Welcome to the second volume of The Black Cat Mystery Community’s “Thrillogy” series, celebrating classic mystery short stories. This time we focus on the work of Talmage Powell (1920–2000). Included are:
EASY MARK
LIFE SENTENCE
REWARD FOR GENIUS
At the beginning of his career, Powell published, under his name and many pseudonyms, more than 200 stories in top crime and mystery pulp magaziness like Dime Mystery and Black Mask Mystery Magazine. After the collapse of the pulps, he continued penning new tales for their digest-sized replacement, writing more than 300+ tales for magazines such as Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Manhunt, and many more.
He wrote his first novel, The Smasher, in 1959. Other notable works include the novel The Killer is Mine, a number of Ellery Queen novels he ghost-wrote, novelizations of the TV series Mission: Impossible and scenarios for the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
