Hi, there! I'm Cheryl Solimini, a long-time journalist and editor, and a I-wish-I-were-contributing-more Consulting Editor for Mystery Scene. I had the great good fortune to be with Family Circle as the publishing company was developing its Mary Higgins Clark Mystery Magazine, and acted as its first Features Editor and then as a contributing writer until its untimely demise (1996-2000, RIP). The longer-lasting pleasure of that time was working with, and getting to know, Kate Stine.
Given the privilege of writing Mystery Scene profiles and reviews over the years has not only provided a less-stalkerish excuse for me to talk to some of my favorite authors (Michael Connelly, Sara Paretsky), it has also introduced me to "new" favorites, including Lisa Lutz, Tana French, Amy Stewart.
Not sure if my crime-fiction addiction began with TV (The Avengers, Get Smart, Honey West, Burke's Law, The Man (and Girl) From U.N.C.L.E.) or books (Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, of course), but I clearly remember my first "adult" mystery. The reclusive couple who lived on the Jersey Palisades above my childhood home heard I was "a reader" and passed along a Richard Lockridge stand-alone. I can't remember the title but the femjep plot—a sophisticated young woman retreats to a friend's weekend place to drink and brood, only to be terrorized by the man also hiding out at the house, whose hurried plastic surgery leaves him "faceless"—certainly made it hard for this 11-year-old to return to River Heights. With my mother's help, I lobbied for, and got, permission to take out mysteries (more Lockridges, Agatha Christie, Rex Stout, Ngaio Marsh) from the adult section of our public library—a privilege that was nearly rescinded when I was overdue, by four months, for returning William Baring-Gould's two-volume The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. (Now I have my own set.)
So, who was your "first"? (Adult mystery novel/novelist, that is.)
Cheers,
Cheryl