Hooray for Criminal Brief

This morning our pal, Leigh Lundin, who blogs at Criminal Brief titled his blog BSP, the industry short cut for Blatant Self-promotion. For a few blogs now, Leigh, Rob Lopresti and James Lincoln Warren have been “mentioning” that all three of them have stories in the April issue of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Rob’s story even made the cover art. Needless to say, there is much rejoicing over at Criminal Brief, and we Women of Mystery rejoice along with them. As soon as I heard the news I couldn’t wait to get a copy of the April AHMM, kick back in the recliner and become lost in mystery.

Okay, now is the time for my own backstory. Although I have had a subscription to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine for eons, I have never gotten around to subscribing to AHMM. I save it for my special treat: when someone I know has a story in a current issue, when I see it in the airport newsstand, times like that. And in the interest of full disclosure, I should remind everyone that I live in New York City, where I have no less than two really large and one kind of small Barnes and Noble stores within four or five miles of my house. HOWEVER, this winter I am living on a peninsula on the west coast of the larger peninsula that is the state of Florida. Let me say right off that the Lee County Library System is fantastic. I reserve books, use the library computer and get cheerful information from the librarians at both the North Fort Myers and Cape Coral branches.

But, if I want to own what I’m reading, well, the largest selection of books for sale hereabout is at Super Target. For magazines, try Walgreen. You get the picture. So Friday, I ran all over the peninsula, hitting all the supermarkets and drug stores searching their newsstands for AHMM. No luck.

Saturday morning I decided to venture into the Big City—Fort Myers. This meant actually driving across a bridge spanning a river! By my standards, that means I should be going to New Jersey. Anyway, I drove fourteen (count ‘em) miles to the Barnes and Noble, searched the magazine rack, got lost in some of the writer magazines for a while, and finally found out from my new best friend, Rich, Barnes and Noble employee extraodinaire, that they stopped carrying AHMM a few months ago. When I explained how desperate I am because of Rob and Leigh and James, Rich’s demeanor changed from new best friend to “she sounds like she’s their personal stalker. Better hustle her out of the store before she starts taking hostages.” He directed me to the Books-A-Million a few miles down the road. A very nice young lady in Books-A-Million claimed that they carry AHMM but were just temporarily out of copies.

So this morning I sat down and ordered a subscription to AHMM, something I should have done years ago. It seemed easier than closing my eyes, clicking the heels of my ruby red slippers and chanting, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.”

Terrie