Nonfiction
“Elisabeth Sanxay Holding: The Revamped Introduction,” in Widow’s Mite/Who’s Afraid

by Gregory Shepard
Stark House, February 2018, $19.95

Of the many mystery writers who have gone through repeated cycles of neglect and rediscovery, Elisabeth Sanxay Holding, pioneer of domestic noir and favorite suspense writer of Raymond Chandler, may be the greatest. In 2003, Gregory Shepard, the publisher of Stark House Press, wrote an introduction to the pairing of Lady Killer and Miasma, first published in 1942 and 1929 respectively. He followed that volume with a half dozen more two-to-a-volume pairings. Now with the eighth volume of Stark’s Holding revival, he has revised, expanded, and improved that original introduction, discussing her pre-Depression mainstream novels (which may also be worthy of rediscovery) and her criminous output, in six, close-packed pages.

Jon L. Breen
Teri Duerr
6051
Shepard
February 2018
elisabeth-sanxay-holding-the-revamped-introduction-in-widow-s-mite-who-s-afraid
19.95
Stark House