Mysteries Unlocked: Essays in Honor of Douglas G. Greene

the door is open....

We now have a cover for this collection of essays on mystery fiction in honor of Douglas G. Greene, the distinguished academic scholar--among other things he wrote the much-admired biography of John Dickson Carr--and founder of Crippen & Landru, publisher of short form mystery fiction.

Mysteries Unlocked will be published next year by McFarland Press.  It boasts two dozen contributors from around the world, including ten Edgar winners and nominees.  The wide-ranging essays cover a great number of mystery works, from J. S. Fletcher's The Investigators, serialized shortly after the death of Queen Victoria, to P. D. James' Jane Austen pastiche (with murder mystery), Death Comes to Pemberley, published in the last month of 2011.

Hard-boiled authors are included as well as writers of classical detective fiction. There is an essay on Doug specifically, as well a a foreword, introduction and afterword about him and appendices on his scholarly publications and Crippen & Landru editions. The book highlights both mystery fiction itself and the impact that Doug and his work have had on the world of mystery readers.

I hope people will find Mysteries Unlocked an illuminating and entertaining book, as well as a worthy tribute to the dean of academic mystery history in his seventieth year.