When I start writing a book, I have this habit of picking up an Ian Rankin or Ken Bruen novel and paying some close attention to their prose styles. I loved the terseness of their prose. The cadences. Bruen can write like an expert at a machine gun. Picked up THE DRAMATIST at The Black Orchid the other day. I was told about the ending (not what happens, but that I'll be dazzled by it, though Joe used a less polite term if I recall correctly). I haven't gotten to the ending. In fact, I just…

Is it an oxymoron to say that I write Hardboiled Cozies? There is violence, but the stories are set in a small town with a sheriff who knows everyone and the killers are generally people he's known all his life. To my mind, there's a way of looking at even Dame Agatha's books and saying "That's Noir." What's more noir than the ending of Murder on the Orient Express? Not to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it...this is your chance to stop reading...but "Everybody…

The Short Mystery Fiction Society presents the Derringer Award for several categories of short fiction - including Flash fiction of 500 words or less and Longer Short Stories of over 6,000 words. To indulge in a bit of horn tooting and back patting, I have been nominated. Quite exciting. Never been nominated for anything other than committee work at the different colleges I've worked at and the churches I've attended. It makes me feel like I've finally done something well enough to justify…

This year, I'll have two major publications to add to my credit (Yes. I am keeping score.) and they're both noir. For the novel, The Concrete Maze, I think I may have hedged my bets. It's not quite as bleak as it could have been though it is plenty bleak I think.



With the short story, "Early Fall" coming out in late summer in the antho Bronx Noir, I've written a truly noir story. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. There's not even a tunnel (which might…

I have one last ARC of The Concrete Maze, and I figured I'd make it available here on Crimespace. If you're reading this and would like to take a look, leave a message here that says "Send me the ARC" or some such. No points for creativity. In a couple of days, (Which is two days for those of you in Metric countries) I'll put names in a hat. Many will go in, only one will come out. (Of course, there's the strong possibility no one will want to enter this little…