As part of EQMM's 80th-year anniversary celebration this year (2021), we offer a seasonally appropriate history-laden mystery by the multitalented writing team of Ellery Queen: "The President's Half Disme," originally published in EQMM in February 1947.

Edward D. Hoch had a thirty-five-year streak of unbroken publication in each issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine until his death in early 2008. We have no doubt that he still has many fans among our readers. 2021 is the magazine’s 80th year of publication, and as part of our celebration of highlights of our history we wanted to be sure to include some of Edward D. Hoch’s work. The Rochester author was a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, an Edgar Allan Poe Award winner, and the recipient of two Anthony Awards. For this podcast EQMM editor Janet Hutchings reads his story “The Man Who Drowned in Champagne,” from the April 1998 issue of EQMM.

Terence Faherty is the author of the Scott Elliott and Owen Keane series. He has also been penning a series of Sherlock Holmes parodies that appear in our January/February issues, coinciding with the Baker Street Irregulars' celebration of Sherlock Holmes's Twelfth Night birthday. Here he reads "The Noble Bachelor" from our January/February 2018 issue.

Fei Wu is an author, translator, freelance editor, and literary agent who resides outside of Shanghai. He has played a key role in introducing Chinese readers to Golden Age detective fiction. Here, his suspenseful, unique, and clever Christmas tale "Beijingle All the Way" from our January/February 2020 issue is read by the translator of the story—and longtime contributor to EQMM—Josh Pachter. https://www.purple-planet.com

John M. Floyd is one of the mystery genre’s most prolific short story writers. His work has appeared in more than three hundred different publications, and has earned four Derringer awards and a nomination for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best short story. In 2018, he received the Edward D. Hoch Memorial Golden Derringer for Lifetime Achievement. His most recent honor came this year, when he won the best short story Derringer for the story he reads for this podcast, “On the Road With Mary Jo,” from the January/February 2019 issue of EQMM. www.johnmfloyd.com purple-planet.com

Barb Goffman is a mystery author, editor, and anthologist. She has won the Agatha, Macavity, and Silver Falchion awards for her writing, and has received more than two dozen award nominations. In this episode, she reads her tale "Dear Emily Etiquette" from the current September/October 2020 issue of EQMM. http://www.barbgoffman.com https://www.purple-planet.com

Derringer Award winner Josh Pachter is a translator, editor, and short-story writer. His translations and tales appear regularly in our pages—the former in the Passport to Crime department—and his recent editorial work has been published in anthologies from Untreed Reads, Mysterious Press, and Akashic Books. Here he reads his story "The Secret Lagoon" from the September/October 2019 issue. http://joshpachter.com https://www.purple-planet.com

This year's Shamus Award for Best Short Story went to Louisiana author O'Neil De Noux for his tale "Sac-a-Lait Man," from EQMM's September/October 2019 issue. The author also won the 2017 Shamus Award and has won a Derringer Award for Best Novelette. De Noux is the author of over thirty novels. The sixth book in the Lucien Caye series, to which this story belongs, is forthcoming. http://www.oneildenoux.com

In this episode, New Jersey author David Dean reads his moving and suspenseful tale "The Duelist" from the May/June 2019 issue. The story, which won that year's EQMM Readers Award contest, is a historical one that brilliantly recreates the antebellum period in the United States.

In this month's episode, we turn our attention to poetry. EQMM has a long history of including occasional poems in our pages. From humorous limericks to serious free verse, poetry gives another lens through which to view the crime and mystery genre. Here we include a story in epic verse by John F. Dobbyn and poems by James Sallis, Stephen D. Rogers, Kevin Mims, Marilyn Todd, John V. Mercurio, K.D. Hart, and Diane Yetman, read by the authors, EQMM Managing Editor Jackie Sherbow, and actor Mandie Davis. https://www.johndobbyn.com http://www.jamessallis.com https://www.stephendrogers.com http://www.marilyntodd.com https://www.jackiesherbow.com