All Blog Posts (12,730)

Karp, Marshall – THE RABBIT FACTORY

THE RABBIT FACTORY (Police Procedural-Los Angeles-Cont) – G+

Karp, Marshall – 1^st in series

MacAdam Cage, 2006- US Hardcover – ISBN:

1596921749

*** Detectives Mike Lomax and Terry Biggs have a dead rabbit on their hands. The man who dresses as

Rambunction Rabbit at Lamaar…

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Added by LJ Roberts on March 11, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

When a traditional mystery isn't cozy

As a reader who loves whodunits, I was rather dismayed when I made contact with other mystery lovers--readers and writers--five years ago, after a period of literary hibernation--to find that while I wasn't looking, they'd acquired a bad name. The bad name was "cozy." It seemed to be widely assumed that if a mystery had an amateur sleuth, it was shallow, poorly written, and infested by talking cats and pots of tea. I had some trouble understanding this. Wasn't Lord Peter Wimsey… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Zelvin on March 11, 2007 at 1:27am — 12 Comments

Gotta say something

Been wanting to put something here, but I'm doing this juggling thing this week (and next and prolly the next one after that, at least) so I decided to share a little fictoid I wrote. This is an excerpt from a future project with the working title Twenty Dollar Whore:

- - - - - - -

Eager Gillespie was only twenty-two when took one in the face. He and about a dozen others had a guy holed up in a house on Northeast Thirty-Sixth, a man who'd fired a shot that…

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Added by Bill Cameron on March 10, 2007 at 1:39pm — 4 Comments

Traditionally, when books are being discussed I am rather firm on, "I do not like romance, or fantasy, or mystery." I stay rather true to the first, but have noticed both the fantasy and mystery to a…

Traditionally, when books are being discussed I am rather firm on, "I do not like romance, or fantasy, or mystery." I stay rather true to the first, but have noticed both the fantasy and mystery to appear in my collections of reads and books, yet none of them are books that would be sorted into their respective genres as being overly typical for their genre (I am told otherwise, usually). When I think mystery I think 'bad guy, cop, love story, bad guy caught, the end' and I am probably not too… Continue

Added by Nick Purvis on March 10, 2007 at 10:16am — 2 Comments

Knopf, Chris – THE LAST REFUGE

THE LAST REFUGE (Amateur Sleuth-New York-Cont) – VG

Knopf, Chris – 1^st book

The Permanent Press, 2005- US Hardcover – ISBN:

157962118X

Sam Acquillo is unemployed; living on what money is left from his invention after his divorce, drinks too much and lives in a ramshackle cottage in…

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Added by LJ Roberts on March 10, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

Hey, can I play too?

Fellow bloggers on Poe's Deadly Daughters, Sandy Parshall and Lonnie Cruse, turned me on to this sandbox for mystery lovers. I hope readers as well as writers will find their way here. I signed my first mystery contract with St. Martin's yesterday for Death Will Get You Sober, and now I have a year to spread the word to people who'll get a kick out of this traditional mystery that's neither cozy nor hard boiled but over easy and kind of crispy around the edges. My protagonist Bruce…

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Added by Elizabeth Zelvin on March 9, 2007 at 1:05pm — 4 Comments

Okay, I'm Pissed

I'm a little pissed at Daniel for stealing my idea.

Well, maybe steal is too strong of a word. It isn't as if I proposed the idea to him and he turned around and executed it. He obviously did that all on his own. But the idea of a social network specifically for crime or thriller writers has been in the back of my mind for months now and I blame the lack of time for never following through.

Now Hatadi has managed to tap into that nebulous part of the universe where all the… Continue

Added by Robert Gregory Browne on March 9, 2007 at 9:05am — 2 Comments

McGee, James – RESURRECTIONIST

RESURRECTIONIST (Historical-England-early 1800s) – VG

McGee, James – 2^nd in series

HarperCollins, 2007- UK Hardcover – ISBN:

9780007212699

Bow Street Runner Matthew Hawkwood is called to Bedlam. A prisoner has escaped by murdering a Reverend who came to visit, flawing his face and…

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Added by LJ Roberts on March 9, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

By Mr. Hatadi's Request

Are writers who write about murder more fun than writers who write about women finding empowerment through quilting?

That's the question of the day.

This came up in a bar, naturally, in a confab of writers - some crime, some literary, and some downright criminal. Ad Hudler, literary novelist, admitted to homicidal ambitions. Why?

Because crime writers, he said, have more fun than literary writers.

I know a few literary writers, like Soren Palmer…

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Added by David Terrenoire on March 9, 2007 at 2:46am — 5 Comments

Buy a crime novel on International Woman's Day

"International Women's Day (Thursday 8 March) is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political… Continue

Added by Daniel Hatadi on March 8, 2007 at 8:08pm — 7 Comments

Man Bites Book

By Cornelia [This is cross-posted from the group blog I'm Wednesday's posting child on, Naked Authors] As Patty and Paul have discussed here this week, there's been a depressing development on the book news front in recent days--the announcement that the L.A. Times plans to cut back its book review coverage. In an article titled "Scarcity of Ads Endangers Newspapers'… Continue

Added by Cornelia Read on March 8, 2007 at 11:52am — 3 Comments

Murder on the Cape

I was trying to post this as an attachment but the system seems reluctant to accept it... therefore, I have retrieved the article and posted it below. It would seem that the story would make great "mostly based on fact" fictionalization or a true crime if and when they ever catch who did it...Download Murder On The Cape.doc…

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Added by Janet McClellan on March 8, 2007 at 11:10am — 2 Comments

Lucky at Cards -- Lawrence Block

This is cross-posted from my regular blog.

The other day I commented on Lawrence Block's $20 Lust, reprinted as Cinderella Sims. Block started… Continue

Added by Bill Crider on March 8, 2007 at 10:48am — No Comments

McManus, Patrick F. – THE BLIGHT WAY

THE BLIGHT WAY (Police Procedural-Idaho-Cont) – VG

McManus, Patrick F. – 1^st in series

Simon & Schuster, 2006- US Hardcover – ISBN: 9780743280471

Bo Tully is a widower and the sheriff of Blight County, Idaho, as was his father. Bantim Scragg’s and his sons are not known as law-abiding citizens so when a…

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Added by LJ Roberts on March 8, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

Devastation...

Wow, so there's yet *another* thing I can do instead of writing! This place!

I'm 200 pages into a novel, and aside from the opening scene...I'm not sure anything has really happened yet. Killin' me. I gotta disappear the main guy's parents...but all this exposition keeps getting in the way.

I need a writers' group here in Chicago. And I'm not using the word "need" lightly. I'm half-decent, have ideas and chops, and yet I'm...wayward. Muddled.

And it's not as if sitting…

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Added by Scott Hess on March 8, 2007 at 2:16am — 13 Comments

The best part of the BSSP

I run the risk of sounding like a dork, but I think my favorite part of the recent BSSP was the sense of community. It is so easy to think in terms of writers who are on one side or the other of a published "wall," but what this project showed is that regardless of status, we all still love writing and reading - the pleasure of creating for others' eyes, and the pleasure of enjoying it.

Thanks again to those who commented on my story. And thanks to everyone who participated. I hadn't…

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Added by Christa M. Miller on March 8, 2007 at 1:50am — 3 Comments

Dithering

This is hard for me because I'm so used to writing about writing on my own blog.

Do I dare write negative things about books I've read? What if I do and that person joins this group? He/she won't want to be my friend. Then what?

So does that mean I can only write positive things about books I've read? Maybe I should leave that subject alone.

How about movies? I'm not good at writing reviews. I can say I liked something or didn't but I'm not sure I… Continue

Added by Sandra Scoppettone on March 8, 2007 at 1:24am — 13 Comments

My Books

I'll introduce myself shamelessly with a little blatant self-promotion. I'm thrilled that my 2006 book, The Heat of the Moon, has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. My second book, Disturbing the Dead, is just going on sale now. I'm still fairly new to the world of published authors and haven't had time to become jaded and blase. With any luck, I never will.

Thanks to the creator of this site -- it's a welcome alternative to the kid-clogged MySpace.

Added by Sandra Parshall on March 8, 2007 at 1:16am — 1 Comment

Did I take a wrong turn at the cathedral?

Here I am, a writer of humorous commercial fiction and early member of a community of crime fiction writers. Now what?

Okay, okay, so my protag killed off the bad shakedown dude with a statue of the Blessed Mother. Doesn't mean I write crime fiction. It means I write...humorous commercial fiction where people sometimes get killed.

Should this be my writing blog? Y'all don't do enough whining and moaning and groaning and bellyaching over your own word processors, you gotta… Continue

Added by M.G. Tarquini on March 7, 2007 at 1:06pm — 5 Comments

The Beatitudes in New Orleans

Please check out my blog, www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com and think about helping in the restoration of public libraries in New Orleans. If you wish, let me know and I will add you as a Beatitude.

My book is complete and I have been looking for a good agent. The proceeds of any profit will go toward New Orleans public libraries. Wish me luck. The title is The Beatitudes and it is book one in The New Orleans…

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Added by Lyn LeJeune on March 7, 2007 at 9:07am — 1 Comment