AHMM was founded in 1956 by HSD Publications, which licensed the use of the director's name. Though there was no formal connection with the television show, stories published in the magazine were sometimes adapted by the producers of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and later,
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. A few writers, such as
Henry Slesar, wrote for both. Other contributors during the magazine’s early years included
Evan Hunter (under the pen name Ed McBain),
Ed Lacy,
Bill Pronzini,
Jim Thompson,
Donald E. Westlake and
Charles Willeford (who briefly worked for the magazine).
Pat Hitchcock, Alfred's daughter, also briefly worked for the magazine. In 1975,
AHMM was acquired by
Davis Publications, which later sold the magazine along with its sister publication, ''
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' to
Dell Magazines in 1992. It was sold to 1 Paragraph Inc. in 2025. After
EQMM,
AHMM is the second-longest-running mystery fiction magazine. In 2006, the magazine celebrated its 50th anniversary with the publication of the anthology
Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine Presents Fifty Years of Crime and Suspense. In 2007,
AHMM joined with
The Wolfe Pack, a society founded in 1978 to celebrate the
Nero Wolfe stories of
Rex Stout, to sponsor the
Black Orchid Novella Contest for stories in the "classic detective” style of Stout’s Nero Wolfe.
Owners • HSD Publications (1956–1975) •
Davis Publications (1975–1992) •
Dell Magazines (1992–2025) • 1 Paragraph Inc. (2025–present)
Editors • William Manners (1956–1961) • Lisa Belknap (1961–1962) • Richard E. Decker (1963–1964) • G.F. Foster (1964–1967) • Ernest M. Hutter (1967–1976) • Eleanor Regis Sullivan (1975–1981) • Cathleen Jordan (1981–2002) • Linda Landrigan (2002–present)
Circulation Figures ==Content==