The Professor and the Prisoner: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

In the 1960s, Edgar winner John McAleer didn’t spend his days in a maximum-security prison brooding. Instead, he masterminded a brilliant escape plan using nothing more than a set of typewriter keys.
As McAleer recounted in the Epilogue of his novel Unit Pride, one September morning in 1965, he entered his Boston College office to find on his desk a single letter addressed to him in a boyish scrawl. “Across the first page, in letters red and bold as a cutlass wound, was stamped the single word—CENSERED.” 

The letter writer, William “Billy” Dickson, was serving time in Cedar Junction “Walpole” State Penitentiary—then Massachusetts’s maximum-security prison. How he got there his letter didn’t say.
Billy wrote McAleer with questions about a review McAleer had written for the Boston Globe regarding Theodore Dreiser.  A review, Billy felt the need to add, that he’d “retrieved from a wastebasket.”

McAleer thought Billy’s questions were worthy of response, so, slipping on his professor’s cap, McAleer answered them in detail. The professor’s response would ignite a 1,200-letter correspondence between professor and prisoner. 

“I had no idea,” McAleer wrote, “what its implications would be for Billy. Into the dark well that he inhabited someone had lowered a rope’s end. He grabbed hold of it and held on as though his life depended on it, as, in fact, it probably did.”

Edgar winner & Boston College Professor John McAleer with Korean War combat veteran William “Billy” Dickson. McAleer & Dickson wrote UNIT PRIDE while Dickson was serving a 30-year bid for bank robbery.

McAleer never asked Billy why he was doing time. Instead, he sent Billy lists of books he should read—Crime and Punishment, Moll Flanders, Pepy’s Diary. “Billy,” McAleer noted, “took in information like a sea sponge takes in moisture.”

At the end of three months Billy came clean about his incarceration. He was convicted of bank robbery, took a hostage, and was now doing a 30-year bid. As it turned out, the bank teller he held up was McAleer’s sister-in-law and this writer’s aunt, Alice. In any event, if Billy thought bank robbery was his calling, he couldn’t have been more mistaken.  

In 2007, at age 91, Alice still recalled the botched hold-up in vivid detail. “I remember he [Billy] slid me a note,” she said, “and I slid it back to him because I thought it was a slip to open a new account and I didn’t handle that. Then he slid it back to me and I thought he was being fresh, so I slid it back to him again.  He was a lousy bank robber.”

Despite the “Alice” connection, McAleer continued the correspondence and began visiting Billy in prison. Upon learning that Billy, at age 17, served front-line duty in Korea, McAleer—a WWII-veteran—encouraged Billy to write about his wartime experiences. Having seen so many lives torn and shattered in WWII, McAleer saw Billy as a troubled veteran, who, like so many others, found it difficult to adjust.
McAleer critiqued his new student’s initial writing attempt.

“Billy’s first ‘chapter’ reached me a week later…. It was ungrammatical, wooden abrupt…. Yet the picture was not altogether bleak. His dialogue…was honest in its thrust. His pace was brisk. His capacity for serving up incidents both unusual and exciting showed promise…  Most striking of all was the evidence that Billy had total recall.”

McAleer outside his Carney Hall-Boston College office circa 1980s.

The co-writers met regularly at Walpole Prison. In a fifteen-month period from March 1966 and June 1967, they had produced a 1000-page manuscript they could call a novel. The accomplishment came with a price, however; “prison life” changed McAleer.

 “Unwittingly, I came to share some of [Billy’s] attitudes, finding myself, for example, as mistrustful of the screws (the guards) at the prison as he was. I suspect they knew it, too. Because they always frisked me thoroughly when I came to call. They never found any contraband on me, however, because the only thing I was smuggling was ideas.”

The freshly typed manuscript titled, The Platoon, became the tool McAleer used to loosen the parole board’s grip. Impressed with Billy’s rehabilitation, parole released him in time to stand in as this writer’s godfather in August 1967.

Billy (whose marriage survived his incarceration) would go on to have another son and attend his daughter’s wedding in 1973. McAleer recalled the occasion, “Billy grabbed my arm as we sat there talking in the waning hours of the reception. ‘You’re my best friend,’ he said, ‘I want you to know that.’ I knew also that it meant a hell of a lot for him to say that…. Seven months later Billy was dead—stabbed to death by a disgruntled employee of his cleaning business. Only one newspaper took notice—fives lines under the caption ‘Ex-Con Slain.’ Seven years of going straight didn’t matter.”

McAleer went on about his fellow veteran, “At the cemetery an American flag draped Billy’s coffin and they played taps over his grave. It never sounded lonelier. His country at least remembered him as a man who got blown up, machine-gunned, and bayoneted…and not a one-shot bank robber who spent eleven years in prison paying for his mistake.”  

So tragic was Billy’s death that it wasn’t until 1978 that McAleer could pick up the manuscript again and only did so at the behest of Billy’s widow.

McAleer reflected, “Although Billy wasn’t there to hold me in check or spur me on, in effect I made no move without consulting him. Would Billy like this? Would he have my ass for that?”  
After a 450-page trim and title change, Unit Pride was released in 1981 (Doubleday & Bantam). The Ontario Globe credited it as the definitive novel of the Korean War and Best Sellers as one of the most harrowing depictions of the horrors of war ever written. 

Mission completed, McAleer looked back on that September morning in 1965, when he first learned of a man named Billy Dickson.

“At last I rested from labors begun fifteen years earlier when a man in prison pulled me out of a wastebasket, like a rabbit out of a hat. Would I have written that review had I known all that would have become of it? I like to think so. It’s weird, I admit, but I like saying yes to life. It’s more interesting that way.” 

***

 
Andrew McAleer is the best-selling author of the Detective Henry von Stray classic British crime series created by Edgar winner John McAleer. Von Stray’s adventures appear in A Casebook of Crime Volume One. A second von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime Volume Two, is scheduled for release in March 2026 (Level Best Books). Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. Visit the Henry von Stray Museum of Criminal Artifacts at:  www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com
 
  

REMEMBERING GOLDEN AGE OF DETECTION PIONEERING AUTHOR R. AUSTIN FREEMAN: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

British mystery author Dr. Richard Austin Freeman was born in Soho, London on April 11, 1862. He died in Gravesend, Kent on September 28, 1943. Dr. Freeman is largely remembered for his Dr. John Thorndyke mysteries published under the name “R. Austin Freeman."  

The Oxford Companion to Crime, & Mystery Writing praises Thorndyke’s creator as: “[T]he creator of Dr. John Thorndyke, detective fiction’s foremost medico-legal expert…. Thorndyke made his first full-fledged appearance in The Red Thumb Mark (1907), the book extolled by Howard Haycraft as ‘[O]ne of the undisputed milestones of the genre.’” (The final Thorndyke tale was, The Jacob Street Mystery [1942]).

In his superbly edited volume, Blood on the Tracks, Martin Edwards, the longest-serving Chair of the Crime Writer’s Association and a British Library Crime Classics consultant, says of Freeman, “[He] was, like Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Eustace, a doctor who achieved greater fame as a crime writer than a medical practitioner.” Further, when discussing Freeman’s mystery, “The Case of Oscar Brodski,” Martin notes that this Freeman mystery is widely recognized as the first “inverted” detective story. In these type mysteries readers know everything and the fun is seeing how the unknowing detective pieces together the puzzle. For modern-day crime fiction fans the character of Lieutenant Columbo likely comes to mind.      

In 1976, recognizing Freeman’s invaluable contributions to the mystery genre, Thorndyke, an enthusiast Philip T. Asdell created and edited a magazine called, The Thorndyke File. In 1981, at Asdell’s request, editorial duties transferred to my father, John McAleer.

The following interview excerpts between my father and Dr. Freeman’s domestic helper, Mrs. Ethel Baldock, provide some insights into Freeman’s daily activities. The interview appeared in the Spring,1982, Thorndyke File and the full discussion will appear in a forthcoming Von Stray’s Crimestalker Casebook. (www.henryvonstraymysteries.com)
 
* * * 

 

THE FREEMANS OF THORNDYKE HOUSE
 
An Interview by Edgar Winner John McAleer
 
I [John McAleer] have been successful in locating Ethel Baldock, who, as Ethel Osborne, a girl in her early twenties, worked for Dr. and Mrs. R. Austin Freeman, at their home, “Rosemount,” 94 Windmill Street, Gravesend, Kent, from early 1940 to 1943, and again, after Dr. Freeman’s death, from 1944 to 1946. Mrs. Baldock graciously consented to the following interview:
 
John McAleer:  What were the Freemans like?
 
Ethel Baldock: They were the nicest people I worked for. They were—a very old-fashioned term—real gentlefolk!
 
McAleer: When did Freeman write?
 
Baldock: He wrote when he was what he called a “writing mood,” so far as I know all by hand.
 
McAleer: How were Dr. Freeman’s hearing and eyesight in his last years?
 
Baldock: Both were very good.
 
McAleer: We know little about Mrs. Freeman. What can you tell us?
 
Baldock: She was a very precise lady. Used to talk to me a lot. She was quite small, about five foot three or four. Weight not known, but fairly slim. She read quite a lot. Did beautiful crochet work. And was very thrifty, but—definitely—not mean.
 
McAleer: Did Dr. Freeman keep late hours?
 
Baldock: Being a daily domestic I don’t know what time the Freemans retired, but, when he was well, they were up when I got there, about 7:30 a.m.
 
McAleer: Were there any particular dishes that Dr. Freeman favored?
 
Baldock: During the time I was there—the war years—it was not possible to have very many preferences with food. They did have a glass of sherry every morning and, when I returned after an illness, insisted on my having one. Dr. Freeman also enjoyed his jar of Mazawatte Tea every afternoon.
 
McAleer: I gather that you found the Freemans thoughtful and kind?
 
Baldock: I did, yes. I have a book he gave me for my birthday, in 1940, signed by him—Pontifex, Son & Thorndyke(1931). When I was ill, Dr. Freeman walked to where I lived with a week’s wages, although, at that time, it was not usual to receive wages whilst one was sick. The remarkable thing was, he had to use two walking sticks, as he had been ill himself with rheumatics; his own G.P. (general practitioner) had said he would not be able to walk out again, but he was a very strong-willed person.

* * *

Those interested in learning more about R. Austin Freeman and his quintessential Golden Age Detective Dr. John Thorndyke should visit: Mystery Readers Journal: London Mysteries II, Vol. 41, No. 1 • Spring 2025.
 
Andrew McAleer is the best-selling author of the Detective Henry von Stray classic British crime series created by Edgar winner John McAleer. Von Stray’s adventures appear in A Casebook of Crime Volume One. A second von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime Volume Two, is scheduled for release in March 2026 (Level Best Books). Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. Visit the Henry von Stray Museum of Criminal Artifacts at:  www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com 

A Tell-Tale History of Von Stray’s Crimestalker Casebook by Andrew McAleer

Mystery magazine Crimestalker Casebook was founded in 1997, by Edgar winner John McAleer and best selling mystery author Andrew McAleer. The magazine features original short-short mysteries, articles, interviews, and mystery poetry honoring classic crime fiction figures.

Crimestalker short stories rarely exceed 1,200 words, favor traditional mysteries, and avoid gratuitous sex, gore, and graphic language. In December 2025, Crimestalker released its first issue under its expanded name – Von Stray’s Crimestalker Casebook. Although the magazine hasn’t quite reached its third decade, one could argue it’s been nine decades in the making.

The backstory… 

Crimestalker was born at an unusual time. In 1997, few paper mystery magazines existed and on-line mystery magazines were likewise scarce. Crimestalker was created to give established and new mystery authors another home to publish their work. Over the years we’ve published authors like, Gold & Silver Dagger winner Peter Lovesey, Derringer winner Kris Neri, and Edgar winner Gregory Mcdonald. (Historical Note: Kris Neri’s “My Shadow’s Shadow” was the first story accepted by Crimestalker.)

Crimestalker interviews have been equally impressive: Robert B. Parker, William Link, Margaret McLean, and William G. Tapply. 

Feature articles honoring mystery icons include: Rumpole of the Bailey (this one actually received written praise from Sir John Mortimer himself!), Nero Wolfe, Thorndyke, and even a wonderful piece on Sam Spade by Murder, She Wrote showrunner Tom Sawyer. 

Thanks to the Short Mystery Fiction Society (founded in 1996), Crimestalker has had the honor of being received in the award-winner’s circle taking a Derringer Award and Derringer nomination.

Although irregularly released, Crimestalker published semi-annually. In 2015, I released what I thought would be the last issue. My father had passed away and I was busy knocking in a few boards after an Uncle Sam deployment. Then, the fickle finger of fate struck. 

A mystery story written by my father in the 1930s, “The Case of the Illustrious Baker,” was discovered. The story features London-based detective Henry von Stray and appears in A Casebook of Crime (Level Best Books). Since Henry was created during the Golden Age of Detection—by an author I admire very much—I couldn’t resist the temptation to get the Crimestalker presses rolling again. An expanded magazine name honoring the Golden Age of Detection with the name of a classic detective born during the Golden Age, was in order. Hence, Von Stray’s Crimestalker Casebook.

The comeback issue features brilliant “Golden Age” cover artwork by Level Best Designs and, all new stories from some of today’s top mystery writers, like: Barb Goffman, John M. Floyd, Libby Cudmore, Michael Bracken, Gay Toltl Kinman, Stephen D. Rogers, and Shawn Reilly Simmons. Plus, an interview with Mystery Readers International’s very own Janet A. Rudolph, a stirring tribute to a Golden Age author, and an original clerihew by Edgar winner Art Taylor.

For now, Von Stray’s Crimestalker Casebook submissions are by invitation only. December 2025 Kindle version now available at: www.amazon.com  

For hardcopy information visit: www.henryvonstraymysteries.com and say hello via the contact button. 

*** 

Andrew McAleer is the best-selling author of the Detective Henry von Stray classic British crime series created by Edgar winner John McAleer. Von Stray’s adventures appear in A Casebook of Crime Volume One. A second von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime Volume Two, is scheduled for release in March 2026 (Level Best Books). Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. www.Henryvonstraymysteries.com

How The French Connection Became…The French Connection: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

Years ago while having lunch with Robin Moore, Edgar Award finalist and author of the New York Times number 1 best seller, The French Connection (1969), I mentioned how the book’s “foreign” title has been immortalized as part of the American lexicon. After all, among other entities, there was a “Fence” Connection, French Connection Boutique, and even a French Connection cocktail (Equal parts cognac and amaretto over ice). A shrewd businessman, Robin put his popular international platform to work with books like, The Washington Connection, Moscow Connection, and Terminal Connection. 

Robin told me “The French Connection” title almost didn’t make it to the presses. At the time, circa late 1960s, he had contracted with publishers Little, Brown to write three books. While writing Connection he referred to the work-in-progress as “Dope One” (“Dope Two” would go on to become The Fifth Estate). He turned the “Dope One” manuscript into his publisher as The Patsy Fuca Case intending it only as a working title. 

For months Robin tried unsuccessfully to come up with a proper title, yet couldn’t. Then, at the eleventh-hour, while having a drink at the Copley Plaza in Boston with his research assistant, they discussed how “Dope Two” had to have a French connection to “Dope One.” Suddenly, months of wracking his brain for a title came to a crashing halt. Robin rushed over to Little, Brown’s Boston office and asked his editor to nix the The Patsy Fuca Case title in favor of The French Connection.

His editor said it was too late for a title change; they had already started printing Fuca dust jackets. Robin begged to no avail before agreeing to take a lower royalty. Money talks. Little, Brown finally agreed to the change and that’s how The Patsy Fuca Case became The French Connection. The paperback sold a million copies and, after the movie came out (winning five Academy Awards including Best Actor for Gene Hackman), it sold another two million. The book remains in print. 

Robin told me he sometimes wondered whether the movie’s director, legendary Hollywood director William Friedkin, would have even heard of the book if it hit the shelves as The Patsy Fuca Case. Same book. Same meticulous research. Same brilliant prose. Same cool story about the world’s biggest narcotics bust, but not the same title hook. As a result, The French Connection, nearly 60 years after its release, holds its own as one of the most highly regarded true-crime books of all time.

* * *

Mystery Readers Journal fans are probably curious to solve the case of the third book Robin was contracted to write for Little, Brown. An eclectic scholar, Robin wrote the authorized and definitive biography of world famous composer Arthur Fiedler, titled, Fiedler: The Colorful Mr. Pops the Man and His Music. It was no French Connection, but don’t let Fielder’s composer title fool you – Mr. Pops really knew how to live it up and Robin knew how to write it down.

***   

Andrew McAleer is the author of the Henry von Stray classic British mystery series. The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime was released in March 2025 (Level Best Books). Introduction by Edgar winner Art Tayor. Volume Two of A Casebook of Crime is scheduled for release in March 2026. Introduction by Derringer winner Stacy Woodson. Visit Henry & Andy at: www.HenryvonStraymysteries.com     

Peter Lovesey Insider Writing Secrets: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

While writing the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists: Insider Secrets from Top Writers (Simon & Schuster), I had the honor of corresponding with some of the best mystery writers in the business – Diamond Dagger winner and Grand Master Peter Lovesey among them. 

Lovesey’s inimitable characters include Sergeant Cribb and Detective Peter Diamond. He is regarded as the, “[M]odern master of the historical mystery story.” (Encyclopedia Mysteriosa). I sweated out my oversees request to Lovesey asking for even a couple of writing tips or habits he might offer to emerging authors. I couldn’t have asked for a more thoughtful reply. Rather than supplying a couple of writing tips, Lovesey generously contributed tips for nine chapters. 

Below are a handful of his superb tips – all certain to inspire your next great mystery story. 

 

* * *

1. Being Creative and Original
 
PETER LOVESEY - Beware of the cliché. By this I mean not only the cliché phrase (“It’s an old trick, major, but it just might work.”), but the cliché plot (the murderer turns out to be the narrator) and the cliché style. Don’t try to be the second Raymond Chandler or J.K. Rowling. By all means learn from successful writers, but be yourself, and say it freshly.
 
2. Having Precise Goals, Not Just Wishes
 
PETER LOVESEY - Make your writing a regular duty. Remember that one page a day—say 300 words—each day for a year gives you a 109,500-word novel.
 
3. Being Open to Experiences 
 
PETER LOVESEY - Give your writing an authentic feel by using your own experience. Of course you don’t have to commit a murder to write about one, but you can give it a strong sense of place by choosing a setting you know. Dorothy L. Sayers worked in advertising and wrote Murder Must Advertise. Agatha Christie trained as a pharmacist and used her knowledge of poison in her books. P.D. James worked in the police department at the Home Office. Colin Dexter, the creator of Inspector Morse, is a champion crossword solver and a lover of real ale and Wagner. 
 
4. Getting the Basics Down
 
PETER LOVESEY - Don’t be afraid of breaking the rules of English you learned at school. Perfectly correct English can be a bore. So put the occasional sentence without a verb. Don’t worry if the sentence ends with a preposition. And start some sentences with And.
 
5. Plotting
 
PETER LOVESEY - This is a personal tip and may be controversial, but it saves me time and rewriting. Plot before you write. Make sure you have a satisfying story in outline form before you start chapter one. Using this method, I don’t put the book through a series of drafts. Each day’s output will appear on the printed page. I know plenty of writers who like the challenge of not knowing where they are heading, but this way works for me. 
 

* * *

Peter Lovesey passed away on April 10, 2025; he was 88. As Diamond Dagger winner Martin Edwards noted, “Lovesey…was often described as ‘prolific’. Although this was true, in his case the term never became a euphemism for ‘formulaic’ or ‘predictable.’ Lovesey possessed the gift of entertaining readers while setting a diverse range of stories at different times in the past as well as in the present.” (The Guardian)
            Or, as Peter Lovesey might have said, “I avoid the cliché.” 

***

Andrew McAleer is the author of the best-selling detective Henry von Stray classic British mystery series. The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime: Thrilling Adventures of Suspense from the Golden Age of Mystery was released in March 2025 (Level Best Books). Introduction by Edgar winner Art Tayor. Volume Two of A Casebook of Crime is scheduled for release in March 2026. Introduction by Derringer winner Stacy Woodson      
             

MWA Grand Master Mary Higgins Clark & Edgar Award Winner John McAleer Speak…1986! Compiled by Andrew McAleer

A Mystery Readers International Exclusive!

Mary Higgins Clark & Gregory McDonald
(Photo: John McAleer)

MWA Grand Master Mary Higgins Clark & Edgar Award Winner John McAleer Speak…1986!
 
Compiled byAndrew McAleer, author of the bestselling A Casebook of Crime: Thrilling Adventures of Suspense from the Golden Age of Mystery
 
Edgar winner John McAleer, creator of the inimitable classic detective Henry von Stray, taught crime fiction at Boston College for more than four decades. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of the genre, his students could expect to hear guest speakers like MWA Grand Master Jane Langton, Edgar winner Gregory Mcdonald, Edgar finalist Robin Moore, or Grand Master Mary Higgins Clark. In 1975, Mrs. Clark’s first mystery-suspense novel, Where Are the Children, “[E]xploded onto the bestseller list…” (Encyclopedia Mysteriosa.) As Mrs. Clark shares with us below, Where Are the Children was inspired by a real-life criminal case about a mother accused of murdering her children. The book was later adapted for film staring iconic actress Jill Clayburgh.

Mrs. Clark was hailed by many as the “[Q]ueen of the contemporary romantic suspense novel.” (Scribner Mystery & Suspense Writers.) A well-deserved moniker; however, this “Queen” had anything but a privileged start. In fact, at least one piece of literary ephemera referred to her as the “Cinderella of Suspense writers.” (Waltham, Massachusetts - Public Library Lecture Series, circa 1980s). Once upon a time, her first story, “The Last Flight from Danubia,” received 40 rejections before selling to Extension Magazine for $100.00. Her struggles as an aspiring author, doesn’t begin to tell her tragic story.   

Mrs. Clark lost her father at ten leaving the family penniless. History would sadly repeat itself when Mrs. Clark’s husband died leaving her penniless with five children to raise and put through school. During it all she lost her mother, mother-in-law, and two brothers. Down but not out, she worked as a secretary, advertising assistant, airline flight attendant, radio scriptwriter, producer, and partner in a communications firm. In 1979—well after her mainstream success as an author—she completed her B.A. at Fordham University. (Oxford Companion to Crime & Mystery Writing.)

Clark Letter to McAleer & ephemera

The following classroom “discussion” excerpts appear for the first time anywhere exclusively for Mystery Readers Journal fans. Here Mrs. Clark revisits some of her early days as a writer, why she chose the mystery field, and some insider secrets for emerging authors. The talk took place in Professor McAleer’s “Crime Fiction & Folk Myth” course at Boston College circa 1986.     
 
John McAleer: Could you tell us a little about your early writing?
 
Mary Higgins Clark: I started out writing short stories and radio shows. Having written radio shows about George Washington [I] then went on to write a biography about George Washington. Then [I] decided to go mainstream to make some “loot!” (Compiler’s Note: Mrs. Clark’s Washington biography; Aspire to Heavens: A Portrait of George Washington, Meredith Press, 1968.)
 
McAleer: What do you find most satisfying about being an author?
 
Clark: The biggest praise is when someone says, “I really enjoyed the book. I was sick in the hospital and feeling sorry for myself. I forgot about my worries because I read your book.” That’s joy! Or when a thirteen-year-old kid writes me and says, “I never liked to read before, but we had to read something so I read your book and loved it.” That’s pleasure and it’s joy.
 
McAleer: What inspired you to devote your writing talents to the mystery field?
 
Clark: There was really no market for short stories and I really wanted to write something that would sell….  The way I started writing mysteries…? First of all if you go to what you like to read, it’s a wonderful clue as to what kind of writing you might be able to do. I decided on mainstream writing. What do people care about? I actually started writing a story about a student pushing drugs and is arrested, but I found the subject utterly distasteful and didn’t want to write about it. Then I thought, what about a true kidnapping case where a woman was arrested for the deliberate murder of her two children. (Alice Crimmins case). She was in and out of court for the next ten years. She was found guilty, but the case was overturned. Now she’s out of jail and no one knows whether she did or didn’t do it—but I didn’t write about that. “Suppose” is the magic word for mystery writers. So I thought, Suppose a young mother is accused of the murder of her children? Go one step beyond – suppose she didn’t do it and then suppose it happens again a second time! And that became the genesis of Where Are the Children.
 
McAleer: Why did you Choose Cape Cod as the setting for Where Are the Children?
 
Clark: I set Where Are the Children on Cape Cod because I believe in location. The Cape became world-wide known during the Kennedy presidency because the President would be on his compound there. Everyone knew Cape Cod and I happen to love it as well. Where Are the Children took three years to write. When I turned it in to my agent Pat—and when six weeks went by—I asked her if she had a chance to look it…
She replied, “I sent it out.” 
I said, “You don’t want me to rip it apart?” 
“Oh, no it’s fine,” she said. 
Two publishers turned it down and the third one bought it and it was the beginning of a very happing writing career. Recently, I turned in my new book. Where Are the Children took 20 minutes to revise. This latest one is called Weep No More, My Lady and I’ve been revising it since last April!  (Released 1987) 
 
* * *
Mary Higgins Clark passed away in 2018 at the age of 92. With more than fifty books to her credit, including masterpieces like A Stranger is Watching, The Cradle Will Fall, and A Cry in the Night, she is still regarded as one of the best suspense authors of all time. 

One of the most respected literary awards for excellence in the crime fiction genre remains the Mary Higgins Clark Award conferred annually by the Mystery Writers of America. Previous winners include masters of suspense like, Hank Phillippi Ryan, Barbara D’Amato, and Bill Floyd. 
 
* * *
John McAleer created London-based detective Henry von Stray in the 1930s, during the Golden Age of Detection. Forty years later he won the Edgar Allan Poe Award over one of his boyhood heroines—Agatha Christie! The Chicago Tribune credited McAleer’s first mystery Coign of Vantage as the first “locked-society” mystery. He taught at Boston College for more than 50 years.
            
Andrew McAleer is the Derringer-nominated author of the best-selling London-based Private Detective Henry von Stray historical mystery series. His books include, A Casebook of Crime (von Stray) and the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists. Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. Instagram: Mcaleermysteries or Henryvonstray

Basement to Bestseller: A Casebook of Crime---Thrilling Adventures of Suspense from the Golden Age of Mystery: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

You never know what you might find in Edgar winner John McAleer’s mystery correspondence. As my brother Paul and I comb through his voluminous records we’ve become numb to discoveries such as letters from Golden Age of Detection icons – Dame Agatha, Georges Simenon, or Leslie Chateris. Not to mention big-screen legends like John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich. To paraphrase Humphrey Bogart from The Big Sleep, “We don’t even pass out cigars anymore over such finds.” 

A few years ago, however, one lost gem did hook our attention—big time! Paul found a small hardcover chapbook containing a handwritten mystery. The first page—yellowed and pulpy—announced, “Stories of Private Detective Henry von Stray, by John J. McAleer.” The book contained a full mystery story entitled, “The Case of the Illustrious Banker.” Later published in Edgar & Shamus Go Golden. (Down & Books)
In order to establish when von Stray was created Paul did a little sleuthing of his own in attempt to unearth a few clues about the elusive London-based detective and his able collaborator in the detection of crime—affable beetle expert Professor John Dilpate. Paul solved the case.

In our father’s 1937 diary, an August 4^th entry reveals how the senior McAleer wrote at least three von Stray mysteries. (A search for the remaining two stories from the original series remains afoot.) Proving von Stray was created in the 1930s, has important historical significance for the crime fiction genre since it makes von Stray, in all likelihood, the last of the great master sleuths to emerge from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction (a literary period existing predominately during the 1920s and 1930s.) In somewhat of an ironical twist, some 40 years later, McAleer’s Rex Stout: A Biography, won the Edgar Award over Golden Age “founder”—the Queen of Mystery herself—Christie’s autobiography.
 

As a novelist and having taught classic crime fiction at Boston College for many years, I jumped at the chance to continue the von Stray series. The characters and setting were too fun to limit the amazing find to one von Stray adventure. I sensed this inimitable detective had many more crimes to solve and it would be my pleasure to help him do so. My first von Stray mystery “The Singular Case of the Bandaged Bobby” appeared in the September 2024 Sherlock Holmes issue of Mystery Magazine and was later selected for the Best Private Eye Stories of 2025.

The first full-book collection of von Stray stories A Casebook of Crime (Level Best Books) was released this February. The volume also features my father’s only known surviving von Stray mystery. A publisher’s note says of the collection, “[Andrew] seamlessly picks up where the elder McAleer left off, brilliantly and authentically capturing—and not without a touch of light humor—von Stray’s thrilling adventures and unique methods of crime detection through 1920s England. So authentic in fact, mystery lovers will virtually travel back in time to a bygone era where they will genuinely feel as if they’re enjoying timeless, never-before-seen century-old classic puzzle whodunits.” 

Shortly after its release, A Casebook of Crime became an Amazon bestseller surpassing a collection of short stories written by none other than—Dame Agatha Christie!
 

* * *

Andrew McAleer served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian and is the author of the Henry von Stray historical mysteries. Von Stray’s latest exciting exploits appear in the newly released: A Casebook of Crime: Thrilling Adventures of Suspense from the Golden Age of Mystery. (Level Best Books, 2025)
 
John McAleer is the Edgar Allan Poe Award-winning author of Rex Stout: A Biography and creator of Golden Age Private Detective Henry von Stray. He also edited the Throndyke File and was a Pulitzer finalist. 
  

The McCone Connection: Operation Raven Nevermore: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer with A Special Postscript from Marcia Muller

One day, I was walking in Afghanistan just minding my own business when I was attacked suddenly from behind. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Marcia Muller’s latest Sharon McCone novel, Circle in the Water triggering the following flashback, I think the incident would’ve remained—nevermore.

As background, let me begin by stating with particularity, that I was on a mission for Uncle Sam by myself, somewhere in country and tasked with getting some stuff and toting said stuff back safely to my detachment’s location where the aforementioned stuff would be disseminated per standard operating procedures. I don’t remember what occasioned me going it alone on this mission, but duty must’ve called. I served as a sergeant with a three-soldier detachment and although this mission had us down two men, even by myself, we’d still be about thirty-three percent strong.

Anyway, there I was plodding along when I saw two Apache helicopters bobbing along in the distant skies. Something must’ve got their knickers in twist because they tilted into a fighting stance and started discharging buckets of rounds. Now distracted from my normally superior sense of situational awareness, I foolishly allowed the enemy to sneak up on me. 

Out of nowhere I heard a quick flutter coming from behind followed by something smacking me on the back of my head. Sharp claws dug into my skin. A big blackbird had swooped down stealthily from the cloud cover and tried to make off with my official U.S. Army issue soft cap—sergeant stripes and all! What kind of barbarous devil bird it was that leapt upon me that day I cannot say with complete certainty. Nevertheless, identifying it as a member of the corvus corax family seems appropriate. The “common raven” for those not keeping up with their bird Latin.  

As a trained soldier sworn to protect Army issue headwear, I resolved not to capitulate to this raiding raven’s treachery and quickly engaged in some close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat with the eerie attacker. It had been a long year and I was looking forward to hanging up my hat, but unlike Captain Ahab, I would do so on my own terms. Hence, the battle waged on and just when I had my enemy on the run, another raven—in a swift move demonstrating a superior knowledge of Napoleonic tactics—flanked the Detachment’s left line with an enfilade of rapid clawing. A few artful hand-chops worthy of anything in Barney Fife’s wheelhouse and I soon emerged the victor over this plucky band of feathers. 

It all happened so fast and even with the fog of war still gripping me all these years later, I remember looking up and seeing the two ravens perched way up high on a naked tree limb. They remained on high-level alert counterattacking with blood curdling caws and squawks, which thanks to my extensive military language studies I was able to interpret. Quoth the ravens, “Take your departure from our patch without further delay.” With my opponents now out of effective pecking range, I was happy to oblige. No bad blood here on my end; we all fought the good battle and presumably, would live to fight another day.         

Outside the wire there can be a strange respect among enemies at times like this. My worthy opponents had legitimate reasons to ponder weak and weary. Some thirty years earlier, the Russians swooped in and deforested eighty-percent of the land. I doubt these two ravens were around to see the destruction of their ancestral homes, but bad blood tends to pass from generation to generation. My present enemies didn’t know a Russki from a Doughboy; they saw an invading hat and reacted accordingly. 

I was a short-timer when the birds got all Alfred Hitchcock on me, and I took this as good a sign it was time to pack-up my rucksack and pop smoke. Home again to a place where everyone gets along and there’s never any fighting. A place where someday you could armchair slump it on a cold, snowy New England afternoon and disappear peacefully into a good murder mystery. Like Marcia Muller’s Circle in the Water.

Then, out of nowhere, Muller’s dogged private detective Sharon McCone tells us she’s been afraid of birds ever since a blackbird once swooped down and grabbed her head. Now I’m reliving Operation Raven Nevermore all over again. But no worries, no midnight dreary—McCone got my back every step of the way.

* * *

Postscript

A Circle in the Water Insight 

from the desk of

Marcia Muller

 

McCone’s fear of birds was inspired by the actual incident she described in Circle in the Water—a bird grabbing her head on her high-school senior class picnic—only in reality, it was my head!  I’ve steered clear of the feathered creatures ever since.

— Marcia Muller

* * *

Andrew McAleer is the Derringer-nominated author of the London-based Private Detective Henry von Stray historical mystery series, created in 1937, by Edgar winner John McAleer during the Golden Age of Detection.  His books include, A Casebook of Crime and the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists. Mr. McAleer taught classic crime fiction at Boston College and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. Instagram: Mcaleermysteries or Henryvonstray

Marcia Muller has written many novels, short stories, essays, and works of criticism. A New York Times best-selling author, she has won six Anthony Awards and a Shamus Award and is also the recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award (their highest accolade). She lives in Sonoma County, California, with her husband and frequent collaborator, mystery writer Bill Pronzini. Her final novel in the long-running Sharon McCone series, Circle in the Water, was published on April 23, 2024
 

The Case of the Baffled Barrister: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

There can be no question about it whatsoever—the evidence is all in! 

…Or is it? 

Traditional legal fiction enthusiasts would likely agree well beyond a reasonable doubt that Perry Mason is Raymond Burr and Raymond Burr is Perry Mason. Burr did such a masterful job portraying the world’s cleverest and cunning attorney that it’s nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction. I mean…who wouldn’t want a real Perry Mason a.k.a Raymond Burr representing them on a murder beef?   

It doesn’t matter that Burr never passed the bar or practiced law—he’s Perry Mason in the eyes of legal drama connoisseurs. From 1957-1966 and then 1985-1993, Burr’s command courtroom presence, encyclopedic knowledge of criminal procedure, and destructive cross-examination complemented with his basso voice, got his clients out of every conceivable criminal jam possible. Okay so Mason pretty much handled murder cases exclusively, but no reason to quibble here on a legal technicality. That’s Burr’s job. 

…Or is it?

If you’re inclined to side with Burr, you’d better first listen to this surprise witness’s testimonial evidence before committing fully. 

Bailiff, call the next witness! 

Hollywood-Walk-of-Fame Star and Emmy Award-winning actor – Raymond Burr!
            

According to the 1963 Celebrity Register, Burr jested about his inability to present a complicated legal criminal defense. “I’ve never managed to solve any of the cases until I read them through. In fact, I’ve often been puzzled about who committed the crime after we finished shooting the script.”
            

Oh well, maybe Burr wasn’t the great barrister we imagined, but he does top the honesty charts and, as any good lawyer fresh out of law school will advise you, the truth will always set you free. After all, honesty is the best policy.

…Or is it? 

***

 
Andrew McAleer is the author of the Henry von Stray British classic mystery adventures and served in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army Historian before returning to public service in the criminal justice system. The latest von Stray mystery, "The Singular Case of the Bandaged Bobby” appears in Mystery Magazine (September 2024). Von Stray’s A Casebook of Crime (January 2025 Level Best Books). Instagram: @mcaleermysteries        
  

The Curious Case of Literary Confusion: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

As a curator of Rex Stout’s authorized biographer John McAleer’s library, I don’t always know when an interesting anecdote relating to Stout and/or Nero Wolfe might sneak up, so I make it my practice to stay on high alert. 

By way of example: 

In the early 1990s, my job placed me in close proximity to Dunham’s Used Bookshop located in Bedford, Massachusetts. I was attending law school at the time and got hooked on the Mr. Tutt legal mysteries by Arthur Train. Proprietors Mr. and Mrs. Dunham appeared the quintessential antiquarian bookshop owners. Mister, an octogenarian à la Rudy Vallée. Misses a Joan Hickson (circa Miss Marple.) 

Dunham’s Tutt supply seemed inexhaustible and I eagerly scooped up volume after volume; a collection I still cherish today. Recently, while bestowing order to my Tutt treasure, I found myself reminiscing about my Dunham days—and my father, whom had introduced me to Dunham’s in the early 1970s. The shop became one of his frequent and more successful Rex Stout hunting grounds. I can’t recall a time when he didn’t exit the shop with his arms chock-full of Rex’s literary works. Apparently, this wasn’t initially the case. Some years later, my father shared with me an amusing Dunham anecdote. 

Shortly after my father was authorized to write Rex’s biography, he went to Dunham’s and asked Mrs. Dunham if they had any Stout books. 

 “Oh plenty,” she said without hesitation.  

“Wonderful!” he replied, unable to contain his excitement. “I’ll take whatever you have in stock.” 

While waiting for Mrs. Dunham to complete his order the future Edgar Award winner patted himself on the back for his discovery and quick coup. His perceived victory was short-lived. Alas, Mrs. Dunham returned with a stack of Stout books as promised, however, they were books authored by the pioneering, world-famous gardener—Rex’s older, yet equally robust and ingenious sister—Ruth Stout! 

***

Andrew McAleer is the author of the Henry von Stray British classic mystery adventures; characters created by Edgar winner John McAleer. The latest von Stray mystery, “The Singular Case of the Bandaged Bobby” appears in Mystery Magazine (September 2024). The von Stray collection, A Casebook of Crime is forthcoming January 2025 (Level Best Books). Follow on Instagram: @mcaleermysteries

Andrew McAleer: From Combat Zone to Courtroom

ANDREW McALEER: 
FROM COMBAT ZONE TO COURTROOM 

After a year-long tour in Afghanistan, Mystery Readers Journal contributor and Boston College Professor Andrew McAleer is returning to his job at Boston College this spring to teach crime fiction. McAleer, a sergeant with in the U.S. Army, served with the 126th Military History Detachment (MHD) as a Combat Historian in Regional Command East in Afghanistan, extending from the Bamyan Province in the west to the Pakistan border in the east. MHDs consist of three soldiers – one field-grade officer and two noncommissioned officers. In total there are twenty-seven MHDs in the U.S. Army. When fully staffed, there are fewer than 100 Combat Historians available to preserve the Army’s history. McAleer was one of three Army historians in the Afghanistan theater.

“Military History Detachments are unique,” McAleer states. “Combat Historians collect and archive historical documents, photographs, artifacts, and conduct interviews with front-line soldiers in order to preserve their sacrifices and contributions.” As a result McAleer’s missions often brought him to remote combat outposts.

McAleer is back at his full-time job as a prosecutor for the Massachusetts Department of Correction and back publishing. “I really missed mystery writing while deployed,” McAleer said, “but this deployment reminded me how indebted we are to literary societies like Mystery Readers Journal. It's an honor to appear in Legal Mysteries II along greats like Margaret McLean and Jeffrey Marks. A fantastic volume.”

Prior to deployment, McAleer’s fourth novel and suspense thriller Fatal Deeds featuring P.I. Gus Churchill, hit the shelves with great success. McAleer brought his experience as a prosecutor to capture the P.I. world within Boston’s 617 area code. His knack for creating quirky characters and snappy dialogue has received praise from literary luminaries like Doris Kearns Goodwin, Robert B. Parker, and Robin Moore.

McAleer is also the best-selling author of numerous books including the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelist, co-author of the number 1 best-seller, Mystery Writing in a Nutshell and a contributor to A Miscellany of Murder. His essay “The Law of Characterization” appears in Mystery Readers Journal’s “Legal Mysteries Journal II.” (Fall 2012)

Discovering James M. Cain-Again: Guest Post by Andrew McAleer

“Discovering James M. Cain – Again!”
by Andrew McAleer

In September 2011 respected literary journals from all over the world—Mystery Readers Journal leading the pack—made an astounding announcement – the discovery of an unpublished James M. Cain novel, The Cocktail Waitress. Publisher Hard Case Crime has slated the novel for release next fall. As partial provenance for Waitress, Hard Case publisher Charles Ardai, credits Edgar winner John McAleer’s posthumous book Packed and Loaded: Conversations with James M. Cain. The discovery of Waitress has been called the “Holy Grail” for crime fiction fans and the origin of Packed and Loaded is no less fascinating. Accordingly, it seems fitting that MRJ readers share the following special glimpse into the amazing backstory of Packed and Loaded.

* * *
It is Rex Stout who deserves the credit for introducing me to James M. Cain, and while I’m not so sure the postman does actually ring twice—or even once for that matter—I know now that Rex Stout indeed does.

In May of 1978, my father returned home from the Mystery Writers of America’s annual dinner in New York City with a new member of the family—Edgar Allan Poe. By unanimous vote, his Rex Stout: A Biography won the Edgar Allan Poe award for critical works.

Prior to Stout, my father had established himself in the field of literary biography having authored major works on Thoreau and Dreiser, but it was ultimately Stout that would garner him praise from literary giants like Jacques Barzun who hailed him as “ ... a master biographer.” And Norma Cousins—whose high standards are a matter of record—of the Saturday Review of Literature said of Stout “This is a superb book .... All friends of Rex Stout, Nero Wolfe, and Archie Goodwin are in John McAleer’s debt.” It wasn’t until many years later—during law school in fact—that I would become a friend of Wolfe and Archie; and therefore, be in my father’s literary debt.

To help maintain what little sanity I had left in law school, I devoured Stouts and not just the Wolfe stories. I breezed through novels like The Mountain Cat, The Hand in the Glove, his pulp stories collected in Justice Ends at Home, and I’ll even admit to reading Alphabet Hicks—who Stout himself said he wouldn’t give a damn for. I also read my father’s biography on Stout and its companion, Royal Decree: Conversations with Rex Stout. In the chapter, “Rex on His Peers,” I came across this quote from Stout:

I think Cain’s a hell of a good storyteller, a marvelous storyteller. That way of telling a story—I don’t think you can do it any better than The Postman Always Rings Twice. It can’t be done better than that. I think it’s a perfect job. If I were asked to name the living writer who I think has stuck most closely to that idea—stick to the story, stick to the goddamn story—it probably would be James M. Cain. There’s not a word in Cain that does not apply to the story he’s telling you.

This was the first ring. As a new author I took Stout’s words to heart and read The Postman Always Rings Twice and would quickly move on to Double Indemnity, The Butterfly, The Embezzler, and Career in C Major. Not that I ever had any doubts, but Stout couldn’t have been more right about Cain and his ability to stick to the story. Simple advice that might be easy to understand, but difficult to put into action.

I took Cain to heart and wanted to learn more about him, so I asked my father what would be the definitive biography on Cain. Without missing a beat he suggested Roy Hoopes’s biography and then, almost casually, he said that his notes on Cain might also be helpful. “What do you mean?” I asked. And then he told me that during the 1970s, Cain had asked him to write his biography. My father lamented, however, that the notes were probably long gone, but that I was welcomed to rifle his files. I looked under “C” no luck. Under “J” no luck. Under “M” no luck. And since my father’s files are voluminous, containing more than a half century’s worth of research from Jane Austen, to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Patrick O’Brian, I knew I’d have as much luck finding the misplaced Cain papers as I would a Bible at a tax planning seminar. Thankfully, Stout was not so pessimistic.

The doorbell rang again. It was around this time that a publisher sought permission to reprint the Stout Biography with an updated Introduction. P.G. Wodehouse wrote the Foreword to the original Biography and my father thought it might be nice to review his correspondence with Wodehouse to see if he could come up with any new tidbits for the new Stout Introduction. I told him I’d fetch them for him and when I returned with the file, I carried with me a sheaf of Cain material.

Now in my hands were original Cain envelopes containing original letters with extensive marginalia from Cain’s own hand. Also contained were my father’s interviews, typed out nearly a quarter of a century ago on his IBM electric, which sits in my office today. Some of the interviews were compiled via correspondence and some by tape recorder, recorded by one of my father’s top-notch graduate students at Boston College, Harry Sapienza.

Harry lived near Cain in Maryland, so my father arranged for them to visit during the Thanksgiving break of 1976. Armed with pages upon pages full of questions drafted by father, young Harry met with Cain and did a remarkable job of getting Cain to record his thoughts. Fortunately, the recordings had been transcribed before their disappearance —coincidentally, their disappearance occurred around the time Poe appeared on the scene! (Well, that’s our convenient excuse.)

The Cain tapes have not yet surfaced, but I haven’t given up hope—not by a long shot. I have great faith that the presence of Rex Stout and James M. Cain ring eternal.

—Andrew McAleer works as a prosecutor and is the author of the 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists and the recently released private eye novel, Fatal Deeds.
www.crimestalkers.com