480pp-Urban_Crime_for

Biographies & Sources

Stacy Aumonier

Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty

(First Published in The Strand Magazine, 1921)

A British writer of six novels, eighty-five short stories and many essays, Stacy Aumonier (1877–1928) was known for his humour, and often mistakenly credited as ‘Stacey’ Aumonier. His talent lay in short story writing in the main, as he was a master of being gripping from the very first sentence, and keeping a reader hooked. His short story ‘Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty’ is considered one of his best, and appeared on Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1958. He is also known for the stories ‘The Octave of Jealousy’ and ‘Two of Those Women’ and his work is included in numerous anthologies that collect the best of British short stories.

Robert Barr

The Absent-Minded Coterie

(Originally Published in The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont, 1906)

A Scottish-Canadian short story writer, Robert Barr (1849–1912) was born in Glasgow before his family emigrated to Toronto, where he grew up and became a teacher and then worked for the newspaper Detroit Free Press until 1881 when he moved to London, to establish a weekly English edition. He later founded The Idler, collaborating with Jerome K. Jerome, and became known as a successful novelist, publishing a book a year. He continued to write short stories however, becoming known for two Sherlock Holmes parodies. The first of these was ‘The Adventures of Sherlaw Kombs’ which was published in The Idler in 1892 and led to Barr becoming good friends with Arthur Conan Doyle.

T.J. Berg

Mickey’s Ghost

(First Publication)

T.J. Berg is a molecular and cellular biologist working and writing in Sweden. She is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Her short fiction has appeared in Talebones (for which it received an honorable mention in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror), Tales of the Unanticipated, Electric Velocipede, Daily Science Fiction, Caledonia Dreamin’, Sensorama, and Thirty Years of Rain, and is upcoming in New Myths, Tales of Terror, and Diabolical Plots. When not writing or doing science, she can be found stravaigin the world, cooking, or hiking. She can be found on the web at www.infinity-press.com.

Judi Calhoun

Hungry Coyote

(Originally Published as an Alternative Version on the Crimson Streets webzine, 2016)

As a child, Judi Calhoun became intrigued with plotting amazing stories. Armed with art supplies, she designed paper doll characters, hand-painted backgrounds, fostered schemes and fashioned scenes: all fodder for her Smith Corona manuscripts. Since then, her work has appeared in numerous e-zines and printed periodicals such as Plaidswede’s Pulp & Murder Mystery Newsroom Crime Florilegium series – ‘The Haunted Coach’, ‘Wail Song’, ‘Murder at the Monitor’; John Greenleaf Whittier Inspired Collection by Haverhill House: ‘Exposed for Murder, & Cultivar Wars’; and the highly esteemed Appalachian journal literary piece ‘My Time Is Short’; plus many more. Find out more about Judi’s work at www.judicalhoun.com.

Ramsey Campbell

See How They Run

Ramsey Campbell has been given more awards than any other writer in the field, including the Grand Master Award of the World Horror Convention, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Horror Writers Association, the Living Legend Award of the International Horror Guild and the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015 he was made an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University for outstanding services to literature. Among his novels available from Flame Tree Press are Thirteen Days by Sunset Beach and Think Yourself Lucky.

Irvin S. Cobb

The Escape of Mr. Trimm

(First Published in The Escape of Mr. Trimm and Other Plights, 1909)

An Occurrence Up A Side Street

(First Published in The Escape of Mr. Trimm and Other Plights, 1909)

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb (1876–1944) was an American author, editor and columnist who was originally from Kentucky but then in 1904 relocated to New York, where he lived for the rest of his life. He wrote for the New York World newspaper as one of their highest paid employees, having worked his way up from his first job with the Paducah Daily News when he was seventeen. He is best known for his short story collection Old Judge Priest (1915) and his humorous Speaking of Operations (1916). Several of his stories were adapted in silent films, and his Judge Priest stories were adapted by film director John Ford.

Wilkie Collins

The Traveler’s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed

(Originally Published in After Dark, Smith, Elder & Co., 1856)

William Wilkie Collins (1824–1889) was born in London’s Marylebone and he lived there almost consistently for 65 years. Writing over 30 major books, 100 articles, short stories and essays and a dozen or more plays, he is best known for The Moonstone and The Woman in White. He was good friends with novelist Charles Dickens with whom he collaborated as well as took inspiration from to help write novels like The Lighthouse and The Frozen Deep. Finally becoming internationally reputable in the 1860s, Collins truly showed himself as the master of his craft as he wrote many profitable novels in less than a decade and earned himself the title of a successful English novelist, playwright and author of short stories.

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment (Part I)

(Originally Published in 1866)

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–81) was a prolific writer and philosopher from Russia, who produced eleven novels, three novellas and numerous short stories and other works. He began writing from an early age and briefly worked as a translator, before he wrote his first novel Poor Folk, which opened up opportunities for him in St. Petersburg. He was arrested in 1849 for belonging to a literary group that discussed banned books, and spent four years in a prison camp, followed by six years of military service. Despite this, he built a career as a successful journalist in the years following his release and became one of the most highly regarded and most widely read Russian writers.

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

(Originally Published in The Return of Sherlock Holmes, 1904)

The Adventure of the Red Circle

(Originally Published in His Last Bow, 1911)

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. As a medical student he was so impressed by his professor’s powers of deduction that he was inspired to create the illustrious and much-loved figure Sherlock Holmes. Holmes is known for his keen power of observation and logical reasoning, which often astounds his companion Dr. Watson. Whatever the subject or character, Doyle’s vibrant and remarkable writing has breathed life into all of his stories, engaging readers throughout the decades.

Meg Elison

Ripping

(First Publication)

Meg Elison is the author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, Tiptree recommendation, Audie Award finalist and winner of the Philip K. Dick Award. Her sequel, The Book of Etta, was published in February 2017, and the third and final book in the series comes out in April of 2019. She has also been published in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Shimmer, McSweeney’s, Catapult, and many other places. Elison is a high school dropout and a graduate of UC Berkeley. She lives in Oakland, CA and writes like she’s running out of time.

E.W. Hornung

Nine Points of the Law

(Original Published in The Amateur Cracksman, 1899)

The Raffles Relics

(Original Published in A Thief in the Night, 1905)

Ernest William Hornung (1866–1921) was born in Middlesborough, England. As a young adult he spent time in Australia, a setting which would inspire his later novels, before eventually settling in London. His marriage to Constance Doyle led to him becoming the brother-in-law of Arthur Conan Doyle. Echoing his brother-in-law’s gift for characterisation, Hornung’s most famous character creation, Raffles the gentleman thief, has often been considered the criminal parallel to Conan Doyle’s Sherlock. Hornung wrote several stories in his series based around the illicit exploits of the memorable Raffles and his companion ‘Bunny’, which would go on to inspire stage and screen adaptations.

Fergus Hume

The Mystery of a Hansom Cab (chapters I–IX)

(Originally Published in 1886)

Fergus Hume (1859–1932) was born in England but emigrated to Dunedin, New Zealand when he was just three years old and later lived in Melbourne, Australia. He began writing after being influenced by the popular novelist Émile Gaboriau, who inspired him to write his first novel The Mystery of the Hansom Cab. It was set in Melbourne, and was applauded for its descriptions of poverty, becoming the best-selling mystery novel of the Victorian era and inspiring Arthur Conan Doyle to write A Study in Scarlet. Hume’s later work included Professor Brankel’s Secret and Madame Midas. He moved to England in 1888 where he lived in the countryside for the rest of his life.

Rich Larson

A Scattered Body

(Originally Published in The Cadaverine, 2013)

Rich Larson was born in Galmi, Niger, has studied in Rhode Island and worked in the south of Spain, and now lives in Ottawa, Canada. He is the author of Annex and Cypher, as well as over a hundred short stories – some of the best of which can be found in his collection Tomorrow Factory. His award-winning work has been translated into Polish, Czech, French, Italian, Vietnamese and Chinese. Besides writing, he enjoys travelling, learning languages, playing soccer, watching basketball, shooting pool, and dancing kizomba.

Maurice Leblanc

The Escape of Arsène Lupin

(Originally Published in Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Burglar, 1907)

Born in Rouen, France, Maurice Leblanc (1864–1941) dropped his law studies in favour of a literary career, publishing his first novel, Une Femme, in 1887. His fame is largely due to his Arsène Lupin series of stories. ‘The Arrest of Arsène Lupin’ was the first story to feature the roguish gentleman criminal, appearing in 1905 as a commissioned piece for a new journal. The character was an instant success, and the thief-turned-detective went on to appear in over 60 Leblanc’s works. Some of the Lupin tales even feature a parodied Sherlock Holmes, with Lupin invariably outwitting his English rival.

Jack London

When the World Was Young

(Originally Published in The Night Born, 1913)

Winged Blackmail

(Originally Published in The Night Born, 1913)

Jack London (1876–1916) was born as John Griffith Chaney in California, America. As a young man he went to work in the Klondike during the Gold Rush, which became the setting for two of his best-known novels, White Fang and The Call of the Wild. However it is his short stories which have often received wider critical acclaim. Coming from a working-class background, London was a keen social activist and wrote several stories and articles from a socialist standpoint. It is thought that he is one of the first fiction authors to have enjoyed prosperity and worldwide fame from his writings alone.

C.L. McDaniel

Wet Work

(First Publication)

C.L. McDaniel is a teacher, actor, and author living in Berlin, Germany. His writings include the indie urban fantasy series The Caleb Ride Chronicles and the play Voices Through the Wall, which was featured in a segment of the BBC Radio program The Strand. He co-starred in the 2017 film Weather House, and the young adult podcast Cast of Wonders published his short story ‘And Flights of Skuhwiggle’ in July 2018.

Dan Micklethwaite

Sirens

(First Publication)

Dan Micklethwaite writes stories in a shed in West Yorkshire. His work has previously appeared in Flame Tree Publishing’s Swords & Steam anthology, and more recently in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, NewMyths.com, and Third Flatiron’s Terra! Tara! Terror! collection. His debut novel, The Less than Perfect Legend of Donna Creosote, was published by the award-winning UK publisher Bluemoose Books, and shortlisted for the Guardian’s Not the Booker Prize in 2016. Follow him on twitter @Dan_M_writer for further updates and info.

Trixie Nisbet

Breaking News

(First Publication)

Despite her apparent knowledge of urban crime, blackmail and murder, Trixie Nisbet wishes it to be known that ‘Breaking News’ came entirely from her imagination. She lives in a peaceful town on the South coast of England near Brighton and has had over forty stories printed, mostly in women’s magazines, in the UK, Australia and South Africa. She has also won several national short story competitions, without having to resort to urban crime, blackmail or murder – honest.

Thana Niveau

From Hell to Eternity

(Originally Published in From Hell to Eternity, 2012, and won first place in the 2010 Whitechapel’s Society contest)

Thana Niveau is a horror and science fiction writer. Originally from the States, she now lives in the UK, in a Victorian seaside town between Bristol and Wales. She is the author of the short story collections Octoberland, Unquiet Waters, and From Hell to Eternity, as well as the novel House of Frozen Screams. Her work has been reprinted in Best New Horror and Best British Horror. She has twice been nominated for the British Fantasy award – for her debut collection From Hell to Eternity and her story ‘Death Walks En Pointe’.

Baroness Orczy

The Regent’s Park Murder

(Originally Published in The Old Man in the Corner, 1908)

Baroness Emma Orczy (1865–1947) was born in Tarnaörs, Heves County, Hungary. She spent her childhood in Budapest, Brussels and Paris before moving to London when she was 14. After her marriage to a young illustrator, she worked as a translator and illustrator to supplement their low income. Baroness Orczy’s first novel, The Emperor’s Candlesticks, was a failure but her later novels faired better. She is most famous for the play ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’, which she wrote with her husband. She went on to write a novelization of it, as well as many sequels and other works of mystery fiction and adventure romances.

Josh Pachter

The Dilmun Exchange

Josh Pachter’s short fiction appears regularly in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine and many other periodicals and anthologies. He recently co-edited Amsterdam Noir (Akashic Books) and The Misadventures of Ellery Queen (Wildside Press) and edited The Man Who Read Mysteries (Crippen & Landru). He also translates fiction and nonfiction from Dutch and Flemish to English. An American native, Pachter lives in Virginia, where he teaches interpersonal communication and film appreciation at Northern Virginia Community College. This is his third contribution to Flame Tree’s Gothic Fantasy series, with previous appearances in Crime & Mystery and Agents & Spies.

Michael Penncavage

The Gauntlet

(First Publication)

Michael Penncavage’s fiction can be found in over 100 magazines and anthologies from 7 different countries, such as Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine (USA), Here and Now (England), Tenebres (France), Crime Factory (Australia), Reaktor (Estonia), Speculative Mystery (South Africa), and Visionarium (Austria). His other stories include ‘The Cost of Doing Business’, which won the Derringer Award for best mystery; ‘The Converts’, which was filmed as a short movie; and ‘The Landlord’, which was adapted into a play. Michael has been an Associate Editor for Space and Time Magazine as well as the Editor of the horror/suspense anthology Tales from a Darker State.

Melville Davisson Post

The End of the Road

(Originally Published in The Sleuth of St. James’s Square, 1920)

American author Melville Davisson Post (1869–1930) was known for the character Sir Henry Marquis of Scotland Yard in his short story collection The Sleuth of St. James’s Square. His other characters included the well-known lawyers Randolph Mason and Colonel Braxton, and the detectives Sir Henry Marquis and Monsieur Jonquelle. He wrote a vast amount of novels in his lifetime, which were almost all crime fiction, totalling over two hundred titles.

Jennifer Quail

A Father’s Child

(First Publication)

Jennifer Quail lives in Michigan and usually writes romance whether she wants to or not, but also writes mystery, suspense and fantasy. Her work has appeared in the anthology A Kiss and a Promise, Spark Magazine, and Dreams of Decadence. Her urban fantasy novels Strange Roads and The Demon That is Dreaming are available on Amazon. In her embarrassing student days, she was selected to perform her poetry with beat composer David Amram. Updates, blogs, and the odd recipe are on her website: authorjenniferquail.com.

Zandra Renwick

Lovely Young Losers

(Originally Published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 2014)

Under various mashups of her full name, Zandra Renwick’s fiction has been translated into nine languages, adapted to stage and audio, and optioned for television. She spent formative years in Austin, Copenhagen, and Toronto wearing ripped fishnets and sneaking into punk clubs. She currently splits her time between an urban swamp in Texas and Ottawa’s historic Timberhouse, a heritage residence in the heart of Canada’s capital city. More online at zandrarenwick.com or on Twitter @zandrarenwick.

K.W. Roberts

Someone’s Out There

(First Publication)

K.W. Roberts lived near Chicago for three years where a loud but dysfunctional rock band in which he played guitar struggled with little success, prompting a move to Boulder, Colorado, where he has found much greater happiness climbing rocks and mountains. While he has idolised Wilkie Collins and Agatha Christie since getting introduced to crime fiction in college, the idea of trying such a story himself never occurred to him. He does, however, plan to write many more. He feels it is about time he got published.

Leo X. Robertson

Mr. Sleepy

(First Publication)

Leo X. Robertson is a Scottish process engineer, currently living on the island of Stord in Norway. He has work published by or forthcoming in Helios Quarterly, Expanded Horizons, Unnerving Magazine and PULP Literature, among others. Leo’s stories often draw influence from true crime. On his walks to and from work, he listens to the NoSleep, My Favorite Murder and LetsNotMeet podcasts – which, while assisting with his fiction, make it tougher to sleep at night.

Christopher P. Semtner

Foreword: Urban Crime Short Stories

Christopher P. Semtner is an internationally exhibited artist, author, and curator living in Virginia. The curator of the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, he has served as author, co-author or editor of several books including the History Press title Edgar Allan Poe’s Richmond: The Raven in the River City. He has created museum exhibits on Poe in the Comics, Poe’s Mysterious Death and Poe in the Movies. The New York Times called the exhibit he curated for the Library of Virginia, Poe: Man, Myth, or Monster, ‘provocative’ and ‘a playful, robust exhibit.’

David Tallerman

Step Light

(Originally Published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, 2016)

David Tallerman is the author of the Flame Tree Press thriller The Bad Neighbour, ongoing YA fantasy series The Black River Chronicles, the Tales of Easie Damasco trilogy, and the novella Patchwerk. His comics work includes the absurdist steampunk graphic novel Endangered Weapon B: Mechanimal Science, with Bob Molesworth. David’s short fiction has appeared in around eighty markets, including Clarkesworld, Nightmare, Lightspeed, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies. A number of his best dark fantasy and horror stories were gathered together in his debut collection The Sign in the Moonlight and Other Stories. He can be found online at davidtallerman.co.uk.

Salinda Tyson

My Jack

(First Publication)

Born in Pennsylvania, Salinda was a long-time resident of Northern California, and currently lives in North Carolina. Her fiction appears in Third Flatiron anthologies, Abyss & Apex magazine, and the Shadows in Salem anthology. She began writing due to a keen interest in crime, and this is her first crime story to be published. Currently she volunteers as a docent at North Carolina’s Museum of History. There she enjoys provoking curiosity about the past and consideration of how the present evolved from the past…and keeps on evolving.

Edgar Wallace

When the Gangs Came to London

(Originally Published by John Long Ltd., London, 1932)

Edgar Wallace (1875–1932) was born illegitimately to an actress, and adopted by a London fishmonger and his wife. On leaving school at the age of 12, he took up many jobs, including selling newspapers. This foreshadowed his later career as a war correspondent for such periodicals as the Daily Mail after he had enrolled in the army. He later turned to writing stories inspired by his time in Africa, and was incredibly prolific over a large number of genres and formats. Wallace is credited as being one of the first writers of detective fiction whose protagonists were policemen as opposed to amateur sleuths.

Rachel Watts

A Man Called Famous

(First Publication)

Rachel Watts is an author and former journalist from Perth, Western Australia. Her essays and fiction have been published by Westerly, Island, Kill Your Darlings, Tincture and more. Her young-adult climate change novella Survival was released in March 2018. She writes speculative and literary fiction with a focus on memory, gender, violence and the environment. She finds joy running creative writing workshops for adults and teens. You can find her at wattswrites.com and @watts_writes.

Chris Wheatley

Underpass

(First Publication)

Chris Wheatley splits his time between Oxford and Cambridge. He is a freelance journalist, writer and musician, with two previously published short stories and many non-fiction articles. Chris has an enduring love for the works of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Chester Himes and Cornell Woolrich. He has just completed his first full-length crime novel and is forever indebted to the advice and encouragement of his wife, his son and his mother, without whom he would never have come so far.

Victor L. Whitechurch

How the Bank Was Saved

(Originally Published in Stories of the Railway, 1912)

Victor Lorenzo Whitechurch (1868–1933) was a clergyman, educated at Chichester Theological College in England. He was also a fiction writer, best-known for characters such as the vegetarian, fitness fanatic and detective Thorpe Hazell; and spy Ivan Koravitch. Whitechurch wrote several stories inspired by his clerical vocation, however he was also a railway enthusiast, as evidenced by his many railway mysteries featuring the detective Godfrey Page and later better developed with his Thorpe Hazell stories. The eccentric nature of Hazell was intended as a contrast to Sherlock Holmes.

Oscar Wilde

Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime

(Originally Published in The Court and Society Review, 1887)

Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was a successful author, poet, philosopher and playwright with an impressive gift for language. With several acclaimed works including his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and the play The Importance of Being Earnest, Wilde was known for his biting wit and flamboyant personality in the Victorian era. He was famously imprisoned on homosexual charges, an imprisonment that proved disastrous to his health. He continued to write while in prison, and following his release he left for France and spent his remaining days in exile, essentially in poverty. ‘The Canterville Ghost’ was the first of Wilde’s stories to be published, and has remained an ever-popular story that has since been adapted to many mediums.