Fall River Mystery
In the latest Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine are two pieces related to the topic at hand—Lizzie Borden.
One is a new work by James T. Shannon that takes place in the Portuguese-American community of Fall River, Massachusetts. I have read the story and note that while the author changes the names of locations around town (for a reason I don’t understand) you can still figure out where he is and recognize the sights and sounds of this city on the Taunton River. Shannon’s detective tale has a nice twist, and is recommended for not only the Fall River local but for the breezy writing style.
This issue also includes a classic work by Marie Belloc Lowndes, author of Lizzie Borden: A Study in Conjecture (recently reviewed by the profound Eugene Hosey in the latest issue of The Hatchet: Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies). The story included is her seminal work “The Lodger”—one of the earliest fictional works about Jack the Ripper published.
From the Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazne site:
“Crime” may be the umbrella for our magazine, but it is a wide one to encompass the variety of stories we publish. James Lincoln Warren, author of this month’s cover story, is familiar to AHMM readers for his series featuring eighteenth-century “indagator” Alan Treviscoe, but “When the Wind Blows” is a dark, contemporary tale through which California’s hot Santa Ana winds snake like a musical motif. He has recently teamed up with some mystery aficionados to start a wonderful blog dedicated to mystery short fiction. When you get a chance, check out Criminal Brief: The Mystery Short Story Web Log Project (you’ll find a link to it on our Links page).
Halifax schemers Beemer and Benny team up to make a run for contraband lottery tickets in Jas. R. Petrin’s “The Golden Rule.” “A Sign of Peace” is a tale of miscues in a church in the Portuguese-American community of Fall River, Massachusetts, by James T. Shannon; and we have a new story from Bruce Graham called “Either Way” in which a crime-fighting team finds a way to snare a killer and make it stick in court.
New to AHMM this month, Frank T. Wydra is the author of the gritty procedural “Street Justice.” We also welcome the return of Birney Dibble, author of “Too Cold a Trail.” Like his first story for AHMM, “Peace to Her Bitter Bones” (December, 2001), “Too Cold a Trail” reaches back to solve mysteries from the past while exploring human emotions in the present.
We also bring you two private eye tales. “The Survivor of the Storms” by Dick Stodghill is a Depression-era historical featuring Akron, Ohio, P.I. Jack Eddy and young reporter Bram Geary. Loren D. Estleman’s story “Needle” is a tightly told tale of evil and misfortune compounded over decades and played out on the back porch of a Detroit bungalow.
Our Mystery Classic this month is Marie Belloc Lowndes’s “The Lodger,” capturing the fear that once gripped London. Plus we have top-notch reviews by Robert C. Hahn of some recent private eye novels in our Booked & Printed feature and an in-depth look at a new sequel to the ’70s hit Death Wish in Steve Hockensmith’s Reel Crime column.
