R.G. BELSKY

Social distancing may have been common among working writers before it was a necessity, but not all members of that tribe adhered to the stereotype.

What About Murder?

Reference Books Reviewed

VAL,QUEEN OF SCOTS

ONE OF THE LIVING LEGENDS OF MYSTERY WRITING, VAL McDERMID HAS ENTERTAINED READERS AND DRIVEN THE GENRE FORWARD FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, BUT SHE WAS NO OVERNIGHT SUCCESS

THE BEAUTIFUL DARK

Barry Gifford and the Noir Revival

the Hook

Intriguing First Lines

IVY POCHODA

It may seem odd to equate Greek drama and athletics with contemporary mysteries. But author Ivy Pochoda sees a logical intersection with the violence, structure, and drive inherent in these subjects.

PUSHING WATER

Write what you know” is the hoariest piece of writing advice, as well as the one most often misapplied. As Stephen King said in his outstanding book On Writing, what if you want to write about serial killers or intergalactic space flight?

Grand Dame Guignol

Sometimes over the top, other times way over the top, Grand Dame Guignol was grisly, memorable entertainment buoyed by the sort of movie stars they no longer make: actresses whose talent, intensity, and willingness to take risks with their images made the wildly melodramatic seem frighteningly real.

EDITH MAXWELL aka MADDIE DAY

Cozies certainly provide solace from many of the dark edges of the actual world,” says Edith Maxwell.

AN OATH AND A TERRORIST

It was the late 2000s and the United States government was engaged in a global hunt for Osama bin Laden.

PHILLIP MARGOLIN

If asked to account for his career(s) in crime, Phillip Margolin would probably offer evidence that it was inevitable. “I have been a voracious reader starting in elementary school and I tore through Erle Stanley Gardner’s Perry Mason novels and the Ellery Queen mysteries,” he says. “By the seventh grade, I had decided that the only thing I wanted to do was try murder cases.”

ERICA SPINDLER

Inspiration comes in mysterious ways. New Orleans novelist Erica Spindler—the New York Times bestselling author of 30 titles, including January’s The Look-Alike—can pinpoint the exact moment a lifechanging creative epiphany literally fell into her hands.

Small Press

Reviewing the Independents

DEX PARIOS

Will She or Won’t She? Only Her Stumptown Producers Know for Sure

NICK PETRIE THE WILD ONE

The idea that led Nick Petrie to create his character Peter Ash, a decorated Marine combat veteran whose PTSD makes him so claustrophobic that he is most comfortable outdoors, came in a basement.

CRIME AUTHORS CAUGHT ON CAMERA

Ready for a Close-Up

MIDSOMER MURDERS

Cozy English villages rife with deceit and death

COURT BRIEFS

RECENT LEGAL THRILLERS

William Kent Krueger

This year marks the arrival of Kent Krueger’s highly-anticipated standalone novel, This Tender Land, a coming-of-age tale about a band of four children and a horrific crime that sets them on a journey down the Mississippi à la Huckleberry Finn.

When The Nights Were Deadly Wide World Of Mystery

Today “late-night television” means only one thing: hour-long comedy/ talk shows that are virtually identical in format.

What About Murder?

Reference Books Reviewed

V.M. Burns

It’s been said that the act of writing, at its most fundamental level, is a form of wish fulfillment.

Small Press

Reviewing the Independents

One Night Gone

I have always been fascinated by beach towns in the off-season.

Getting Away From It All

I lie to myself about why I travel. I say I want to (as the cliché would have it) “get away from it all.”

Elly Griffiths

Elly Griffiths is a true woman of mystery. Born Domenica de Rosa—the name under which she began writing fiction—it was only after switching genres that she adopted the alternate identity that has become familiar to readers the world over.

C.B. Strike

The PI Series based on Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike Novels Bring the Luster Back to TV ’Tecs

Alias Robert Galbraith

Under a pseudonym, J.K. Rowling puts her own distinctive spin on the private eye genre in her Cormoran Strike novels.

Steve Cavanagh

Beyond Reasonable Self-Doubt

What About Murder?

Reference Books Reviewed