Evening star., 1945-12-02
By Charles E.
Tracewell

-HE detective story, mystery
tale, whodunit, murder novel.
l. call it what you will, long has
held an honored place in the oaliS
life of the National Capital. Not
onlv has washington been a favored
location for such writer's, but many
,f the writer's of this popular form
have lived here, finding in the hte
Of the city something OF the same
puzzle which they put into thelf
stories. .,,,,u
long before Woodrow Wilson
nlaced the offlcial seal OF approval
On the whodunit, the plain inhaol-
tants had read the stories OF one
IF Washington's own, Natalie sum
ner Lincoln, whose "a tales OF de-
lection were laid either in wash
inpton or Georgetown. Today Mary
Roberts Rinehart and Mrs. Zenith
brown. who writes under the names
If Leslie Ford and David FIome,
live in the Metropolitan Area.
Truman Likes EN-
President Truman heads the offi-
c,aI list of readers of this type OF
f,ction. The President reads Who
.]units for relaxation, as sort OF
xoporific. He has no particular IA
yorite among authors or stories.
Members Of his cabinet. Senators,
members of the House and other
nersons of official life may also De
seen reading the tales of crime.
Today the Public Library OF the
District Of Columbia and our many
hook stores and lending libraries
attest to the continued popularity
81 this kind OF story. which was
horn in America, was later done.
more successfully for a time by
Enplish authors, and today. with the
advent of Raymond Chandler ana
others, is being taken over In lts
hest style by Americans again.
went up to the Central Public
Tibrarv to find out what they
thought Of one of my favorlte xmas
of reading. / discovered that every
body, from the top to the bottom OF
that Washington landmark, likes
EN-!
25-Cenf ThriIiers
They have scores of the 2o-cent
thrillers on their shelves, too. num-
dreds of them, and they love them
lust as much as they do their cloth
hound books. (Real book lovers are
that way. Don't, for heavens sake,
clinp to the snobbery which ranks
a book according to its Grass price
in the market. A detective story
narticularly, is just as good IN
quarter edition as at 81 the copy
and some think it bettero
And. anyway, the 25-cent books
are here to stay. They are a part
of the big business into which the
writing and marketing OF Whodunlts
has been turned. 1t is far cry from
the poverty payment which Edgar
Allan Poe received for the worlds
first real detective story. Thou Art
the Man." published in 1874 IN, OF
all places, Godey's Lady's Book, TO
the hundreds of thousands of dol
lars which Erie Stanley Gardner re-
ceiyes annually for the exploits OF
his Perry Mason and Secretary
Della. Such earnings are the result
Of sales each year. it is claimed, OF
5000 900 copies, in all forms. OF this
writer's books, including. of course,
the ascent editions.
Listed Popularity
Calls for thrillers at the Public
Library bear out the findings OF book
stores and lending libraries that the
most popular mystery authors to-
day, in the order of their popularity.
are Erie Stanley Gardner, Ellery
Queen, Leslie Ford, Leslie Charters.
Carter Dickson and Agatha Christie.
Calls for Gardner's recently issued
"The Case Of the Half-Wakened
Wife" began to come in long before
the book was published.
Lending libraries take large per-
centage of every regular edition OF
q new mystery story. A large lend
ing outfit will use as many as 80
copies of each new one.
At the Public Library they have
In the card index system in the fic-
ton room n trays of about 900
items each, devoted to general f1c-
ton, and two trays of approximately
800 each, given to detective and
vrnvstorv efnrieS Including Spy and