Date: Wed, 03 Dec 2003 14:57:56 -0500 From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at mail.press.jhu.edu> To: <wsfalist at keithlynch.net> Subject: [WSFA] For the mystery readers . . . Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net> For those who read mysteries - and I suspect there's a number in WSFA - = you may find this of interest: (from Publishers Lunch) New Penzler Column Starting this week, dean of mysteries Otto Penzler is writing a regular column "devoted to mystery, crime, suspense, espionage, and detective fiction" running in the New York Sun. He calls his subject matter, "The genre that transcends genre fiction, the type of literature that has = produced some of the most distinguished, as well as the most read, books and = stories of the 20th century." And it's full of opinionated candor: "I bring the = same set of requirements to a mystery novel as I would to any work of general = fiction. And here's the deal. If a cat solves the crime, I burn the book. = I spit on it with disgust, I rip out the pages in a fury, I stomp on it in a rage = until it bleeds, and then I mercifully end its worthless life by burning it. If you = love books in which a cat or a dog or even a damned goldfish is smarter than = the detective and deduces the conclusion, skip this column." Penzler column http://click.email-publisher.com/maabI50aa2C13a4fqn8b/