G is for Gumshoe, Gangster and...

G is for gumshoe, gangster and Ghost Music of Vaudeville. So where did the term gumshoe come from and what does it mean? G is for gumshoe as a term for detective originated long before I began reading my first mystery. Why gumshoe? Think of a PI running around seedy neighborhoods gathering clues. He is bound to step in some gum on the sidewalk one place or another…well, maybe not. 

The real explanation is offered that during the 1800's the soles of boots and shoes were made from a product called gum rubber and thus soft and quiet walking. Gumshoe meant to sneak around. A gum shoe-man was slang for a thief. But, by 1908 "gum shoe" meant a police detective and it stuck (excuse the pun) 

Gangster, we know, the typical bad guy, crime family mobster, Mafia come immediately to mind, which brings us to The Ghost Music of Vaudeville where our gumshoe is Charlie, a woman investigative reporter. 

The gangsters want the Keith Theatre and Charlie, Tommy and Piano man solicit the help of theater and music icon Bette Midler to help save the day. 

You can follow the path of this accidental gumshoe by reading an excerpt at

 http://wings-press.com/Bookstore/Ghost%20Music%20of%20Vaudeville.htm

Let me know what you think of the term gumshoe and the book.

P.S. Meantime, why not sign up for the free newsletter The Mystery Reader Connectionand stay abreast of all the gumshoes, gangsters, books and news about mysteries with guest columnists that are regular features to entertain and mystify you.

Whodunit makes the Bestseller List

It's hard to imagine how long the printed word has been thrilling, intriguing or entertaining people, but it's even more interesting to study the best seller lists since they first began somewhere around 1825 or so. We really have to stretch ourselves to imagine that far back so much has happened in the last 150 years or more.

I began to wonder when the first mystery may have hit the shelves, but more importantly when did one reach the distinction of bestseller?

Imagine, the year is 1902 and the list has been going for a while. You pick up the paper and lo and behold Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hounds of the Baskervilles is listed. It is still one of Doyle's most famous Sherlock Holmes novels and is officially the first 'detective story', to  make the bestseller list. [according to Michael Korda in Making the List, a cultural History of the American bestseller 1900 - 1999.]

But it wasn't until 1909 that the first American detective story made the list. The Man in the Lower Ten, by Mary Roberts Rinehart had the distinction and along with that, a tradition of women writers who used three names in their signature line. The tradition, it would seem with such notables as Mary Higgins Clark and others.

So the printed word continues to be interested in the traditions and genre's long ago built by those we love to read and hope to emulate in our own writing.
Billie A Williams (since I only use an initial I guess I don't qualify for the distinction mentioned above {smile})
www.billiewilliams.com
Money Isn't Everything