Our Anniversary

This issue marks a full year since Brian and I arrived at Mystery Scene. And what have we learned over the course of the last twelve months and five issues? (Besides the number of every takeout joint in a ten-block radius?)

Well, that the mystery world is a nice place. Before we even started on our first issue, we had a long list of people offering encouragement and help.

We've also learned how much Mystery Scene means to its readers. Now, we can't take credit for this since it was the doing of our talented predecessors, but we can promise you that we'll do our best to continue the tradition of lively, thoughtful coverage of the mystery in all its aspects.

For the past few years Laura Lippman has been crafting an impressive series of novels about Tess Monaghan, a journalist-turned-P.I. We check in with Baltimore's favorite daughter as her new stand-alone thriller, Every Secret Thing, comes off press.

In addition to the generations of young readers she introduced to quality mystery fiction, Joan Lowery Nixon was famous for her kindly mentoring of new writers. Shortly before her untimely death this summer, Rosemary Poole-Carter interviewed Joan for this issue.

Other articles for thise issue include Adam Meyer's disconcerting stint as a TV writer in Hollywood; a look at the literary credentials of K.C. Constantine; and Kristine Kathryn Rusch's examination of the ten biggest myths in the book business.

And then just to make us all feel like underachievers, Beth Foxwell recounts the career of Metta Fuller Victor - prolific author, editior, abolitionist, mother of nine, - and the first American mystery novelist.

Getting Lucky
We're off to Vegas soonn for this year's Bouchercon. You'll find us either at our booth in the Dealer's Room or balancing the books at the slot machines. Oh, or at one of our panels. Brian talks about the internet Friday at 9 a.m.; I'm moderating a panel about reference books Saturday morning at the same ungodly hour. Hope to see you there!

-- Kate Stine, Editor-in-chief