Each issue contains commentary, several articles, author profiles, appreciations of particular subgenres or writers, letters to the editor, and 150+ reviews of new novels, audiobooks, reference works, kid’s mysteries, short stories, TV shows, films, paperback originals, and websites.

News items, cartoons, jokes, quotes, and anecdotes round out its front-of-the book “Hints & Allegations” pages.

[3] Both men felt the need for a magazine that would be to the mystery field what Locus was to the science fiction genre—news and views on the genre’s writers and the publishing business.

(Over the years, Mystery Scene has evolved into a reader-centered consumer publication although crime writers still have a strong presence at the magazine.)

[4] By the 52-page third issue in 1986, the magazine was no longer distributed with the fanzine, and the now-standard mix of interviews, profiles, news notes, obituaries, reviews, letters columns, and opinion pieces was established.