Ho - Ho - Bang!

TO GET YOU in the Christmas mood, here are a few holiday-themed stories that have proven popular with ONTOS readers:

(1) "Santa Thumbs a Ride" by Johnston McCulley (HERE). This one drifts into "impossible crime" territory.

(2) "Death Plays Santa Claus" also by Johnston McCulley (HERE). Interesting how Nero Wolfe's creator had the same idea.

(3) "The Scorpion's Thumb" by Ellery Queen (HERE). A story that started life as a radio play.

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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UPDATE: Daniel F. Galouye's "Kangaroo Court"

Added six more links to the list of stories collected as The Last Leap and Other Stories of the Super-Mind in Resources (HERE).

"It Was His Heart, All Right. There's a Knife Stuck in It!"

"Murder and Matilda."

By Fredric Brown (1906-72; FictionMags HERE; GAD Wiki HERE).

First appearance: Mystery Book Magazine, Summer 1949.

Collected in Three-Corpse Parlay (1988).

Short short story (7 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 137).

 

   "If you got to have a murder, go find one."

From time immemorial men have been underestimating women, and always to their regret. It will take a huge dose of feminine logic to sort out how and why a body found lying on a kitchen floor isn't the open-and-shut case it appears to be . . .

Main characters:

~ Hank Wheeler:

  "You wouldn't catch Olin slipping up on something that costs him fifteen cents a day. He'd have left me a note."

~ Olin Pearce:

  ". . . there was a knife sticking up out of his chest, or rather the handle of one. The blade was all the way in."

~ Joe Pearce:

  "Nobody in town liked Olin, and nobody but his brother had any reason to kill him."

~ Matilda Jones:

  "I opened my mouth to say sixteen, but Matilda jumped in. I mean in the conversation, not in my mouth, but she couldn't have surprised me any more if she had."

~ Andy (no last name):

  "What worries me is those detective stories she always reads."

~ Harry Wilks:

  "Trouble is, Andy, you're afraid of her."

~ Billie and Bessie Lang:

  ". . . I remembered what they'd said about seeing somebody carrying a body out of the woods and toward Olin's house, three days ago."

~ Doc Breneman:

  ". . . took a look and a sniff and agreed that three days were likely enough."

Resource:

- Our last contact with Fredric Brown was his story about "The Wicked Flea" (HERE).

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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UPDATE: Edward W. Ludwig's "Slay Bells for Santa"

Traded out Pulpgen link for The Luminist Archives (HERE).

UPDATE: Rex Stout's "The Christmas-Party Murder"

Swapped out the old Thrilling Detective link for the new one (HERE).

Murder in a Timely Fashion

Both of today's stories are by the same writer and both revolve around one of his favorite themes, the perfect crime: how to scheme and scheme and yet, somehow, fail to get away with it. Time and tide wait for no man, as the saying goes, but it's especially true if that man is someone who goes out of his way to make . . .

"Time for Murder."

By Ray Cummings (1887-1957; FictionMags HERE).

First appearance: Black Book Detective, March 1949.

Short short short story (6 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 99).

   "A murder here in Hammondsville! Holy cats!"

As usual, pride goeth before a busted play: "There would be no danger attached because his alibi would be uniquely clever—so clever that no one could ever suspect him. He had planned too carefully for that." Of course he had . . .

Principal characters:

~ Tom Maul:

  He finally sees the light—and wishes he didn't.

~ Clara Joyce:

  Even gripped by hysteria, she helps to solve it.

~ Robert Rance:

  All he did was stand in the way.

~ Sergeant Drake:

  He notices what everyone else overlooks.

References:

- Erle Stanley Gardner first used the title "Time for Murder" for one of his non-Perry Mason novelettes back in 1934. It's online but incomplete.

- "The central electrolier":

  For what an electrolier might be, see how it's used in another Ray Cummings story (HERE).

~ ~ ~

"Time Out for Murder."

By Ray Cummings (1887-1957; FictionMags HERE).

First appearance: The Phantom Detective Magazine, November 1947.

Short short short story (5 pages).

Online at The Luminist Archives (HERE; go to text page 80).

(Note: Faded but readable text.)

   "That's a big, handsome pre-war clock. I heard about one of them bein' peculiar like this, but I never seen it before."

The lesson from this story and the one above should be clear to anyone contemplating murder with a gun: be sure to make the first shot count . . .

Principal characters:

~ Larry Drake:

  "And then Larry flung a furtive glance into the drawer. The pearl-handled automatic was there, his mother's revolver!"

~ John Hutchinson:

  "He figured he was clever [Larry thought], toying with his stepson the way a cat toys with a mouse . . ."

~ Jack Hanning:

  ". . . would remember that he had been here before midnight."

~ Jimmy, the bellhop:

  "This boy was just grand."

~ Sergeant Durkin:

  "Take a look at the electric clock on top of the radio, Drake."

Resources:

- The "perfect crime" (which does have a distant kinship with the locked-room mystery) gets a light once-over on Wikipedia (HERE).

- If you're still thinking about committing the perfect crime, you might want to read (THIS ARTICLE) first.

- Our last session with Ray Cummings was another perfect crime tale, "That Well-Groomed Look" (HERE).

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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UPDATE: Jack Wodhams's "There Is a Crooked Man"

Added The Luminist Archives story link (HERE).