ALLEN J. HUBIN
Maybe a word from the detective fiction world is in order.
I’m sorry to see that the planned gathering in tribute to Dr. Barzun will not take place, but I should like publicly to thank him for his contributions to the humble fanzine that started in my basement in 1967. It was called The Armchair Detective, otherwise TAD, and it lasted almost 30 years in various peoples’ hands.
After his and Wendell Hertig Taylor’s wonderfully informed and opinionated A Catalogue of Crime and its revised and enlarged edition in 1971, the two collaborators continued to read mystery/detective fiction and comment on what they read. A re-revised Catalogue of Crime did not seem in the cards, and they looked for a place to present their continuing comments to fanciers of the genre. They did me and The Armchair Detective the great honor of allowing me to include batches of their supplements to Catalogue in TAD’s pages for a number of years, beginning with Volume 9 Number 2 (February 1976).
So thank you, Dr. Barzun (and Dr. Taylor) for your unforgettable contributions to the genre and for your generosity to an unpretentious (if fondly remembered) fan publication.