"Midnight Movie," by James Van Pelt, in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, September/October 2024.
A topic that comes up at least once a year on the Short Mystery Fiction Society list is: What's the difference between Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazines? I even wrote an essay on the subject.
Here is one difference: EQMM does not welcome stories that include elements of science fiction, fantasy, or the supernatural -- unless there turns out to be a mundane explanation. AHMM, on the other hand, sometimes lets such tales in, if there is a strong mystery element.
Which brings us to this week's story.
The narrator runs a theatre. Someone is murdered during a midnight show, stabbed by someone in the row behind them. The narrator suspects the killer might be the customer he calls the Creep, who always wears a fedora and dark glasses (during a midnight flick?). As it turns out the Creep is doing something quite different, and that's where the science fiction element comes in.
I think SF tends toward the philosophical more than mystery fiction. It has to do with the "what if" element so often built into the genre. "If X could happen how would that affect Y?" This story will entertain you and make you think.
