(1) "Poison Trail."
By Herbert Harris (1911-95; ISFDb HERE).
First appearance: The Saint Detective Magazine, June 1955.
Short short short story (3 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).
"Who, we asked ourselves, would have a really sound reason for trying to murder Lucy Coleford? She was a woman who swept through life voice first, and she had the very iceberg of a tongue. But homicide doesn’t spring from ordinary dislike—except perhaps in the marital state . . ."
Main characters:
~ Ex-Police Commissioner William Ganley, Lucy Coleford, Elsie, the confectioner, Bertram Coleford, and Nicholas.
Resources:
- According to FictionMags, Herbert Harris's writing career started in 1933 and ran consistently until the 1980s. His detecfic series character was Rod Keever (ss = short story; vi = vignette):
"Murder in Suite 101," (ss) The Evening Standard, June 15, 1956
"Blonde and Gigolo," (ss) The Evening Standard, July 18, 1956
"Top to Bottom," (ss) The Evening Standard, February 11, 1957
"The Mixture as Before," (vi) Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, April 1960
"Strictly Business," (vi) Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine, June 1961.
(2) "The High Cost of Dying."
First appearance: The Saint Detective Magazine, January 1954.
Short short short story (3 pages).
Online at Archive.org (HERE).
"Well, there's something screwy about all this."
Main characters:
~ Charles Elstin, the sales girl, Marlene Caldwell, the typist, and the police officer.
Resources:
- Edwin Baird had a lot to do with magazine editing (Weird Tales, Real Detective Tales) but he still had a prodigious short fiction output starting in 1906; here are his contributions to The Saint (ss = short story; vi = vignette):
"The High Cost of Dying," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, January 1954 (above)
"A Matter of Fifty Bucks," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, March 1954
"A Shrewd Operator," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, September 1954
"Mr. Tuttle Takes a Trip," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, January 1955
"I’ve Nothing Smaller," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, March 1955
"Never a Stool Pigeon," (vi) The Saint Detective Magazine, May 1955
"Too Many Enemies," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, August 1955
"The Inglorious Swindle," (ss) The Saint Detective Magazine, July 1956.
Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.
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