Page 8 THE BATTALION
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1978
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A&M mystery writer alive and well
Professor ‘murders’ with typewriter C
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By JAMES HAMILTON
Battalion Reporter
An English professor at Texas
A&M University has murdered
more than 50 people during the last
20 years. The murder scene: his
fifth-floor office in the Harrington
Education Center. The murder
weapon: his typewriter.
James Franklin Peirce, or J. F.
Peirce as he is known by his readers,
proudly confesses to the murders
that have filled his mystery short
stories and helped earn him the
status of being Texas’ foremost adult
mystery short story writer.
“I ve probably murdered more
people than anyone else in Texas,’’
he said during a recent interview.
“All on paper, of course.”
Peirce, 60, has taught at Texas
A&M for 33 years, using his free time
to write mystery stories. For the last
18 years, he has taught creative writ-
ing.
Peirce has had more than 40
stories published in Ellery Queen
and Mike Shayne mystery maga
zines, The Bicentennial Collec
tion of Texas Short Stories and other
publications.
Peirce was born in Edwardsville,
Ill. While a young boy, his interest in
writing was aroused by a retired
English teacher, Mrs. Handlon, who
lived across the street from his
home. She took Peirce and other
neighborhood children to the local
library about once a week and often
read to them, he said.
“She had a dramatic flair for read
ing,” Peirce said. “In many respects,
she fostered my interest in writing.”
Peirce wrote for his junior high
school newspaper and was a voraci
ous reader. He especially enjoyed
reading the works of Dorothy
Parker, Noel Coward and Arthur
Schnitzler, writers, he said, who
were to influence his own writing.
After graduating from high school,
Peirce attended the University of Il
linois and obtained a bachelor’s de
gree in speech. He followed with a
master’s degree in theater arts from
the University of Iowa at Iowa City in
1942.
Peirce taught one semester of high
school speech and drama in his
hometown before joining the army
COMING
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Dec. 4-8
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and serving in the medical depart
ment for more than three years. He
spent 10 months doing administra
tive clerical work in a general hospi
tal in England.
Peirce began teaching at Texas
A&M in February, 1946, two weeks
after his discharge. After one year of
teaching, he met and manied Billie
Jo Lochridge, who was the head ref
erence librarian at the Texas A&M
Library.
Although Peirce wrote a great deal
during his early years teaching, his
stories didn’t sell well until 1956
when he sold three stories to three
national magazines in three months.
Thinking he had found the secret of
being a successful writer, Peirce
faced an important decision.
“I asked myself if I wanted to be a
ftdl-time writer or if I wanted to be a
teacher who wrote, Peirce said. "At
that time, I decided that there was
no question about it; I wanted to be a
teacher.
“That was a good decision since I
didn’t sell anything else for another
two and a half years.
Peirce said he didn’t consider
himself a professional writer until a
few years later when he had sold sev
eral more stories and was invited for
the third time to join the Mystery
Writers of America, an organization
that fosters fellowship among mys
tery writers.
Since then, Peirce said, he has
enjoyed a successful life as a mystery
writer. Two of his stories appeared in
Mystery Writers of America an
thologies. And his short story, “The
Final Portrait," appeared in Best
Detective Stories of the Year 1972.
Peirce’s latest achievements in
clude his short story “Conditioned to
United
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Hattalion photo by Junei n
I’ve probably murdered more people than anyone else
Texas,” said Texas A&M University English Professor],
Peirce in a recent interview. “All on paper, of course.” Besid
teaching, Peirce has been writing mystery short storiesforli
past 20 years.
B of dowr
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Biise ski ar
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Kill, which appeared in the April
1978 edition of the Mike Shayne
Mystery Magazine; "The Day of the
Dead," which was selected last
month for the MWA’s honor roll for
best detective stories, and "The
Caterpillar Hunter,” which is
scheduled to appear next month in a
book entitled Texas Stories and
Poems.
Peirce, who has also won the top
award at Southwest Writers Con-
fhces on three occasions, spends be
tween two and four hours writing
each day.
Peirce said he gets ideas for his
mystery stories from many sources,
including dreams, newspaper col
umns and quotations. Sometimes he
browses through books of pictures
and photographs for ideas.
“I’ve written two stories by trying
to relate the characters that I ve seen
in a number of pictures and he situa
tions that the pictures suggest,
Peirce said.
He wrote the short story "A Prom
ise of Spring" using this technique,
hasig the story on seven characters
he saw in four different photographs.
"But I have no one way of getting
ideas," Peirce added. “Mostly, I try
to see relationships between things
or two people, and then I ask myself
questions and give myself answers to
them in trying to develop a plot.
Peirce writes down his story ideas
and stores them in manilla folders,
which clutter his desk. Occasionally,
he tries to develop ides immediately
\nybocly \
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■es to, sai
A. “They h
.w. the pe
pur the bar
K 1 and th
ug Aspt
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f|ll-(la\, all
pest tick<
[quistador
Supplies for the
needle artist
707 Texas 846-0072
after conceiving the, buthei
files tham away and think
them later.
His short story, "The
Bomb, took more than 10y
complete.
“With other stories, Igeti
and I can’t wait to write I
Peirce said.
Peirce explained that itisl
mg increasingly difficult tose
ten. stories.
"About 13 or 14 year' ai |
said, there were over a tl Bltah ski pr
mystery stories publishedin^ irk City and
magazines. 'Three years aji iotmtain. Ja
were less than 500. Because lischargin
v ision, in all probability, the» ss this year
short story form isdeclining.il lie increa:
see the situation gettinganyUHed the at
the near future. Bkell, D-(
Peirce added it would IteinMed about
hie to support himselfsolely! «te hikes to si
writing. He said the mystery!
relatively poor-paying andr
percent of the full-time fret]
writers manage to earn a decel
ing from writing.
I make more moneyasa
professor than a vast majority^
lance writers, he said.
A good portion of the i
Peirce earns goes toward travepfan area v
major hobby other than writ Ttually a ru
“My wife and 1 love to tofljim There
Peirce said. "We take one(wtant. ‘We
trips every year.” Bude has h
During the summer, heaaBes.”
wife went on two cruises, one W ith the
Baltic Sea and one throughtlierBsportatior
and canals of the NetherlandMing also y
previous trips, they have been flieve the in
Brit ish Isles, southern £11 of busines
South America, Canadgandit Mitchell th
Peirce, who will be retiring^ another 1
than five years, said he is if ski are
forward to that day. Bg off.
"I suspect that retirementBThecost of
give me more time to trave 4id Mitchell,
more enjoyed teaching, theaswmore likel
tion with young people, withiwee the nun
with my colleagues.” pgorgivei
Then, said
*t of them
|is bill, pa
and 19
Ise, woidd
feipation
area applie
unlikely the
]n next yea
|ated in th
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