the Wife, and the Autopsy." From EQMM, January/February 2017. 30 minutes.
Hockensmith, Steve. "Dear Doctor Watson." From EQMM, February 2007. 35 minutes.
Hockensmith, Steve. "Fruitcake." From EQMM, January, 2003. 25 minutes.
Hockensmith, Steve. "Special Delivery." From EQMM, January, 2002. 32 minutes.

Hockensmith, Steve. "My Christmas Story." From EQMM, January/February 2019. 50 minutes.
Howard, Clark. "Horn Man." From EQMM, June, 1980. 1981 Poe Award for Best Short Story. 38 minutes.
Howe, Melodie Johnson. "The Talking Dead." Originally published, EQMM, June 2003. 37 minutes.

Ingram, David. "A Good Man of Business." From EQMM, January, 2011. 37 minutes.

Jain, Smita Harish. "The Manglik Curse." From EQMM, May/June 2022. 22 minutes.

Jobb, Dean. "Stranger Than Fiction: Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mutineers." From EQMM September/October 2020. 14 minutes. 
Johnson, Russell W. "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick." From EQMM, January, 2015. 29 minutes. Robert L. Fish Award winner.

Jovena, LaToya. "What Kind of Criminal." From EQMM, November/December 2022. 24 minutes.
Kelner, Toni L.P. "The Pirate's Debt." From EQMM, August, 2009. 76 minutes.

Kemanis, V.S. "Collector’s Find." From EQMM, September/October 2013. 50 minutes.
Kemelman, Harry. "The Nine Mile Walk." From EQMM, April, 1947. One of my all-time favorite mystery stories. 22 minutes.

Kohler, Sheila. "The Changing Room." From EQMM, January/February 2021. 36 minutes.

Lantigua, John. "The Cuban Prisoner." From EQMM, September/October 2018. 39 minutes.

Laskowski, Tara. "The Long-Term Tenant." From EQMM, July/August 2019. 49 minutes.
Law, Janice. "Star of the Silver Screen." From EQMM, December, 1996. 28 minutes.

Law, Janice. "The Knight Wizard." From EQMM, July/August 2023. 28 minutes.

Lehane, Con. "Come Back, Paddy Reilly." From EQMM, September/October 2017. 40 minutes.
Levinson, Robert S. "The Girl in the Golden Gown." From EQMM March/April 2010. 36 minutes.

Lewin, Michael Z. "The Cards You're Dealt." From EQMM, November/December 2020. 44 minutes.

Lewin, Michael Z. "Her Upstairs." From EQMM, July/August 2023. 39 minutes.
Lewin, Michael Z. Also see Lovesey, Peter.

Light, Larry. "Dysperception." From EQMM, January/February 2018. 38 minutes.

Linn, Ken. "Stray." From EQMM, January/February 2021. 34 minutes.

Three stories in one podcast: Three authors compose stories from one newspaper article. 73 minutes.

Lovesey, Peter. "Say That Again."
Cody, Liza. "The Old Story."
Lewin, Michael Z. "Wheeze."

Lutz, John. "Safe and Loft." From EQMM, March/April 2008. 32 minutes.

Lynch, Sophia. "Rendering." From EQMM, January/February 2024. 39 minutes. 

Maffini, Mary Jane. "So Much in Common." From EQMM September/October 2010. Read by Maffini and James Lincoln Warrne. Winner of the Agatha Award for Best Short Story. 34 minutes.
Malliet, G.M. "The Oxford Tarts." From EQMM, March/April, 2017. 27 minutes.
Manfredo, Lou. "Rizzo’s Good Cop." From EQMM, December, 2015. 68 minutes. Readers Award.
Marks, Paul D. "Howling at the Moon." From EQMM, November 2014. 28 minutes.
Marks, Paul D. "Ghosts of Bunker Hill." From EQMM, December, 2016. 42 minutes. Readers Award.

Mauck, W.W. "A Ghost for Marcy’s Garden." From EQMM, November/December 2022. 31 minutes.
Maron, Margaret. "Virgo in Sapphires." From EQMM, December, 2001. Includes panel interview with Maron, Hart and Pickard. 66 minutes.

Maxwell, Edith. "One Too Many." From EQMM, March/April 2020. 21 minutes.

McCormick, William Burton. "Pompo's Disguise." From EQMM, March/April 2015. 15 minutes. 

Milchman, Jenny. "The Closet." From EQMM, November, 2012. 35 minutes.
Moran, Terrie Farley. "Fontaine House." From EQMM, August, 2012. 46 minutes.

Muessig, Chris. "Bias." From EQMM, July 2009. 58 minutes.
Muller, Marcia and Pronzini, Bill. "The Chatelaine Bag." From EQMM, June, 2011. 38 minutes.

Murphy, Sandra. See Bracken, Michael.

Nevins, Francis M. "Night of Silken Snow." From EQMM, November 1994. 46 minutes.

Novick, Nancy. "How Does He Die This Time?" From EQMM, September/October 2018. 37 minutes.

Oates, Joyce Carol. "The Fruit Cellar." From EQMM, March/April, 2004. 20 minutes.

Osler, Rob. "Analogue." From EQMM, January/February 2021. 27 minutes.
Pachter, Josh. "The Night of Power." Originally appeared in EQMM September, 1986. 42 minutes.
Pachter, Josh. "Won't You Come Out Tonight?" From EQMM, March, 2004. 26 minutes.
Pachter, Josh. "E. Q. Griffen Earns His Name." From EQMM, December 1968. 29 minutes.

Pachter, Josh. "50." From EQMM, November/December 2018. 37 minutes.

Pachter, Josh. "The Secret Lagoon." From EQMM, September/October 2019. 25 minutes.

Pachter, Josh. "City of Light." From EQMM, March/April 2020. 36 minutes.

Phelan, Twist. "Judge Not." From EQMM, May/June 2023. 29 minutes. 

Phelan, Twist. Two stories. "Used to Be," and "It's A Small World (After All)." From EQMM, January/February 2020 and current January/February 2023 issues respectively. 30 minutes.

Phelan, Twist. "Floored." From EQMM, June 2008. 25 minutes.
Pickard, Nancy. "Ms. Grimshank Regrets." From EQMM, May, 2008. Panel interview with Maron, Hart and Pickard. 59 minutes.
Pronzini, Bill. See Muller, Marcia.
Pullen, Karen. "Brea’s Tale." From EQMM, January, 2012. 27 minutes.

Queen, Ellery. "The Adventure of 'The Two-Headed Dog.'" From The Adventures of Ellery Queen (1934). 61 minutes.
Queen, Ellery. "A Lump of Sugar." Dramatization. From EQMM, February, 1953. 9 minutes.
Queen, Ellery. "The Myna Birds." A dramatization of the short story, Cut, Cut, Cut. From EQMM, September, 1956. 12 minutes.
Queen, Ellery. "The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds." From The Adventures of Ellery Queen radio series of the thirties and forties and reprinted in EQMM in May, 1943 and August, 2005. 34 minutes.
Queen, Ellery. "The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats." First published in 1934 in the short story collection, The Adventures of Ellery Queen. 57 minutes.

Queen, Ellery. "The President's Half Disme." From EQMM, February 1947. 44 minutes.

Queen, Ellery. "The Broken T." From EQMM, May 1966. 13 minutes. 

Raines, Dave. See Harvey, John.
Rozan, S.J. "Golden Chance." From EQMM, December, 2012. 50 minutes.
Schofield, Neil. "Groundwork." Dramatization. From EQMM, November, 2001. 25 minutes.

Scotti, Anna. "What the Morning Never Suspected." From EQMM, September/October 2020. 34 minutes. 

Scotti, Anna. "Cat, Schrodinger." From EQMM, March/April, 2022. 34 minutes. 

Seamon, Hollis. "Book Lovers." From EQMM, November/December 2022. 32 minutes.
Shephard, Robert. "Just Below the Surface." From EQMM, March/April, 2017. 56 minutes.

Solana, Teresa. "Still Life No. 41." From EQMM, March/April 2012. 21 minutes.

Soloway, Jeff. "The Interpreter and the Killer." From EQMM, January/February 2021. 30 minutes. 
Spillane, Mickey and Collins, Max Allan. "There's a Killer Loose!" From EQMM, August, 2008. 39 minutes.
Steinbock, Steve. "Cleaning Up." From EQMM, March/April, 2010. 21 minutes.

Taylor, Art. "A Drowning at Snow's Cut." From EQMM, May, 2011. Winner of Derringer Award. 42 minutes.

Taylor, Art. "English 398: Fiction Workshop." From EQMM, July/August 2018. 34 minutes.
Todd, Marilyn. "Cupid's Arrow." From EQMM, September, 2003. Dramatized reading. 47 minutes.
Todd, Marilyn. "The Wickedest Town in the West." From EQMM, June, 2013. 51 minutes.
Todd, Marilyn. "The Old Man and the Seashore." EQMM, January, 2016. 23 minutes.

Todd, Marilyn. "Long Slow Dance Through the Passage of Time." From EQMM, November/December 2018. 40 minutes.
Tolnay, Tom. "Fun and Games at the Carousel Mall." From EQMM, September/October, 2002. 29 minutes.

Van Laerhoven, Bob. "Checkmate in Chimbote." From EQMM, June, 2014. 37 minutes.
Vandermeeren, Hilde. "The Lighthouse." From EQMM March/April 2016 issue. 27 minutes.

Various authors. Poetry. From EQMM, various issues. 22 minutes.
Warren, James Lincoln. "Heat of the Moment." From EQMM, June, 2007. 48 minutes.

Welsh-Huggins, Andrew. "Home for the Holidays." From EQMM, January/February 2020. 38 minutes.
Williams, Tim L. "The Last Wrestling Bear in West Kentucky." From EQMM, September/October 2014. Winner of International Thriller award. 38 minutes.

Wilson, John Morgan. "Edward at the Edge." From EQMM, January 2005. 40 minutes.
Williams, Tim L. "Where That Morning Sun Goes Down." From EQMM, August, 2013. 37 minutes.

Woodson, Stacy. "Duty, Honor, Hammett." From EQMM,  November/December 2018. 34 minutes.

Wu, Fei. "Beijingle All the Way." From EQMM, January/February 2020. 39 minutes.
Zeltserman, Dave. "Some People Deserve to Die." From EQMM,August, 2011. 35 minutes.
Zelvin, Elizabeth. "The Green Cross." From EQMM, August, 2010. 24 minutes.

Compiled by Martin Hill Ortiz

Martin Hill Ortiz is a professor of pharmacology and author of several novels. 

My new novel, The Missing Floor, is now available from Oliver-Heber books. 

The Missing Floor, now available

Continue reading →

Three Writing Tips That I Don't Often See Elsewhere

It is easy to find a lot of guidance regarding writing. Choose strong verbs. Avoid adverbs. Swap out commonplace and indefinite words. These are valuable bits of advice, but they are spoken everywhere. Below, I present recommendations that I have encountered or developed over the years that I don't see at other writing sites. 

Never say yes. Never say no.

The following exchange of dialogue in the film L.A. Confidential changed my writing.

Bud White: The Night Owl case made you. Do you want to tear all that down?

Ed Exley: With a wrecking ball.

I'd seen the movie before and this time I watched in my writer's frame of mind. The question asked Ed Exley was yes or no. If he had answered, "yes," the screenplay would have missed a great opportunity to reveal character and add to the drama. 

The rule is: Given a yes/no question, don't have your character respond with "Yes" or "No."

 

Another example from L.A. Confidential.

Captain Dudley Smith: You'll do as I say, and ask no questions. Do you follow my drift?

Bud White: In technicolor, sir.

Isn't that so much better than answering yes or no? Even the brief appendage of "sir" adds to the character.

Did you know they tried to make it into a TV series?

Here are a couple of examples from my recent writing. Garret Belmont is a private eye, posing as a mold inspector. Ava Wellington isn't buying it.

Ava: "I notice you have handcuffs in your inside pocket," she said. "Mold inspector?" 

Garret: "I've had to handle some pretty tough fungi."

The same pair, shortly after.

Ava: "Are you the sort who prefers to play with words to other forms of recreation?"

Garret: "Crosswords don't bite."

Ava: "But I do."

Of course, this rule is not absolute. Sometimes I will have a character answer yes or no if that character has a motive to say the least possible. And you don't want to simply substitute a fancy word that means yes, like "indubitably"—unless you are writing a comic piece set in an Edwardian tearoom.

Fun fact: Say indubitably three times and you will grow a top hat.

Use the Thesaurus in Advance.

When you know you are going to write a scene with a specific setting or time, do your thesaurus work in advance. A graveyard at sunset. (These lists are incomplete, just here to give you an idea.)

Graveyard: burial grounds, churchyard, necropolis.

associated: grave, crypt, tomb, sepulcher, sarcophagus, catacomb, shrine, vault, tombstone, gravestone, grave marker. 

Sunset: dusk, nightfall, evening, eventide, gloaming, twilight, sundown.

associated: darkness, duskiness, dimness, gray, gloom, murkiness.

Having a cloud of words helps me create.

As a general rule of thumb: don't repeat the same word often, especially if they are weighty words that attract a lot of attention to themselves. The thesaurus choices help with that. Related rule: don't cycle through synonyms just for the sake of variety.

Learning how to use and tame the thesaurus is one of the talents that separates a novice writer from an expert. The word choices are the keys of the piano. Choose the right ones to construct your melody. Do not dump every complicated word into your text. 

End with a Bang.

Finish your sentences with a punch. You should place, at the end, a single word that delivers your message. Beyond considering the last word in a sentence, this should also be employed in the moments a sentence pauses through punctuation such as comma or semi-colon.

Here is the last word (or two) of the first seven lines of Hamlet's soliloquy (To be or not to be. . .). The final punch in each line delivers the theme and gravity, one reinforcing the next.

question

suffer

outrageous fortune

troubles

to sleep 

end

shocks

. . .

Or this from Macbeth:

tomorrow

day to day

recorded time

fools

brief candle

poor player

stage

tale

fury 

nothing.

Here are my own sentences: two versions.

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids to me.

or 

That looks like a Ponzi scheme on steroids.

I often find that when one of my sentences sounds flaccid, I can reorder the words to end with a punch. It might be too much if every sentence ends with a whammy, but try out this recommendation when you want your writing to jab like Jake LaMotta.

For the above paragraph: flaccid (comma), punch (period), whammy (comma), Jake LaMotta (period).

Similar to this:

Put the punch-line at the end. This rule is derived from performing comedy. Don't finish a joke and then add words that the audience has to listen to when they should be laughing. Similarly, in mystery, if you are delivering a punch in a story, put the vital detail at the end of the statement (sentence, paragraph, or even chapter) so the reader has a moment to digest the startling revelation. 

This joke, attributed to various comedians, is classic and edgy.

When I go, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like the passengers on his bus.

It isn't until the final word that the mystery and the lethal edge are revealed. Compare this to the same joke, badly-constructed.

When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not like his passengers who were screaming when his bus swerved off the road and killed them. 

The reveal comes early in the sentence, nevertheless, we are compelled to keep on reading.

If you have a little-known writing tip, please include it in the comments.

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Reviewing Cha's The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021

In my first three installments I looked at culture wars in history and literature, how they have popped up in mystery writing resulting in the schism of the year's best mystery stories into two very different volumes, and then went on to review Otto Penzler's The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2021. 

Here, in the final installment, I look at Steph Cha's The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021. Cha was selected to officially take over the Penzler's series. She promised to include a more diverse authorship. Indeed, Penzler's 2021 anthology was composed of 21 white (and no Latinx among these) authors. His 2020 anthology had 20 white authors (and, again, no Latinx) and 2019 was the same. Cha's first anthology had stories from 8 white non-Latinx, 4 Latinx, 5 black, 1 Latinx black, 1 South Asian, and one for whom I could not find background 

Penzler is 79 years old. Cha is 35. They have different views as to what represents the best in mystery fiction. Penzler's anthology lean heavily on old school detective and police narratives. I had to think hard as to whether even one of his story selections did not have violence at its core (there were two).  

This brings me to a general strength of Cha's collection: the variety of crime. Being an illegal immigrant, victimization by con artists, faking an application to get a child into a better school, stalking: these are weighty issues with important stories to tell. 

Cha chose Alafair Burke as her guest editor. Burke has published 18 mystery novels. She is Asian-American and the daughter of the famous author James Lee Burke (who had a story in Penzler's anthology). Or maybe people will begin saying James Lee is the father of the famous Alafair Burke.

In my previous post I railed against the Introduction by Lee Child in Penzler's anthology. While Child asked what is a short story? Burke asked what does it mean to say something is the best? The notion that the best is subjective is fairly basic and I wanted to sneer at the simplistic conclusion she made but, going over the stories in these anthologies I related deeply to the statement.

As Burke notes, people argue over the Academy Award as though the Best Picture is some kind of magic dart that lands on its target, that which is, indeed, the best picture. It is an imperfect opinion. When James Cameron visited the deepest part of the ocean in a bathysphere, I fantasized about keeping him down there until he agreed to give his Oscar to Curtis Hanson for L.A. Confidential.

I present my judgment on these stories. Why should anyone care about my opinion? The answer is that as a reader I am an audience member. As a writer I strive to make the audience cheer, to think, or to empathize in a way that splits their chests open to synchronize our beating hearts. Of course, I cannot do that for everyone. Not even if I was the greatest writer ever. So, as an author, I do my soft shoe shuffle and bow. Then my readers applaud. Or they don't. Hell, not everybody loves Fred Astaire, a hoofer from Omaha.

Burke goes on to review Kurt Vonnegut's rules for what makes a story great and in doing so, introduces each of the stories in the collection with love. A classy introduction. 

Cha's entry into the Best Mystery Stories series

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021, a Review

Again, the stories are presented in alphabetical order by the author's surname. I suppose this is to avoid the appearance of favoritism. I wonder if I would be Ortiz or Hill Ortiz in such a set. (Hill Ortiz is my preference. In Puerto Rico, the father's surname is appended by the mother's surname. I am the son of two families.)

First up is Jenny Bhatt with Return to India, a complex story, told from the point of view of imperfect witnesses, of an immigrant worker who snaps. Strong emotional examination of isolation.

Christopher Bollen, SWAJ. The title is Jaws spelled backward. A young man in Amity Island, New York, witnesses the events in a town under siege by a shark. I really didn't like this piece. It was Jaws without any of the on-the-ocean parts. For me it was clever but unengaging.

Nikki Dolson, Neighbors. A study of a neighborhood destroyed by con artists. Sharp details, well-written, bittersweet.

E. Gabriel Flores, Mala Suerte. Two friends have bad luck trying to dispose of a body. Excellent writing.

Alison Gaylin, Where I Belong. A homeless teen becomes prey to those who would rescue him. Has the feeling of James M. Cain. Gaylin made it into both anthologies.

Gar Anthony Haywood, With Footnotes and References. A great, twisty (and twisted) story about selling school papers to rich kids.

Ravi Howard, The Good Thief, is a bittersweet story about the unusual gift a mother gives to her son on the evening of his execution. Excellent. One of my favorites.

Gabino Iglesias, Everything Is Going to Be Okay. In the background of the COVID lockdown, a father wants basic health care for his child. An insider's eye for details. 

Charis Jones, Green-Eyed Monster. A killer recounts the final evening with his successful wife and what envy drove him to do. Not one of my favorites. The characters seemed stock.

Preston Lang, Potato Sandwich Days. I have to recuse myself from judging this story about a man who would do anything to get his favorite sandwich from a fast food restaurant. In the early 90s, I was at a Burger King in Miami Beach when a man blew up over this sort of thing. The Nazis were in town protesting the local holocaust memorial and I suspect he was one of them. No violence occurred, still I get post-trauma stress disorder over this. I can't handle the fast food scene in Michael Douglas's Falling Down, either.

Aya de León, Frederick Douglass Elementary. A black woman falsifies her address to get her child into a better school, but is the school really better? This well-done story is helped along if you know the account of the woman who was jailed for this offense. 

Kristen Lepionka, Infinity Sky. A well-written, comic-manic piece about the misadventures of a woman who wants to take in the view from a penthouse suite. One of my favorites.

Laura Lippman, Slow Burner. The discovery of a burner phone leads a wife to discover her husband's secrets, culminating in murder. Masterfully told.

Joanna Pearson, Mr. Forble. A mother is frantic: her son is not quite normal. A birthday party turns violent. Well-written and disturbing.

Delia C. Pitts, The Killer. In a small town in Georgia, a private eye is shepherding a mother and a child who have been targeted by the mob. A killer comes to town looking for them but they get by with a little help from some friends. Vivid and atmospheric.

Eliot Schrefer, Wings Beating. A father goes on vacation with his thirteen-year-old son where the son encounters prejudice. The father takes revenge. "Take revenge" pieces mostly fall flat with me, especially in cases where the response exceeds the provocation. 

Alex Segura, 90 Miles. Cuban exiles take a perilous journey to America, made worse by the faithless human smuggler who helped launch them. Strong atmosphere and poignant.

Brian Silverman, Land of Promise. A local hero has to live with the knowledge behind what really happened. Emotionally gripping. 

Faye Snowden, One Bullet, One Vote. In the segregated south, a black woman stands up for her right to vote. Powerful and I found myself constantly rooting for her.

Lisa Unger, Let Her Be. Unger knows how to perform psychological autopsies on the living. (Autopsies without the ick.) Mesmerizing. My favorite story of either anthology. 

The strength of the Cha/Burke anthology is the variety of human experiences. Here are stories of crimes big and small. Switching between such a range of viewpoints keeps each store fresh. My review of this work uses terms like emotional involvement far more frequently than with the Penzler collection which had more gut punches. These stories were vibrant and reflected on today's issues. I did miss having some of the older school stories such as the Paretsky piece from the other work. 

The strength of the Penzler/Child anthology is that classic crime fiction, when well done, is thrilling. However, when it is mediumly-well done, it feels repetitive. 

I was convinced by these two anthologies that there are more than 40 best pieces out there. Even the ones I didn't like had merit. Furthermore, I've read a few worthy pieces during this past year that were not included. I suppose a reviewer always feels this way. I read the five stories up for the past year's Edgar for Best Short Story and all of them were top-notch. I suggest the anthologists expand their honorable mention lists.

Both books are worth the price of admission and an avid mystery fan will have much to enjoy. I would say about 10 of the pieces in Penzler's work represented great classic mystery stories, something I always love to read. However, I would have to give the nudge to Cha's anthology. The wonderment of the range of the stories kept every story fresh, even the ones that did not particularly thrill me.

The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2021

Contents:

Jenny Bhatt, Return to India

Christopher Bollen, SWAJ. 

Nikki Dolson, Neighbors

E. Gabriel Flores, Mala Suerte

Alison Gaylin, Where I Belong

Gar Anthony Haywood, With Footnotes and References

Ravi Howard, The Good Thief

Gabino Iglesias, Everything Is Going to Be Okay

Charis Jones, Green-Eyed Monster

Preston Lang, Potato Sandwich Days

Aya de León, Frederick Douglass Elementary

Kristen Lepionka, Infinity Sky

Laura Lippman, Slow Burner

Joanna Pearson, Mr. Forble

Delia C. Pitts, The Killer

Eliot Schrefer, Wings Beating

Alex Segura, 90 Miles

Brian Silverman, Land of Promise

Faye Snowden, One Bullet, One Vote

Lisa Unger, Let Her Be

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

I have several short stories coming out soon, including ones in Mystery Magazine and Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine. A science fiction story came out in El Porvenir ¡Ya! Chicano Scifi Anthology. 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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