Features
Robert Crais: The Dudes Abide
With Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, and a large cast of continuing characters, Crais has created a world—and a new way to tell us about it.
by Kevin Burton Smith
Jill Paton Walsh: As Wimsey Takes Her
Walsh continues the adventures of Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey, this time in a 1952 murder investigation that has its roots in Wimsey’s very first case 30 years before.
by Lynn Kaczmarek
Deadline! Journalists in Crime Films
Like detectives, journalists are often involved in ferreting out the truth and exposing wrong-doers—sometimes with cataclysmic results, as in the Watergate scandal.
by Art Taylor
The Murders in Memory Lane: Evan Hunter, Part I
Over his 60-year career, Hunter (aka Ed McBain) turned out an extraordinary volume of work, and never lost his enthusiasm for it.
by Lawrence Block
Bawdy Bibliophiles
There’s only one thing these folks like more than books...
by Stephen J. Gertz
Steve Hockensmith: Holmes on the Range
Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer, cowboy brothers turned sleuths.
by Cheryl Solimini
Killer Covers
These book jackets do justice to the excellent stories they promote.
by J. Kingston Pierce
What’s Happening With... K.J. Erickson
by Brian Skupin
Departments
At the Scene
by Kate Stine
Mystery Miscellany
by Louis Phillips
Hints & Allegations
2011 Edgar Award nominations, 2011 Dilys Award nominations, Lawrence Block on Reading Agatha Christie; CWA Diamond Dagger to Lindsey Davis.
The Hook
First Lines That Caught Our Attention
Eyewitness
The Best Damn Private Eye on TV? Kalinda Sharma on The Good Wife.
Kevin Burton Smith
Writing Life: Gormania
Forgotten Book: Wild Night by L.J. Washburn, Margaret Millar, Vin Packer
by Ed Gorman
New Books
Deadly Research
by Beth Groundwater
Gertrude Stein & Ernest Hemingway, Mystery Fans
by Craig McDonald
Moments of Weakness
by Simon Wood
Reviews
Small Press Reviews: Covering the Independents
by Betty Webb
Very Original: Paperback Originals Reviewed
by Lynne Maxwell
Short & Sweet: Short Stories Considered
by Bill Crider
What About Murder? Reference Books Reviewed
by Jon L. Breen
Sounds of Suspense: Audiobooks Reviewed
by Dick Lochte
Mystery Scene Reviews
Miscellaneous
The Docket
Letters
Readers Recommend
Advertiser Index
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
