The Dipping of the Candlemaker was one of 18 mystery and detective stories Hayden Howard had published in the US, UK, and Australia.
Later in the 1960s, he became a popular science fiction author.
In 1954, the average pay for teachers was around 4K per year. A short story author, selling at least ten stories a year, could at least earn the meager pay of a teacher. (Howard in his later years also became a teacher, in Santa Barbara CA.)
Scott Meredith was John’s literary agent at the time. Here’s a letter from Scott about the sale of John’s Candlemaker story.
Interesting facts: 1) Ellery Queen was a pseudonym for the writers/publishers Fred Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee. 2) It may interest science fiction fans that Scott Meredith also represented Arthur C. Clarke and Philip K. Dick.
In the letter above, written 70 years ago, Scott asked John to give the story more “stature” before publication. I haven’t the foggiest idea what that meant! But perhaps John did: it was published/republished five times.
Now I wonder even more what “stature” meant in 1954, so I can “get me some of that good stuff” for my own writing!
What’s especially interesting to me is that this particular story is a quirky one, compared to everything else Hayden Howard wrote. He set The Dipping of the Candlemaker in a 1600s colonial village. His characters spoke in 17th century English.
How did Hayden know how to write that? Back in ’54, did he peruse vintage documents in a library, to get the hang of 1600s lingo?
It’s especially hard to imagine the Candlemaker story was by the same author who wrote the sci-fi stories I compiled for the new Reawakened Worlds anthologies!
Then again, in his elder years, Hayden, AKA John, AKA Jack wrote poetry, including love poetry to his wife. So he was certainly a versatile writer, and full of surprises. He lived until his eighties, but was only in his twenties when he wrote The Dipping of the Candlemaker.
Here’s a list of 18 detective, mystery, and sea stories written by Hayden Howard.
Blood on the Medicine Arrows: The Saint Detective Magazine, December 1956; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) July 1957; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) September 1957
City in the Bottle: The Saint Mystery Magazine, April 1959; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) June 1959; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) August/September 1959; The Saint Mystery Library #2, 1959
Dead Beat: Manhunt, October 1960
Denny: Popular, 1954
Down Among the Rock Cod: Tales of the Sea, Spring 1953
Finger in the Trough: The Saint Mystery Magazine, April 1960; The Saint Mystery Magazine, (UK) June 1960
Hellwater Run: Adventure, March 1953
Murder on El Capitan: Keyhole Mystery Magazine, April 1960
Murder on San Afer: The Saint Detective Magazine, October/November 1953; The Saint Detective Magazine, (Australia) October 1954; The Saint Detective Magazine, (UK) December 1954
Murder Without Tears: Fifteen Detective Stories, August 1953
Pass the Bottle: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine #123, February 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #82, April 1954
Shark: Jack London’s Adventure Magazine, December 1958
The Amateur Assassin: The Saint Detective Magazine June 1957, The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) April 1958; The Saint Mystery Library #1, 1959; Great American Publications, Inc. August 1959
The Big Word: Trapped Detective Story Magazine, June 1956
The Dipping of the Candlemaker: Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, October 1954; Ellery Queen’s Awards: 9th Series ed. Ellery Queen, Little Brown, 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (UK) #21, October 1954; Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine (Australia) #90, December 1954; the hardcover book Mystery and Murder in Boston, W.W. Norton and Company Inc. 1987
The Dummy and the Death Web: New Detective Magazine, April 1953
The Housemother Cometh: Manhunt, December 1954; Giant Manhunt #5, (var.1), #5 (var.2) 1955
The Old Man’s Last Case: Popular Magazine, abt1954.
The Wrong Man: The Pursuit Detective Story Magazine #4, July 1954; Pursuit—The Phantom Mystery Magazine, May 1955
With His Back Turned: The Saint Detective Magazine August/September 1953; The Saint Detective Magazine (Australia) March 1955; The Saint Detective Magazine (UK) May 1955
NOTE: Friends, if you come across copies of any of these magazine issues, let me know! I have collected some but not all. As for you fans of Hayden Howard’s sci-fi: does it surprise you that he wrote mysteries, too?
