Features
Broadcast Clues Hank Phillippi Ryan
An awarding-winning investigative journalist brings her expertise to bear on her fiction.
by Oline H. Cogdill
Books to Die For: Ross Macdonald’s The Chill
A thoughtful look at a celebrated author by one of contemporary crime fiction’s leading lights.
by John Connolly
Attica Locke
Past injustices and present inequities intersect at a Louisiana plantation in this talented newcomer’s latest.
by Oline H. Cogdill
Robert Barnard: A Talent to Entertain
An appreciation of this English author’s sharp wit and stellar plots.
by Martin Edwards
Action Figures We’d Like to See
Forgot all those plastic Luke Skywalkers and Batmen, these PIs should be action figures.
by Kevin Burton Smith
The Murders in Memory Lane: Now We Call It Mid-Century Erotica
It might not have been literature, but it was the beginning of a literary career.
by Lawrence Block
“If Books Could Kill” Mystery Crossword
by Verna Suit
Departments
At the Scene
by Kate Stine
Mystery Miscellany
by Louis Phillips
Hints & Allegations
Thriller, Dagger, Ngaio Marsh, and Ned Kelly Awards. Harper Lee Prize. Kate Carlisle on reading Prince of Tides; Bibliophile "Find the Difference Game."
The Hook
First Lines That Caught Our Attention
Gormania
Cunning and underrated: Derailed with Jennifer Aniston
by Ed Gorman
New Books
Remnants of the Civil War
by Don Helin
Reviews
Small Press Reviews: Covering the Independents
by Betty Webb
Very Original: Paperback Originals Reviewed
by Lynne Maxwell & Hank Wagner
What About Murder? Reference Books Reviewed
by Jon L. Breen
Sounds of Suspense: Audiobooks Reviewed
by Dick Lochte
Short & Sweet: Short Stories Considered
by Bill Crider
Mystery Scene Reviews
Miscellaneous
The Docket
Letters
Our Readers Recommend
MS Online
Advertising Info
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.
