William Burton McCormick

David Krugler

Arendse Lund

At the cutting edge of crime fiction, Mystery Magazine presents original short stories by the world's best-known and emerging mystery writers. The stories we feature in our monthly issues span every imaginable subgenre, including cozy, police procedural, noir, whodunit, supernatural, hardboiled, humor, and historical mysteries. Evocative writing and a compelling story are the only certainty. Get ready to be surprised, challenged, and entertained--whether you enjoy the style of the Golden Age of mystery (e.g., Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle), the glorious pulp digests of the early twentieth century (e.g., Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler), or contemporary masters of mystery. ★ In this issue ★ In our cover feature, "Down To The Bear Bone" by C. L. Cobb, stories of loyalty are nothing new. But it's still frightening what a mother will do. In "Every Fire Wants To Kill" by David Krugler, an arsonist-for-hire is burning down vacant homes in a 1970s Chicago slum for a crooked landlord, who pockets insurance checks. The landlord's assistant, exposes the scheme to the fire department. But is he really trying to stop the fire? "Quelle Horreur!" by William Burton Mccormick: When Dubois can find no other free room on a stormy night in Odessa, he must lodge at a shadowed rooming house where few last the night. "Letter To The Archivist" by Arendse Lund: A letter arrives for the Archivist, espousing the virtues of the incredible collection in intricate and alarmingly intimate detail. "Murder Over Easy" by Ewan A. Dougall is a noir story investigating a murder scene as two partners become increasingly suspicious of one another. "A Diagnosis At Dinner" by Barton Paul Levenson: One of three men at a dinner at Winston Churchill's wartime retreat is a Nazi spy. But which one? "The Containment Spell" by Pablo Patiño is a ghost story with a spell-binding twist. "Cousin Ronald And The Dead Man" by Ryan Micheal Hines: A bootlegger in 1940s Appalachia runs moonshine to support his young orphan cousin, but the appearance of a strange and dangerous criminal known as the Dead Man threatens to destroy everything and unearth an old secret. "A Deceased In The Dumpster" by Linda Norlander: Greta of Greta's Green Clean is asked to investigate after a body is found in the dumpster of a trailer court "The Felonious Feline," A You-Solve-It, by John H. Dromey: Is a cat living one of its nine lives as a criminal? Or is the feline perhaps an unwitting accomplice in a caper that includes a home invasion? Custom Cover Art By Robin Grenville Evans

August 2023

Mystery Magazine

Intelligence officer Ellis Voigt fights to prevent the Soviets from infiltrating the Manhattan Project while running from enemies on both sides, in the thrilling sequel to The Dead Don’t Bleed. Washington, DC, 1945. Lieutenant Ellis Voigt of the Office of Naval Intelligence is desperate to keep the secrets that threaten his life. The war overseas is going well for America, but Voigt can’t escape a web of double-agents and undercover spies who follow his every move. The FBI suspects that he is the communist who murdered a Naval officer in a Washington back alley. The Soviets believe he’s holding back information from their contacts, and they’re willing to use any means necessary to extract it. When Voigt is sent to New Mexico on a secret mission to identify a Soviet spy, he is tailed by both the FBI and the Russians, and is running out of people he can trust. As the team at Los Alamos prepares to test an atomic bomb in the desert, Voigt faces the dilemma he’d been trying to avoid: he can stop the Soviets from getting the bomb or he can save himself—but he might not be able to do both.

David Krugler

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