Home Articles posted by Curtis Evans
Curtis Evans
Curtis Evans is the author of Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery and The Spectrum of English Murder and the editor of Clues and Corpses: The Detective Fiction and Mystery Criticism of Todd Downing, Mysteries Unlocked: Essays in Honor of Douglas G. Greene and the Edgar nominated Murder in the Closet: Queer Clues in Crime Fiction Before Stonewall. He blogs at The Passing Tramp.
The Creative Life and Death of Bruce Montgomery, aka Edmund Crispin
Music composer by day, crime writer by night, bon vivant in his youth, and reclusive alcoholic in his twilight...
Milton Propper: Scion and Imitator of the Golden Age Mystery, Pioneer of the Procedural
Was Milton Propper's writing politically conservative, New Deal liberal, or simply in imitation of his peers?
Death Goes Drag: How the Queer Experiences of Mystery Writers Rufus King and Clifford Orr Influenced Their Golden Age Detective Fiction
Skilled at switching gender roles in masquerade, King and Orr translated their college drag experiences into queer-coded fiction.
The Charming Mid-Century Murder Mysteries and Rich Interior Life of Edith Howie
Howie's sleuths in her well-received proto-cozy crime novels always ended up together, but she herself stayed proudly single.
The Life and Times of John Street, aka John Rhode, aka Vintage Mystery’s Master of Murder Means
Through decades and hundreds of novels, the man was never at a loss for a good plot.
Do People Really Know What They Think They Know about Cornell Woolrich?
Biographies have characterized Cornell Woolrich as a self-hating gay man who mistreated women and was far too close to his mother. The truth is much more complicated.
Making Good out of Murder: On Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, Crime Reporters and Crime Writers
In the 1930s, crime reporters and spouses Bristow and Manning turned their New Orleans crime beat into fertile fodder for fiction.
The Detection Club and the Mid-Century Fight over “Fair Play” in Crime Fiction
While the club clung to pure detection as a prerequisite for admission, members' own tastes were far more divided.
Florence Rush and the Providence White Slavers
The profitable panic that inspired both journalists and crime writers to focus on the (extremely exaggerated) crisis of "white slavery"
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