I just started reading the January 2008 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and it seems that they’re reviving content from the Black Mask private eye magazine that made hardboiled detective fiction famous from the 1920s to the 1950s. When Black Mask ceased publication in 1951, Ellery Queen started featuring some of its stories in EQMM. That stopped in 1970 or so, and many of the Black Mask stories slipped into obscurity. I’m really glad that EQMM is reviving some of these stories and adding some modern ones that fit within its scheme. I don’t like a steady diet of hardboiled mystery fiction, but I do like seeing history preserved, and I do like some of the stories and novels in that genre.
EQMM is doing a great job of honoring classic mystery writers while embracing new authors too. Edward D. Hoch and Doug Allyn are still my favorites. 
There stories are like good chocolate. I can’t resist either one. 
Speaking of chocolate, I just got a heart-shaped box of chocolate truffles from my parents. Very nice! 
