In this month's podcast, we are pleased to present multiple O. Henry Award winner Sheila Kohler reading her suspenseful, evocative tale "The Changing Room" from our January/February 2021 issue.https://sheilakohler.com/https://www.purple-planet.com/

Our latest podcast episode features a celebrated story from our March/April 2022. Here is Anna Scotti's "Schrodinger, Cat,"  a Macavity Award nominee and third place finisher in our 2022 Readers Award poll.

We're pleased to share with you Twist Phelan's reading of "Judge Not," her highly entertaining story of a local judge who faces a serious ethical dilemma, from our May/June 2023 issue."Judge Not" reached the highly commended category in the 2023 Irish Book Awards short story competition—the only crime fiction story to do so. 

Our latest podcast episode features the suspenseful tale of a nude model who finds herself posing for an eccentric and rather creepy artist. Here is "Rendering" by Sophia Lynch, one of the latest entries in EQMM's Department of First Stories. 

Our latest podcast episode will whisk listeners off to Paris for an adventure filled with fine food and wine, paired with a side of revenge. Here, from our March/April 2020 issue, is "City of Light" by Josh Pachter, one of EQMM's most prolific contributors and translators.

Andrew Welsh-Huggins is an accomplished author who has been nominated for Shamus, Derringer, and ITW Thriller awards. We're thrilled to feature his reading of "Home for the Holidays," a Christmastime thriller from our Jan/Feb 2020 issue, as the latest entry in our podcast series. 

When a murder strikes close to her granddaughter's music class, Private Investigator Jeannie Tannenbaum sets out to solve the case. Here is "The Picardy Third" by Jacqueline Freimor, originally published in our Jan/Feb 2023 issue. 

Our latest podcast features the story of two former high school football stars who return to their old stomping grounds for a big payday. This is Eli Cranor's "Double Fly Rocket 87" from our January/February 2022 issue. Cranor is a former professional football player whose novel Don't Know Tough won the 2023 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel.

Legendary author Michael Z. Lewin reads "Her Upstairs," his excellent story of Greek gods and cribbage from our July/August 2023 issue. Lewin is the creator of the the Albert Samson series of detective novels, the first regional series of of its kind.

Our August 2023 podcast episode features  "The Knight Wizard," an exciting new story in our July/August 2023 issue from frequent EQMM contributor Janice Law. 

Our latest podcast episode is another thrilling tale from Scottish journalist and author Pat Black, whose stories featuring Inspector Lomond have been appearing in EQMM since 2019. Here is "Twos on That" from our July/August 2023 issue. 

When EQMM began publication in 1941, it contained a number of reprints of classic short stories. Founding editor and genre expert Frederic Dannay believed that almost every well known author had a least one work that could be described as mystery or crime fiction. In this month’s episode, we present “Hush-a-Bye, My Baby” by the great Russian playwright and author Anton Chekhov, which was reprinted in the February 1958 issue of EQMM, read by our Senior Managing Editor, Jackie Sherbow. 

Alana's grandmother Mavis was a fantastic cook whose johnnycakes may have been the best in the Virgin Islands. But did an old family housekeeper steal Grandma Mavis's recipe? Find out in "Rise" by Ashley-Ruth M. Bernier, which appeared in our 2022 March/April issue. 

Our latest podcast episode features the Christmastime story of a woman, her cat, and revenge served with a dash of antifreeze. Here is Charlotte Hinger's "Lizzie Noel," from our November/December 2022 issue. Hinger is currently nominated for Spur Award from the Western Writers of America, and she is a member of the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame.

Joseph Goodrich is an Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning playwright whose productions have been shown from New York to San Francisco, and many other places. Goodrich also writes poetry, libretti, and short stories. "Shame the Devil" takes place in his home state of Minnesota. 

This month, we feature the work of Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence and International Thriller Award winner Twist Phelan, who is well known for her novel series: the Pinnacle Peak mysteries and the Finn Teller spy thrillers. The author is a prolific short-story writer, and here she reads two of her shorter-length stories: "Used to Be" and "It's A Small World (After All)" from the pages of EQMM, in the January/February 2020 and current January/February 2023 issues respectively. Stay tuned, as we have several more stories coming out by Twist Phelan this year.https://twistphelan.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Fiction Podcast is happy to release another inspired reading by one of our contributors. This time, we have a thrilling tale of art forgery and lofty aspirations that go awry. Here is "What Kind of Criminal" read by author LaToya Jovena. https://www.purple-planet.com/

The latest entry in our podcast series is a 1950s holiday story told by Hollis Seamon, a frequent contributor to EQMM whose story "Black Swallowtail" finished in third place in 2021's EQMM Reader's Award.  "Book Lovers" is a story that is sure to entertain mystery fans and lovers of classic literature alike. https://www.purple-planet.com/

In this month's episode, W.W. Mauck—a U.S. Army veteran and Beloit College graduate who writes during the day around his night-shift job—reads his story "A Ghost for Marcy's Garden" from the Department of First Stories in our November/December 2022 issue.https://www.purple-planet.com

Elizabeth Elwood is the 2022 winner of the Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence in the short story category, for her 2021 EQMM story “Number 10 Marlborough Place.” For this episode in our podcast series she reads her story “The Light on the Lagoon,” which appears in the current issue of EQMM, September/October 2022.https://www.purple-planet.com/

EQMM was brought into the world by two writers who collaborated on nearly every piece of fiction they wrote, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee. This month we feature a story by two writers who have collaborated with each other several times, most recently on a story for EQMM. Michael Bracken is the author of well over a thousand published short stories and he’s a recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement, among other honors. Sandra Murphy is a Derringer Award winner who has had a collection of stories published by Untreed Reads. She is the reader for this recording of “Sit. Stay. Die.” by Michael Bracken and Sandra Murphy, first published in the July/August 2022 issue of EQMM. http://www.crimefictionwriter.com

Our fiction podcast this month is a classic by author William Brittain, who wrote for EQMM from 1964 to 1983. It’s read by EQMM author and translator Josh Pachter, who has edited three collections of William Brittain’s stories. Here is “The Man Who Read John Dickson Carr,” from the December 1965 issue of EQMM. It was the first in a series of stories, all published in EQMM, whose titles begin “The Man Who."https://www.purple-planet.com/

This month in our podcast series we feature an Independence Day story by an award-winning writer for the Las Vegas Sun who made his fiction debut in EQMM’s Department of First Stories.  Just in time for July 4th,  here is Michael Grimala reading his story “A Trunk Full of Illegal Fireworks,” from the July/August 2021 issue of EQMM.https://www.purple-planet.com/

This month, Rob Osler reads his 2022 Robert L. Fish Memorial Award winning story “Analogue,” from our January/February 2021 issue. The author is a business writer who recently began writing fiction; he is at work on two mystery novels. “Analogue” is a satire of the business world while also being a twisty suspense tale.https://robosler.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com/

To introduce our May/June 2022 issue, we bring you Smita Harish Jain's reading of her latest story, "The Manglik Curse." Jain is an accomplished author who grew up in Mumbai and now lives in Virginia. Her work has appeared in a number of anthologies, as well as EQMM, where her first story "The Fraud of Dionysus" was one of the top-10 runners-up in EQMM 2021 Readers' Award poll. Listen on as Jain relates her tale of a lover's plot to escape an arranged marriage that was cursed from the start. https://www.purple-planet.com/

A classic from EQMM’s founding editors, Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee (writing as Ellery Queen), is read for listeners in this episode of our podcast series by EQMM managing editor Jackie Sherbow. Don’t miss the chance to solve this classical puzzle mystery yourself in Ellery Queen’s hallmark Challenge to the Reader.https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/https://www.purple-planet.com/

William Burton McCormick is a regular contributor to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine whose writings have made him a finalist for Shamus, Derringer, and Claymore awards. In this episode of our podcast series, McCormick whisks us away to his vibrant and mysterious vision of ancient Rome as he reads "Pompo's Disguise," which appeared in our March/April 2015 issue.https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/https://www.williamburtonmccormick.com/https://www.purple-planet.com/

Anna Scotti is an award-winning poet whose work was recently collected in the volume Bewildered by All This Broken Sky. She’s also a novelist and short story writer and has, for the past few years, been contributing to EQMM a series of stories featuring a sleuth in the Witness Security program. For this entry in our podcast series, Anna Scotti reads her story “What the Morning Never Suspected,” the second in her WITSEC series, from the September/October 2020 issue of EQMM. https://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.comhttp://www.annakscotti.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

To usher in 2022, we’ve chosen a New Year’s story from EQMM’s Department of First Stories. New writer Ken Linn begins his tale on July 4th—but follows his protagonist up to the turn of a new year. It’s a story of renewal perfect for reflecting on new beginnings. Here is Ken Linn reading his story “Stray,” first published in the January/February 2021 issue of EQMM.https://www.purple-planet.com

Former radio worker Bonnie Hearn Hill is the author of sixteen suspense novels, including The River Below. Here she reads her seasonally appropriate story "Feliz Navidead," from the January/February 2020 issue of EQMM and first-place winner of Writer's Digest Magazine's genre short story award.https://www.bonniehhill.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Award-winning novelist and short-story writer Marilyn Todd has been contributing to EQMM since 2000, and her work often visits different historical periods and places, from Ancient Greece to 1960s London. This month, her story "Long Slow Dance Through the Passage of Time" (from the November/December 2018 issue), which begins in the doo-wop era, is read by actor Mandie Davis.http://www.marilyntodd.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

In our latest podcast episode, John F. Dobbyn—author of the Devlin and Knight legal thrillers as well as several Yukon stories in verse published in EQMM—reads "A Little Help From My Friend," a compelling tale from our March/April 2020 issue.https://www.johndobbyn.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

This month we offer something new: A reading by Canadian journalist, author, and professor Dean Jobb of his true crime piece "Arthur Conan Doyle and the Mutineers," which was published in the September/October 2020 issue. Dean Jobb's "Stranger Than Fiction" column appears in print in our magazine and online at www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com.http://www.deanjobb.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

As part of EQMM’s 80th anniversary celebration, we offer a podcast this month featuring some of the characters from the Ellery Queen novels and stories, written by Frederic Danny and Manfred B. Lee (EQMM’s founders). Dale C. Andrews is a longtime, devoted Ellery Queen fan and he’s written several Ellery Queen pastiches for EQMM. Here he is reading the most recent of them, “Four Words,” from the September/October 2020 issue of EQMM.https://www.purple-planet.com

EQMM has a tradition of including work written by writing teams and collaborators. Hal Blythe and Charlie Sweet, who have been writing together for more than forty years as Hal Charles, saw their fiction debut in the magazine’s Department of First Stories. In this month’s podcast, Hal Blythe reads “Draw Play” by Hal Charles from the May 2003 issue. https://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2021/06/09/if-it-werent-for-ellery-queen-by-hal-charles/https://archive.org

A longtime EQMM contributor, Michael Z. Lewin is a prolific novelist and short-story writer. An American by birth, he lives in the U.K. Michael Lewin is the author of the P.I. Albert Samson series; another of his popular series features Indianapolis detective Sergeant Leroy Powder, who is the central character of the story he reads here, “The Cards You’re Dealt” from the November/December 2020 issue of EQMM.http://www.michaelzlewin.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Novelist and short-story author Jeff Soloway was the winner of the 2014 Robert L. Fish Award for Best First Short Story by an American Author. Here he reads his EQMM debut from the January/February 2021 issue, "The Interpreter and the Killer," which features a central character in a job we don't see often in mystery fiction.http://www.randomhousebooks.com/authors/jeff-solowayhttps://www.purple-planet.com

This month we’ve selected a private-eye story for the podcast: “All Shook Down,” from the September/October 2020 issue of EQMM. It’s the first contribution to the magazine by Libby Cudmore, author of the highly acclaimed novel The Big Rewind. If you like it—and we’re sure you will!—there’s another story in the series coming up in our next issue, May/June 2021.https://libbycudmore.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

As part of EQMM's 80th-year anniversary celebration this year (2021), we offer a seasonally appropriate history-laden mystery by the multitalented writing team of Ellery Queen: "The President's Half Disme," originally published in EQMM in February 1947.

Edward D. Hoch had a thirty-five-year streak of unbroken publication in each issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine until his death in early 2008. We have no doubt that he still has many fans among our readers. 2021 is the magazine’s 80th year of publication, and as part of our celebration of highlights of our history we wanted to be sure to include some of Edward D. Hoch’s work. The Rochester author was a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, an Edgar Allan Poe Award winner, and the recipient of two Anthony Awards. For this podcast EQMM editor Janet Hutchings reads his story “The Man Who Drowned in Champagne,” from the April 1998 issue of EQMM.

Terence Faherty is the author of the Scott Elliott and Owen Keane series. He has also been penning a series of Sherlock Holmes parodies that appear in our January/February issues, coinciding with the Baker Street Irregulars' celebration of Sherlock Holmes's Twelfth Night birthday. Here he reads "The Noble Bachelor" from our January/February 2018 issue.

Fei Wu is an author, translator, freelance editor, and literary agent who resides outside of Shanghai. He has played a key role in introducing Chinese readers to Golden Age detective fiction. Here, his suspenseful, unique, and clever Christmas tale "Beijingle All the Way" from our January/February 2020 issue is read by the translator of the story—and longtime contributor to EQMM—Josh Pachter.https://www.purple-planet.com

John M. Floyd is one of the mystery genre’s most prolific short story writers. His work has appeared in more than three hundred different publications, and has earned four Derringer awards and a nomination for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best short story. In 2018, he received the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement. His most recent honor came this year, when he won the best short story Derringer for the story he reads for this podcast, “On the Road With Mary Jo,” from the January/February 2019 issue of EQMM.www.johnmfloyd.compurple-planet.com

Barb Goffman is a mystery author, editor, and anthologist. She has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her writing, and has received more than two dozen award nominations. In this episode, she reads her tale "Dear Emily Etiquette" from the current September/October 2020 issue of EQMM.http://www.barbgoffman.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Derringer Award winner Josh Pachter is a translator, editor, and short-story writer. His translations and tales appear regularly in our pages—the former in the Passport to Crime department—and his recent editorial work has been published in anthologies from Untreed Reads, Mysterious Press, and Akashic Books. Here he reads his story "The Secret Lagoon" from the September/October 2019 issue.http://joshpachter.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

This year's Shamus Award for Best Short Story went to Louisiana author O'Neil De Noux for his tale "Sac-a-Lait Man," from EQMM's September/October 2019 issue. The author also won the 2017 Shamus Award and has won a Derringer Award for Best Novelette. De Noux is the author of over thirty novels. The sixth book in the Lucien Caye series, to which this story belongs, is forthcoming.http://www.oneildenoux.com

In this episode, New Jersey author David Dean reads his moving and suspenseful tale "The Duelist" from the May/June 2019 issue. The story, which won that year's EQMM Readers Award contest, is a historical one that brilliantly recreates the antebellum period in the United States.

In this month's episode, we turn our attention to poetry. EQMM has a long history of including occasional poems in our pages. From humorous limericks to serious free verse, poetry gives another lens through which to view the crime and mystery genre. Here we include a story in epic verse by John F. Dobbyn and poems by James Sallis, Stephen D. Rogers, Kevin Mims, Marilyn Todd, John V. Mercurio, K.D. Hart, and Diane Yetman, read by the authors, EQMM Managing Editor Jackie Sherbow, and actor Mandie Davis.https://www.johndobbyn.comhttp://www.jamessallis.comhttps://www.stephendrogers.comhttp://www.marilyntodd.comhttps://www.jackiesherbow.com

A former attorney for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, V.S. Kemanis often writes fiction with legal themes. That’s true of the first of her three stories for EQMM, which she reads for this podcast. The author has five collections of short stories in print, including the Eric Hoffer Award-winning volume Your Pick: Selected Stories. She’s also the author of the Dana Hargrove novels. Here she is reading her story “Collector’s Find,” from our September/October 2013 issue.https://www.vskemanis.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

This month’s podcast episode features “Father of the Corpse” by Department of First Stories author Cecilia Fulton. The author and former prosecutor grew up in California and now lives on the East Coast with her family. Her short stories have appeared in publications by Akashic Books.https://www.fultonstories.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

A story on a very unusual theme is featured in our podcast series this month. Linguist, novelist, and short-story writer Edith Maxwell tells the tale of a hyperpolyglot—someone with an extraordinary ability to quickly learn many different languages—who turns her talent to criminal purposes. The author, a current Agatha Award nominee, is also the reader for this podcast of “One Too Many,” from the current issue (March/April 2020) of EQMM.https://edithmaxwell.comRecorded at Malice Domestic 2019http://malicedomestic.orghttps://www.purple-planet.com

Our selection this month is by one of our genre’s most celebrated critics, Francis M. Nevins, a former law professor who has also authored a number of well-received novels and short stories. For this podcast, the St. Louis author reads his story “Night of Silken Snow” in conjunction with Christine Gilsinan. The story first appeared in the November 1994 issue of EQMM.Thank you to Rae Purdom, Jonathan Grimm, Gene Carroll, and Saint Louis University.Music from www.purple-planet.com

The tale featured this month in EQMM’s podcast series is by an author who was celebrated in 2017 as guest of honor at the Magna Cum Murder mystery conference. Terence Faherty is the author of two popular series of novels, one the Edgar-nominated Owen Keane mysteries, the other the multiple Shamus Award-winning Scott Elliott private eye series. He is also an Edgar-nominated short story writer whose work has often appeared in EQMM. Most recently he has been writing a series of Sherlock Holmes parodies for us. This story, first published in the January/February 2017 EQMM, is one of the entries in that series. It is read here by the author.http://terencefaherty.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Christmas mysteries have appeared regularly in EQMM’s December or January issues over the years. A frequent contributor of those stories is New York Times best-selling author Steve Hockensmith, whose Edgar-nominated Amlingmeyer Brothers series first saw print in our pages. Last year, his EQMM Christmas tale was an entry in the Amlingmeyer Brothers series. Here he is reading that story, entitled “My Christmas Story,” from our January/February 2019 issue.https://www.stevehockensmith.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

A selection from EQMM’s Passport to Crime department is featured in this episode of our podcast series. Dutch writer René Appel is a two-time winner of the Golden Noose Award for best crime novel—the Dutch equivalent of the U.S.’s Edgar Allan Poe Award. He has written or cowritten several stories for EQMM. His translator and sometime collaborator is frequent EQMM contributor Josh Pachter, whom you’ll hear as reader for this podcast of “Red-Handed” by René Appel (from the December 2014 EQMM).https://www.reneappel.nlhttp://joshpachter.comhttp://purple-planet.com

In this episode of our podcast series we provide listeners with the opportunity to hear a story that is currently nominated for a major award in the mystery field. The Macavity Awards, sponsored by Mystery Readers International, will be presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Dallas, Texas (which runs from October 31 to November 3). In the short-story category, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story writer Craig Faustus Buck is nominated for “Race to Judgment,” first published in EQMM’s November/December 2018 issue. He read the story for us from his home in Southern California.http://craigfaustusbuck.comhttps://www.bouchercon2019.comhttps://mysteryreaders.org

An short-story writer whose many honors include the 2019 Agatha Award for best short story, Tara Laskowski will debut as a novelist next month with a thriller that has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. For this installment in our podcast series she reads her story from the Black Mask Department of EQMM’s July/August 2019 issue, “The Long-Term Tenant."http://taralaskowski.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Author of well over 1,000 published short stories, Michael Bracken is possibly the most prolific short-story writer currently working in the mystery genre. He has won two Derringer Awards from the Short Mystery Fiction Society and is a recipient of the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer Award for lifetime achievement in short mystery fiction. “Oystermen,” which the author read for us at the Malice Domestic Convention in Maryland this past spring, is in the current issue of EQMM, July/August 2019.http://www.crimefictionwriter.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

Josh Pachter took second place in the EQMM Readers Award competition for 2018 with a story that commemorates his EQMM debut of fifty years earlier. Author of more than 100 published stories in the half century between his debut at the age of 17 and the publication of his 50th-anniversary tale, the author is equally well known to EQMM readers as a translator for our Passport to Crime department. Here he is reading his story “50” from the November/December 2018 issue of EQMM. If you have not already listened to it, you can find his first story, “E. Q. Griffen Earns His Name,” as episode 109 in this podcast series.http://joshpachter.com

David Dean took third place in the EQMM Readers Award voting for 2018. The former chief of police has been writing fiction for nearly thirty years and recently sold his fiftieth short story to EQMM. He has been nominated for nearly every major award in the field and is a past winner of the EQMM Readers Award. Here is the scroll-winning story “Sofee” by David Dean, read by the author.

Stacy Woodson, the most recent winner of the EQMM Readers Award, made her fiction debut in EQMM’s Department of First Stories in the November/December 2018 issue. That debut story is only the second first story in the thirty-four years of Readers Award history to take first place. While in New York City for the awards ceremony last month, the Washington D.C. area author read her winning tale for this podcast.http://stacywoodson.comhttps://www.purple-planet.com

One of the current nominees for the Malice Domestic Convention’s Agatha Awards (winners to be determined in May), our featured story this month is set at a most unusual Thanksgiving dinner. Author Barb Goffman’s many previous honors include the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards. Here she is reading “Bug Appétit,” her EQMM debut, from our November/December 2018 issue.http://www.barbgoffman.com

Currently nominated for both the MWA’s Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Malice Domestic Convention’s Agatha Award for best short story, our selection this month is by Art Taylor, who debuted in EQMM’s Department of First Stories in 1995 and has become a star in the field of the mystery and crime short story. Here he is reading “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” from the July/August 2018 EQMM. Both the author and EQMM wish to thank several staff members from the English Department at George Mason University, where Art Taylor teaches, for their assistance in this reading: Mary Baldwin (a linguist), Lisa DesRochers-Short (a poet), and Jay Patel (a fiction writer)—and the reader of the story’s final section, Madison Gaines, Class of 2021, who’s pursuing a dual concentration in fiction and poetry in Mason’s BFA Program in Creative Writing.http://www.arttaylorwriter.comhttp://malicedomestic.orghttp://theedgars.comhttps://www2.gmu.edu

A tale from Edgar nominee John Lantigua’s popular Willie Cuesta private eye series is featured in this episode of our podcast series. Readers are sure to enjoy this intriguing case, set in Miami’s Little Havana. Here is “The Cuban Prisoner” by John Lantigua, originally published in the September/October 2018 issue of EQMM and read for us by professional actor and voiceover artist Carlos Alayeto.http://johnlantigua.com

Teresa Solana received a nomination for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for her first contribution to EQMM, “Still Life No. 41.” The story was translated from Catalan by her husband, Peter Bush, and was featured in EQMM’s Passport to Crime department in March/April 2012. Reading that celebrated story for this podcast is EQMM’s associate editor, Jackie Sherbow. The tale is also included in a new digital anthology co-edited by Emily Hockaday and Jackie Sherbow, entitled Terror at the Crossroads: Tales of Horror, Delusion, and the Unknown.https://www.bitterlemonpress.com/blogs/authors/19585859-teresa-solanahttp://www.elleryqueenmysterymagazine.com/terror-at-the-crossroads-tales-of-horror-delusion-and-the-unknown/https://www.purple-planet.com

Edgar Allan Poe Award winner John Morgan Wilson has been contributing short stories to EQMM since 2003. Many listeners will know his long fiction, which includes the Benjamin Justice mystery series and several novels cowritten with band leader Peter Duchin. The California author’s short stories range from suspense to the classical whodunit. For this podcast he chose to read his twisty tale “Edward at the Edge,” from the January 2005 issue of EQMM.

This month’s podcast takes us back to 1968 and the debut of one of EQMM’s youngest contributors ever, Josh Pachter. At the age of sixteen the budding author and Ellery Queen fan produced this story, which saw print in EQMM's December 1968 issue, in the Department of First Stories. This month marks the fiftieth anniversary of that issue going on sale. In the ensuing years Josh Pachter has produced dozens of other distinguished short stories and collaborative works, as well as crime-fiction translations. To celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of his EQMM debut, a new story featuring the central character of this tale, Ellery Queen Griffen, appears in our current issue, November/December 2018, and the author has recorded for our podcast this reading of “E.Q. Griffen Earns His Name."http://joshpachter.comhttps://www.free-stock-music.com

Our selection this month is by a writer who debuted in EQMM and has gone on to have work chosen for the yearly Best American Mystery Stories anthology and to appear again in EQMM and other publications, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. Here is Chris Muessig reading his story “Bias,” from the July 2009 issue of EQMM.Dramatic Interlude by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.comMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comAttribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

EQMM’s famous Department of First Stories is the source for this month’s podcast. The debut story, which appears in EQMM’s current issue, takes us into the life of a new writer who enjoys success, but at a cost. Author Nancy Novick, a medical writer, editor, and writing instructor, came to EQMM’s offices to do this recording of her story “How Does He Die This Time?” from the September/October 2018 EQMM.https://nancynovick.comImpatience by Punch Deck | https://soundcloud.com/punch-deckMusic promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com

At the Malice Domestic convention in Bethesda, Maryland, this past spring, EQMM had the pleasure of recording Shelly Dickson Carr, author of the award-winning YA novel “Ripped,” reading a story by her grandfather, the great Golden Age mystery writer John Dickson Carr. The most celebrated master of the “locked room” mystery, John Dickson Carr contributed both fiction and book reviews to EQMM. His April 1950 story “The Gentleman From Paris" was one of the winners of EQMM’s Worldwide Short Story Contests.www.ripped-book.com

A tale from EQMM’s Black Mask department is featured in this month’s podcast. We caught up with Con Lehane, author of two popular mystery series, at this year’s Malice Domestic convention in Bethesda, Maryland, where he did this reading of his September/October 2017 EQMM story “Come Back, Paddy Reilly”—a classic noir tale of a flawed character caught in an unresolvable dilemma.http://conlehane.com

This month we feature an Ellery Queen pastiche by Dale C. Andrews. The third entry in a series begun on the heels of the Ellery Queen Centenary Symposium at Columbia University in 2005, the story brings an elderly Ellery Queen, still at the height of his deductive powers, out of retirement. The first story in this series earned an EQMM Readers Award scroll and a nomination for the Barry Award. Here is Dale Andrews reading his story “Literally Dead,” from the December 2013 issue of EQMM.http://wildsidepress.com/the-misadventures-of-ellery-queen-edited-by-josh-pachter-dale-c-andrews-paperback/http://queen.spaceports.com

Award-winning financial journalist Larry Light is also the author of three novels, two starring financial reporter Karen Glick. This year he made his EQMM debut with the story he reads for this episode in our podcast series, "Dysperception," from the January/February 2018 issue of EQMM.http://www.lawrencelight.com

Last month a long-awaited anthology of Ellery Queen pastiches and parodies entitled The Misadventures of Ellery Queen was released by Wildside Press. Most of the stories it contains were first published in EQMM. To celebrate the book’s publication we decided to have one of the stories recorded for this podcast series. Here is Darcy Bearman, Dell Magazines’ manager for social-media marketing, reading “The Gilbert and Sullivan Clue” by Jon L. Breen, first published in EQMM September/October 1999.

Canadian author Rob Brunet, a creative-writing instructor and cohost of Noir at the Bar Toronto, joins us in this episode in our podcast series. His evocative short stories, often set in the Kawarthas, have been appearing in EQMM since 2015. Here he is reading his story “Skinny’s Beach,” from the February 2016 issue of EQMM.http://www.robbrunet.com

Our selection this month is from the work of Jack Fredrickson, creator of the Dek Elstrom private eye series. The author made his fiction debut in EQMM’s Department of First Stories in 2002. We caught up with him at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Toronto, Canada in 2017, where he read his story “For the Jingle,” from the May 2009 issue of EQMM, for this podcast.

This month EQMM is making simultaneously available in print and audio podcast a Department of First Stories tale by Boston writer Edwin Hill. The author has also posted some reflections about his EQMM story, the upcoming publication of his first novel, and the editorial process on EQMM’s blog at www.somethingisgoingtohappen.net. A longtime editor, and the current vice president and editorial director for Bedford/St. Martin’s, his remarks should be of interest to many, especially writers. EQMM caught up to Edwin Hill at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Toronto, Canada, in 2017, where he recorded this podcast for us. Here he is reading “White Tights and Mary Janes,” from the January/February 2018 issue of EQMM.https://www.edwin-hill.com

2017’s Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Toronto, Canada had an international theme and drew writers from around the globe. One of those writers was Iceland’s Ragnar Jónasson, whose novels have made their way onto bestseller lists around the world in recent years. While at Bouchercon, EQMM had the pleasure of recording the author for our podcast series. Here he is reading his tale “A Letter to Santa,” originally published in the January 2015 issue of EQMM.http://ragnar-jonasson.squarespace.com

At the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Toronto, in mid October of this year, 1,700 authors and fans gathered from around the globe. U.K. writer Christine Poulson, author of the Cassandra James mysteries and the stand-alone thrillers Invisible and Cold, Cold Heart, attended and recorded her story “Roller-Coaster Ride,” from the December 2014 EQMM, for this podcast.http://www.christinepoulson.co.uk/

Our selection this month is from EQMM’s Passport to Crime department, which features stories in translation from around the world. Paul Halter is a bestselling author in his native France, and more of his work is becoming available in English, chiefly through the publisher Locked Room International. “The Wolf of Fenrir,” which first appeared in English in EQMM’s March/April 2015 issue, was translated by John Pugmire, who shares a few thoughts about Halter’s work prior to EQMM associate editor Jackie Sherbow’s reading of the story.http://lockedroominternational.comhttps://twitter.com/johnpugmire

One of EQMM’s most famous features is the Department of First Stories. Over the decades, many important authors in the field have debuted there. This month we present a story from that department. “Just Below the Surface” by Robert Shepherd appeared in the March/April 2017 EQMM. Here is the Michigan author reading his first published fiction.

Agatha Award winner G.M. Malliet has penned two critically acclaimed series of traditional mystery novels. An American who currently lives in the Washington D. C. area, she traveled widely growing up, and almost always chooses British settings for her fiction. Here she is reading her story “The Oxford Tarts,” from the March/April 2017 EQMM.http://gmmalliet.com

In EQMM’s June 2015 issue, Helena Edwards made her fiction debut with a story that had previously been short-listed for the Margery Allingham Short Story Competition, sponsored by Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association. Here she is reading that memorable first story, “If Anything Happens to Me.”

Department of First Stories author E. Gabriel Flores reads her debut tale, “The Truth of the Moment,” for this episode in our podcast series. The story won the 2016 Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for best short story by a new American author. It was first published in the December 2016 issue of EQMM.http://merenguemysteries.com/

This month we’re delighted to present a reading by author Paul D. Marks of the most recent winner of the EQMM Readers Award, his tale “Ghosts of Bunker Hill,” published in the December 2016 EQMM. A native of Los Angeles, Paul Marks evokes that city’s history hauntingly in this story, the first in a series featuring private eye Howard Hamm.www.pauldmarks.com

This month’s episode is from the private-eye genre, the second in a series of stories featuring an offbeat former newspaper reporter turned P.I. The author, Peter Hochstein, is himself a former newspaper reporter who has had a number of novels published under various pseudonyms. Here is Peter Hochstein reading his darkly humorous tale “The Client, the Cat, the Wife, and the Autopsy,” from our January/February 2017 issue.http://peterhochstein.com/

Our selection this month is a clever script from The Adventures of Ellery Queen radio series of the late 1930s and the 1940s. “The Adventure of the Man Who Could Double the Size of Diamonds” (which was reprinted in EQMM in May 1943 and August 2005) is read here by Mark Lagasse.

Novelist and short-story writer Marilyn Todd has been contributing to EQMM since 2000, when she appeared in our May issue with the first short story in her series of mysteries set in Ancient Rome. She has since become one of EQMM’s most prolific and popular contributors, sending us stories from a variety of different time periods, including a few, like the one we feature this month, that are set near our own time. “The Old Man and the Seashore” by Marilyn Todd, from the January 2016 EQMM, is read for this podcast by Mandie Davis.http://www.marilyntodd.com

Writer and reviewer Steve Steinbock is best known for his criticism in the mystery field; EQMM readers are sure to have read his numerous special-feature articles and interviews for us, as well as “The Jury Box” book-review column, where he has been at the helm since 2011. Steve is also an author of fiction, having debuted in our Department of First Stories in the March/April 2010 issue. The author reads that first story, “Cleaning Up,” in our first podcast of the new year.

Throughout 2016 Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine has been celebrating its 75th anniversary. This last recording for 2016 is particularly appropriate for an anniversary celebration. Harry Kemelman is one of a number of notable authors who got their start in the pages of EQMM. The creator of the bestselling Rabbi David Small series, his work first appeared in print in the April 1947 issue of EQMM. He had entered the magazine’s second annual worldwide short story contest, and was awarded, along with two other new writers, a special prize, along with publication of his story. Reading that first, award-winning Kemelman story, “The Nine Mile Walk,” for this podcast is EQMM’s book reviewer, Steve Steinbock. www.themysteryplace.com/eqmm

Part 4 of EQMM’s 75th-Anniversary Symposium, recorded at Columbia University’s Butler Library on September 30, 2016. Joyce Carol Oates reads from her story "Big Momma" from the March/April 2016 issue of EQMM. Janet Hutchings, Jennifer B. Lee, and Sean Quimby offer closing remarks. Audio and video by Ché Ryback. On September 30, 2016, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Columbia University’s Butler Library celebrated the magazine’s 75th anniversary with a half-day symposium. This symposium will be presented here in four parts. For more information on the symposium, the anniversary, and the EQMM exhibition, please visit TheMysteryPlace.com/eqmm.

Part 3 of EQMM’s 75th-Anniversary Symposium, recorded at Columbia University’s Butler Library on September 30, 2016. Panel: EQMM's Editors at Work. Featuring Russell Atwood, Otto Penzler, Josh Pachter, and Joseph Goodrich (moderator). Audio and video by Ché Ryback. On September 30, 2016, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Columbia University’s Butler Library celebrated the magazine’s 75th anniversary with a half-day symposium. This symposium will be presented here in four parts. For more information on the symposium, the anniversary, and the EQMM exhibition, please visit TheMysteryPlace.com/eqmm.

Part 2 of EQMM’s 75th-Anniversary Symposium, recorded at Columbia University’s Butler Library on September 30, 2016. Panel: A Brush With Death: Crime Fiction Cover Art and Illustration from the Pulps to the Present. Featuring Janet Salter Rosenberg, Laurie Harden, Tom Roberts, and Jonathan Santlofer (moderator). Audio and video by Ché Ryback.On September 30, 2016, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Columbia University’s Butler Library celebrated the magazine’s 75th anniversary with a half-day symposium. This symposium will be presented here in four parts. For more information on the symposium, the anniversary, and the EQMM exhibition, please visit TheMysteryPlace.com/eqmm.

On September 30, 2016, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and Columbia University’s Butler Library celebrated the magazine’s 75th anniversary with a half-day symposium. This symposium will be presented here in four parts. For more information on the symposium, the anniversary, and the EQMM exhibition, please visit TheMysteryPlace.com/eqmm.Part 1 of EQMM’s 75th-Anniversary Symposium, recorded at Columbia University’s Butler Library on September 30, 2016. Introduction by Sean Quimby; panel "Making Mystery Matter: EQMM and the Shaping of American Crime and Detective Fiction," featuring Sarah Weinman, Leah Pennywark, Jeffrey Marks, and Charles Ardai. Audio and video by Ché Ryback.

Actor, short-story writer, poet, and Edgar Award winning playwright Joseph Goodrich helped EQMM celebrate its 75th anniversary with a story featuring EQMM founding editor Frederic Dannay and his friend and fellow writer Dashiell Hammett. Published in the August 2016 EQMM, “The Ten-Cent Murder” is read by the author for this podcast.

This month we feature one of the stories that won EQMM’s Readers Award for 2015, “Rizzo’s Good Cop.” Its author, Lou Manfredo, is known for the authenticity of his crime fiction. The story, from his series featuring Brooklyn cop Joe Rizzo, was first published in the December 2015 EQMM and is read for us by the author.www.loumanfredo.com

Novelist and short-story writer Brendan DuBois has been contributing to EQMM for twenty years. He is a master at evoking the undercurrents to small-town life, and in 2015 he came in second in EQMM's annual Readers Award competition for just such a story. Here he is reading “The Lake Tenant” (EQMM November 2015), his winning story.www.brendandubois.com

A Department of First Stories tale is featured in this month’s episode in our podcast series. And it’s one that went on to win the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for best short story by a new American author. Russell W. Johnson is a North Carolina lawyer who writes in his spare time; he has already shown a great mastery of plot and misdirection. On a recent trip to New York City, he made this recording.

In the March/April 2016 issue, EQMM’s Passport to Crime Department featured “The Lighthouse” by Belgian writer Hilde Vandermeeren. The winner of a number of awards for her fiction, including the Hercule Poirot Public Award, Hilde Vandermeeren was a practicing psychologist before turning full time to fiction writing, and that background shows in this tale of psychological suspense, which is read by the story’s translator, Josh Pachter.hildevandermeeren.com/english

EQMM has unearthed another episode in the series of Edward D. Hoch radio plays our listeners have enjoyed over the past several years. Based on the series character Dr. Sam Hawthorne, these dramatizations are the work of radioman Dave Amaral and were originally recorded in the 1970s. In this case, the New England country doctor must solve a murder in a house that appears to be haunted. “The Problem of the Whispering House” was first published in EQMM in April, 1979.

This month we feature “The Adventure of the Seven Black Cats” by Ellery Queen, reprinted in EQMM’s January 2016 issue, and originally published in the 1934 short-story collection The Adventures of Ellery Queen. This ingenious whodunit by one of the bestselling mystery writers of all time is read for us by Mark Lagasse.

Screenwriter and novelist Paul D. Marks is also the author of more than thirty published short stories. His EQMM debut was the story "Howling at the Moon" (EQMM November 2014), a tale that went on to garner nominations for both the Macavity and Anthony awards for best short story. This recording of the California author reading his celebrated story was made at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015.www.pauldmarks.com

A gifted writer who got her start in EQMM's Department of First Stories in 2001, Laura Benedict read her story "The Erstwhile Groom" (EQMM September/October 2007) for our podcast series while attending the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention in Raleigh, North Carolina in September of 2015. She is the author of several highly acclaimed novels of dark suspense, including 2015's Charlotte's Story, and she has a new story coming up in EQMM's July 2016 issue. www.laurabenedict.com

The series of Edward D. Hoch radio plays that EQMM has been running intermittently over the past several years concludes with this episode. Based on Hoch stories that originally appeared in EQMM, starring series character Dr. Sam Hawthorne, the plays were produced and recorded by radioman Dave Amaral in the 1970s. In this case, adapted from the January 1977 EQMM story “The Problem of the Church Steeple,” Dr. Sam must find the explanation for a murder in a church steeple on Christmas Day.

A story from EQMM’s Passport to Crime series is featured this month. Belgium’s Bavo Dhooge is a winner of the Dutch Crime Writer’s Association’s Shadow Prize, the Flemish Crime Writer’s Association’s Diamond Bullet Award, and the Hercule Poirot Award. His story “Stinking Plaster” appeared in the September/October 2011 issue of EQMM. It is read for this podcast by Josh Pachter, who translated the story into English for its publication in EQMM.

Our series of Ed Hoch radio plays, produced by Dave Amaral in the 1970s and made available to the public for the first time as EQMM podcasts, is nearing an end. This penultimate episode (in our ordering of the plays) centers around a July Fourth celebration and contains typically brilliant puzzle construction by the most important classical mystery short-story writer of the nineteen sixties through most of the first decade of the twenty-first century. “The Problem of the Haunted Bandstand” first appeared in the January, 1976 issue of EQMM.

Tim L. Williams returns to our podcast series this month with a reading of his 2014 International Thriller Award winning story “The Last Wrestling Bear in West Kentucky,” which first appeared in EQMM’s September/October 2014 issue and has since been reprinted in a collection of his stories entitled Skull Fragments. His previous podcast for this series is episode 60’s “Where That Morning Sun Goes Down.”http://www.newpulppress.com/bookpage/skullfragments.html

Join us this month for a story set in 1980s Bahrain. Part of a series begun in EQMM in 1984, "The Night of Power" (EQMM September 1986) has recently been republished in the collection The Tree of Life (Wildside Press). It is read for us here by the author, Josh Pachter, a frequent contributor of fiction and translations to our magazine.http://joshpachter.com/

Lauren James’s first work of fiction, "Getaway Girl," appeared in EQMM’s November 2014 issue under the pseudonym Zoë Z. Dean and went on to win the Robert L. Fish Award for best short story by a new American author. Here she is reading her award-winning debut story. zoezdean.wordpress.com

This month’s selection, from EQMM’s Passport to Crime department, is a story in translation. “Checkmate in Chimbote” by Belgium’s Bob Laerhoven, past winner of the Hercule Poirot Prize, is read by his translator, Josh Pachter. The story first appeared in English in EQMM’s June 2014 issue.https://twitter.com/bobvanlaerhovenhttp://joshpachter.com/

Marilyn Todd is known to historical mystery fans primarily for her series of novels and stories set in Ancient Rome, starring wine merchant Claudia Seferius, and for a second series set in Ancient Greece, starring High Priestess Iliona. But she often tackles more modern historical periods in her short stories. “The Wickedest Town in the West” (EQMM June 2013), which was one of the winners of the 2013 EQMM Readers Awards, is read here by actor Mandie Davis ([email protected]).http://www.marilyntodd.com/

Join us this month for a story by Ellery Queen, founder of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and one of the best selling mystery writers of all time. "The Adventure of 'The Two-Headed Dog'" was collected in the 1934 volume The Adventures of Ellery Queen. The story is read by Mark Lagasse.

The series of Edward D. Hoch radio plays we’ve been running intermittently for several years (produced in the 1970s by Dave Amaral) continues this month with a story that not only features a locked room but an escape artist bound and chained at the center of it. Edward D. Hoch, who died in 2008, was the modern master of the locked-room, and, as is notable in this story, a writer able to recreate convincingly time periods other than our own.