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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 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"
Whatever Happened to Elise De Viane? On The Mystery Woman in Dashiell Hammett’s 1931 Sexual Assault Case
90 years later, few know the story of Hammett's friend-turned-victim, who won a substantial settlement against the author after a violent sexual assault.
The Amazing Tale of Fergus Hume and William Freeman; or, the Critic’s Comeuppance
Critic William Freeman despised the mediocre mysteries of Fergus Hume. But was bad writing all there was to his enduring hatred?
The Actress, the Steward and the Ocean Liner: What Really Happened in Cabin 126?
In 1947, Gay Gibson boarded the Durban Castle. By the end of the voyage, she would be dead at the hands of a crew member. And soon enough, her life and death would make their way into the pulps.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Murder: A Roadside Killing and The Novel That Captured an Era
On Nevada’s 1940 "One-Cent Hitchhiker Slaying"
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