Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine - January/February 2022

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Following tradition, EQMM rings in the year in Holmesian fashion. Our January/February 2022 issue contains a new Sherlock Holmes parody from the lost manuscripts of Dr. Watson (“The Musgrave Ritual” by Terence Faherty) and another wintry addition to Steve Hockensmith’s Holmes on the Range series, set after Holmes’s presumed death at Reichenbach Falls (“Bad News”). Another beloved sleuth reappears in Josh Pachter’s “Their Last Bow,” the final tale in his Ellery Queen Puzzle Club series. Police detectives work in creative ways in B.A. Paul’s quirky “Stone Still,” Alex Grecian’s humorous “The Scarlet Box,” and Raghu Roy’s pensive “The Policeman and the Dead” (Dept. of First Stories). World War II is the backdrop for the events of Doug Allyn’s “The Death-Camp Angel” and Merrilee Robson’s “On the Side of the Angels,” which explore morality in a war-weary society. But it’s atmospheric natural settings that play a role in love, infidelity, and death in K.L. Abrahamson’s seaside “Paleolithic,” Bill Pronzini’s stormy “The Wind,” and Jack Fredrickson’s duneside “The Sound of Laughing.” Passion informs our Passport to Crime entry, “The Crime” by Olavo Bilac, which explores obsession and complicity. Nonromantic relationships can be rough too: adolescent friendships turn sour in “It’s All in the Telling” by Ariel Dodson, involving a fortuneteller’s return; “Best Served Cold” by Alice Hatcher, deals with a life-changing accident; and “Double Fly Rocket 87” (in Black Mask) sees two former high-school football stars return to their alma mater. Some do find a “True Companion,” as in Libby Cudmore’s new case of that title for Martin Wade, as well as unlikely allies in “Into Thin Air” by Karen Jobst (Dept. of First Stories) and “The Favor” by Michael Z. Lewin, set during the COVID-19 pandemic. Don’t miss our columns, which include Sherlockian book reviews (The Jury Box), and an article about Arthur Conan Doyle’s interest in true crime in Stranger Than Fiction. Happy 2022 from EQMM!