165 Fall Cover, Camilla LäckbergHello Everyone!

Well, the new normal has set in by now. For us, that means editors, writers, and designers spread all over the country, all working from home. So far, so good. We hope you all are equally as content and enjoying some good reading time.

Camilla Läckberg always wanted to be a crime writer. “I have always been a morbid person,” the bestselling Swedish writer says. “Other girls would read about horses; I was reading about serial killers. I have always had a big fascination with everything dark. I always leaned toward crime fiction.” One year, her family enrolled her in a creative writing course—and the rest is Scandi-Noir history. Follow Läckberg’s conversation with Oline Cogdill in this issue.

Michael Mallory writes about the elegant pleasures of one of my favorite authors, Emma Lathen, and her banker sleuth John Putnam Thatcher in this issue.

You may have thought that scholars had exhausted the topic of Raymond Chandler and his work. But unless you’ve looked at The High Window from a numismatic standpoint you would be wrong. Larry Block takes that angle and runs with it in “Raymond Chandler and the Brasher Doubloon.”

John Valeri chats with author Jenny Milchman in this issue about the juxtaposition of progress and peril in her work. “In so many ways the battle lines and social chasms seem to be drawn around political party or ethnic identity or religious group,” says Milchman. “But I think they really come down to one factor: willingness to examine ourselves, our beliefs, and if necessary, change. Or not.”

In “6 New Writers to Watch,” Oline Cogdill surveys a new generation of crime, mystery, and suspense writers. There’s something for everyone in this talented group— and some great storytelling.

“In Aikido, self-defense is literally about going with the flow—getting out of the way while using the opponent’s force against him,” says the prolific Jon Land in John Valeri’s intriguing profile. Similarly, “authors who struggle are trying to do all the work themselves instead of getting out of the way and letting their characters do it for them,” adds Land.

It’s romance, bullets, and the open road in Pat Broeske’s “Love on the Run,” a discussion of films with criminal couples at their center. How many have you seen?

Hank Phillippi Ryan gathers fellow nominees and winners of the Mary Higgins Clark Award to talk about Clark and her legacy. In addition to Hank, Catriona McPherson, Carol Goodman, Hallie Ephron, S.J. Bolton, and Lori Rader-Day take part. Now that’s a conversation!

The unfortunate Julia Wallace was the victim of a horrific crime in 1931 and the media of the day went nuts over the baffling case. Also entranced were a slew of mystery writers. Tom Mead takes us through a shelf of books that owe their existence to the confounding case.

Also in this issue, we have interesting My Book essays contributed by Daniella Bernett and Dave Neale.

Enjoy—and stay safe!

Kate Stine
Editor-in-chief

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