Edward Gorey &
Mohonk Mountain House

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This Collector Guide was written by Xandy Hand with additional photos from Todd Camp.

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Contents:

• What is Mohonk Mountain House?
• Murder Ink
• The Mohonk Mystery Weekends Brochures 1977-1991
• Other Mohonk Mountain House Related Collectables

What is Mohonk Mountain House?

Mohonk Mountain House is a late nineteenth century resort in the Catskills Mountains of New York State. It is reputed to be one of the inspirations for the hotel featured in Stephen King’s “Shining” (since it has a hedge maze and Stephen King was a frequent resident).

In 1976/77, it began hosting an event which is generally considered to be the first ever murder mystery weekend. This became an annual weekend event (later known as the Mohonk Mystery Weekend(s)).
Dilys Winn (a speciality bookseller in New York – her shop was called Murder Ink which was an un-signposted single-room shop, stacked with crime novels) and Carol Brener (who subsequently took over the shop) organised the first mystery weekend.
It had a very restricted clientele (up to about 300 residents) but became very popular and was frequently oversubscribed. It boasted some very famous attendees including novelists such as Isaac Asimov, Donald Westlake (aka Richard Stark), Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Edward Gorey became associated with it from the start (no doubt because of his links with the New York book scene) and illustrated all of the covers for the brochures promoting the event between 1977 and 1991. Note that 1991 had two versions, one with a Gorey cover, and the other with a Gorey illustration inside.

Murder Ink

There are two books about the Mystery genre written by Dilys Winn (the former owner of the Murder Ink bookshop) published by Workman Publishing between 1977 and 1979 which contain Edward Gorey illustrations and a further revised edition in 1984:

Murder Ink Books
Murder Ink: The Mystery Reader's Companion 1977 September 19th Workman Publishing	Murderess Ink: The Better Half of the Mystery 1979 Workman Publishing	Murder Ink: Revived, Revised, Still Unrepentant 1984 Workman Publishing

Carol Brener, Dilys Winn and Edward Gorey all individually feature as ‘murder victims’ on the covers of three of the Cape Code Mystery Novels (featuring Asey Mayo/Leonidas Witherall) written by Phoebe Atwood Taylor (aka Alice Tilton and Freeman Dana) for Foul Play Press - The Octagon House, Figure Away and The Cut Direct respectively:

Phoebe Atwood Taylor's Foul Play Cape Code Mystery Novels
The Cut Direct Foul Play Press 1979 Edward Gorey	Figure Away Foul Play Press 1983 Dilys Winn	The Octagon House Foul Play Press 1983 Carol Brener

The Mohonk Mystery Weekends Brochures 1977-1991:

The Mohonk Mystery Weekends Brochures 1977-1991
1977 January 27-30th Dead Of Winter Mohonk Mountain House & Murder Ink (co-conspirators) Dilys Winn & Carol Brener	1978 January 26-29th Dead Of Winter Mohonk Mountain House & Murder Ink (co-conspirators) Dilys Winn & Carol Brener	1979 March 15-18th Ides of Mohonk Mohonk Mountain House & Murder Ink (co-conspirators)	1980 March 13-16th Ides of Mohonk Mohonk Mountain House & Murder Ink (co-conspirators)
1981 March 12-15th Ides of Mohonk (“Who did in Miss Smit”) Mohonk Mountain House & Murder Ink (co-conspirators) Dilys Winn & Carol Brener?	1982 The Teacup Caper Mohonk Mountain House invites you to be present at	1983 March 10-13th The Hood Heist Mohonk Mystery Weekend	1984 March 15-18th Double Crossing (S.S.Mohonkia) Mystery Weekend Donald Westlake
1985 March 14-17th & 21-24th High Jinx Mystery Weekends Donald Westlake	1986 March 13-16th & 20-23rd Transylvania Station Mystery Weekends Donald Westlake	1987 March 12-15th & 19-22nd Way Out, West Mystery Weekends Donald Westlake	1988 March 10-13th & 17-20th Maltese Herring Mystery Weekends Donald Westlake
1989 March 9-12th & 16-19th (Operatic Gems) Mystery Weekends	1990 March 15-18th & 22-25th ? Mystery Weekends Donald Westlake	1991 March 15-17th & 22-24th Rotten to the Corps: (The Saint Apple’s Academy Murders) Mystery Weekends Dilys Winn

Other Mohonk Mountain House Related Collectables:

Other Mohonk Mountain House Related Collectables
	Item	Date	Publisher	Gorey Contribution
	High Jinx Donald & Abby Westlake	1987 December	Mohonk Mysteries	Cover from 1979 Ides of Mohonk brochure with framing illustrations by Joe Servello NOTE: The book contains a forward that tells the history from Abby & Don's viewpoint. It also mentions Gorey's illustrations.