Mystery Writer’s Handbook
Readers come to mystery for justice, not merely the puzzle. In a world that feels unjust, a mystery delivers a problem solved through skill and persistence and
Tag: Mystery (Page 2)
MysteryWhere to Write in Dunedin
Dunedin has two rooms worth planning around and they cover opposite ends of the day. The library runs until eight on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Back in the Day Books stays open until nine Thursday through Saturday. Both sit inside…
FictionDunedin Public Library: The Red Skull on Every Mystery
Dunedin Public Library holds more reviews than any library in north Pinellas and is considerably larger than a town this size warrants. Every mystery carries a red skull stamp so you can find them on the shelf, and the summer…
Character DevelopmentSherlock Holmes’ Birthday: The Case for Real Detection
Sherlockians mark January 6 as Holmes' birthday, though Conan Doyle never set one. The detective of four novels and 56 stories became the most famous in history. A look at Holmes and the case for real detection.
Crime FictionEdgar Allan Poe’s Birthday: I Hated the Poems and Loved the Movie
Poe invented the modern detective story and helped build modern horror, and wrote the poems every American kid gets assigned. I'm living proof that school can't kill a great writer, even when it tries.
Crime FictionAgatha Christie Day: The Queen of Crime and the Mysteries I’m About to Write
Agatha Christie became the best-selling novelist in history, behind only the Bible and Shakespeare. She created Poirot and Miss Marple, and her mastery of plot is on my mind as I'm about to write mysteries of my own.
Fiction WritingGhostwriting Crime Fiction: Authenticity Without the Lecture
Crime fiction lives or dies on plausibility. Ghostwriting it means getting the details right without letting research smother the story.
Book ReviewsThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Journalist Blomkvist and the fierce hacker Lisbeth Salander crack a decades-old disappearance, in the dark, propulsive thriller that launched a wave of Scandinavian crime fiction. Anchored by one of modern fiction's most original characters. Contains graphic content.
Book ReviewsAngels & Demons
A breakneck race through Rome to stop an ancient secret society from destroying the Vatican with stolen antimatter. A relentlessly propulsive page-turner with a clever puzzle-box structure, undercut by clunky prose, thin characters, and a casual relationship with plausibility. Effective…
Book ReviewsAnd Then There Were None
Ten strangers are lured to an isolated island, accused of past crimes by a host who never appears, then killed one by one. Christie's masterpiece is the purest demonstration of plot construction in crime fiction, the solution both shocking and…
Book ReviewsThe Da Vinci Code
Few novels this century have been as widely read, or as fiercely argued over. An honest split: superb at propulsion and premise, a lesson in commercial pacing and a clever high-concept hook, but weak at prose, character, and structural originality,…
1970sDon’t Look Now (1973)
Nicolas Roeg's 1973 Venice grief drama. Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie.