As a frequent reader of the NYT’s Book Review crime columnist Marilyn Stasio, I have often been curious about her background. Last week Stasio celebrated her 25th year writing about mystery and crime novels for the NYT. She took over the column from her predecessor, Newgate Callendar, pen name of Harold C. Schonberg, on September 18, 1988 and has been writing it every since.
Her taste in crime novels has changed over the years. Early on she had a preference for “well-mannered, very smart detectives.” She dreaded the moment when she would have to review a hard-boiled mystery. But she found that she really liked “serial killers, mad dogs, and all that stuff.”
The biggest changes in the crime/mystery writing genre came when American women like Sara Paretsky and Sue Grafton entered the scene. Plots had to change from rescuing helpless women to other dastardly deeds. “One year, in three separate books, entire busloads of children were kidnapped.”
Before coming to the Times, she wrote a syndicated review column called “Mystery Alley.” Editors had no time for this genre and were glad to get it off their hands. She said she read it all for them. “They knew nothing, and didn’t care.” That attitude has definitely changed. From being a underappreciated and despised genre, mystery writing has become a very respected branch of literature.