You’ll find a new short story of mine, “Mr. Tesla Likes to Watch,” in the May/June 2021 issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine (AHMM). The hard-copy issue hits newsstands today, April 20. Digital issues are already available.

“Mr. Tesla” is set in New York City in 1893. Mark Twain and Nicola Tesla—who were friends in real life—are presented with a strange mystery concerning a flower shop that they attempt to solve independently. The “winner,” i.e., the one who cracks the case, must buy the other dinner at Delmonico’s, a popular restaurant of the era. I’ve wanted to do something with these two real-life figures ever since I learned that they were unlikely friends.

You can buy digital issues via B&N, Kindle, Apple, Magzter, and Kobo. All the links are here at Hitchcock’s website. If you want to check out my story, make sure you are downloading the issue shown here.

Submission stats: I finished this story sometime in October 2018, but it did not find a home until Hitchcock’s bought it in February 2020. They took 309 days to say yes, and the story is appearing about 14 months from acceptance. Payment was $480.

Yes, I will someday release an e-book version of of the story, which I’ll offer free to readers on my list. If you’d rather wait for the free copy, please join my e-newsletter. (See bottom of this page.)

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Flower shop image by Alisa Anton on Unsplash