About the Author

Francis M. Nevins is a professor emeritus at St. Louis University School of Law, where he taught from 1971 until his retirement. In addition to writings on legal subjects he is the author of six mystery novels: Publish and Perish (1975), Corrupt and Ensnare (1978), The 120-Hour Clock (1986), The Ninety Million Dollar Mouse (1987), Into the Same River Twice (1996) and Beneficiaries' Requiem (2000). He has also written about forty short stories which have appeared in Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock and other national magazines and many of which have been reprinted in leading mystery anthologies. Some of his shorter fiction has been collected in Night of Silken Snow and Other Stories (2001) and Leap Day and Other Stories (2003). He has edited more than 15 mystery anthologies and collections and has written several nonfiction books on the genre. Two of these nonfiction titles---Royal Bloodline: Ellery Queen, Author and Detective (1974) and Cornell Woolrich: First You Dream, Then You Die (1988)---have won him Edgar awards from Mystery Writers of America. He has written articles, book reviews and similar short pieces on mystery fiction for newspapers, magazines and reference works. During 1994 he served as Awards Chair for Mystery Writers of America. He has also published many articles dealing with movies and six books on the subject. His two latest works in this area are Hopalong Cassidy: On the Page, On the Screen and The Cisco Kid: American Hero, Hispanic Roots, both of which were published in the summer of 2008. Cornucopia of Crime, a large collection of his nonfiction, and Night Forms, an equally large collection of short stories, will be published later in 2010.