Victor Borge is famous for saying, "A smile is the shortest distance between two people." We agree.

Recently, on another mystery listserve, there was a lengthy discussion about whether humor has any place in a good mystery. It never crossed our minds…

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So I bought the dress. Everyone was saying, "You need to buy a fantastic dress for the Edgars." Easier said that done. For those who haven't seen me in person, I'm short. Really short. Like Lil' Kim short without the curves (at least in front) and without the jail time. And for those who did read my essay on "daikon ashi" (white-radish legs), I have a couple of those, too. I'm not being self-deprecating. Just honest. I mean, those In-Style magazines, etc. are aimed for the…

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I'm just finishing my Carl Hiaasen book and one thing that is top-shelf

about his novels is the sense of place he brings to the story. I've

only been to Florida twice, both times to Disneyworld, yet after

reading one of his novels feel like I really know Florida. An illusion, of course, but it's one I happily enjoy.







While I have stated before that I need a good plot and characters to

keep me interested in a… Continue

I understand why people use snakes in books and movies. They elicit a

primal fear learned from our ancestors and their ancestors before. You

don't have to walk upright and use tools to know better than to pick up

strange slithering things. Still, can you at least get the science

right?



Movies are the worst. The anaconda, normally a creeping

thing that almost never emerges from the water in its adult form,

becomes a lightning-fast hunter. Boas and… Continue

It was a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon, so I decided to go into the

city centre to buy a new pair of sandals. Yes, I know the World Shoe

Mountain currently resides in my bedroom, but, well, you never can tell

when that rumoured Slingback Shortage is going to occur, so, abiding by

that old Girl Guide motto 'Be Prepared', off I trotted.



For the purposes of this tale, it's actually irrelevant that I was

thrown out of the Girl Guides due to my reliance… Continue

Is there any good way to tell an author you didn't like his or her book?



Twice in recent months, I've read books I didn't like by authors I do like in person. In both cases, I'd enjoyed and admired the authors' earlier books, but their latest struck me as flat, obvious, cliche-laden and just plain not very well-written.



Even all-star baseball players strike out regularly, and I know any number of reasons a book might not be an author's best work: unreasonable deadlines, sloppy… Continue

Writers are a funny lot, aren't we? I was asked recently why I bothered to write if I didn't try to get published. My answer seemed reasonable to me at the time. I said, "I'm not published because I'm not polished enough yet. I just need more time and practice." As I said, seems perfectly reasonable, does it not? Then another question was lobbed at me that has my head still spinning. With all the sincerity in the world, this sweet little librarian said, "But how will you know when you are…

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The Crimespace logo had a certain amount of coolness to begin with, but after roping in an artist friend of mine to beef it up, the coolness factor has gone through the roof. Cool enough to be slapped on the front of a button or T-shirt or even a baby's bib.



Living down under in this Great Southern Land known as Australia makes it hard for me to jetset around to all the crime, mystery and thriller conventions our world is graced with every year. That makes it hard for me to get… Continue

I have to say I was thrilled by how easy it was to add a new layout to my page on Crimespace. Myspace should offer such a service instead of making its members hunt on their own.

Since I don't know HTML, I really appreciate the convenience of having someone do it for me.

Thanks Daniel,

Morgan Mandel

www.thelipstickchronicles.typepad.com

I always thought I couldn't write short stories. Well, I wrote a lot when I was a kid, before Some Adult put some writing hex on me and caused me to stop. I've never really liked reading short stories, though, because they just didn't seem complete. DOH! Finally, a fellow writer told me that they weren't supposed to be complete, as long as the main character had some change, some realization, some epiphany. BOING! The old brain cells started to fire up, and within the last week, I've compiled… Continue

My reviews for Robert Dugoni's two novels have now been posted on www.mostlyfiction.com. I read the books back to back and enjoyed them. Although Dugoni may write sequels to either book, Damage Control has no characters from the first book, The Jury Master. Both books are considered legal suspense, but they don't really fall into that category very well. Both books have lawyers as main characters, but the amount of…

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THE

THIRTEENTH TALE (Suspense-England-Cont) – Ex

Setterfield, Diane – 1^st book

Atria Books, 2006- US Hardcover – ISGN:

9780743298025

Unabridged audio book from Audible.com; Narrated by Bianca Amato, Jill Tanner

First Sentence: All children… Continue

Being a crime writer is serious business. Too serious, sometimes. I thought
it was time to lighten up a little and so I accepted an invitation to
be interviewed by the notorious, hilarious, possibly insane "Dr. Rajiv
Peppar." (At least that's what he calls himself.) Click here if you're ready for
a good laugh.

Last night was great - the Royal Academy's (http://www.royalacademy.org.uk) "Citizens and Kings" exhibition was wonderful. I felt really calm wandering round. The star picture for me was "The Death of Marat", which took my breath away. I stared at it for ages. It's the one they're using to advertise on the website and which I attempted to be witty about yesterday. Hell, it's had its own back. I couldn't…

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The new issue of Spinetingler is up. You can follow this link for the PDF download and table of contents.

Or take the direct links below for the stories, interviews, reviews, website features, a sampler of Harrogate 2007 and a very special article.

I asked blogger and author Sela Carsen to give us some insight on the…

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It's a strange thing that part of putting out

Crimespree now includes watching DVDs. We started reviewing DVDs a

little over a year ago, and Jeremy has done a great job coordinating

the whole thing. We've been getting some nice feedback about the

DVD reviews as well.



I am also doing a page per issue about comics. There are an awful lot

of authors who are now writing comics also. Pus some comics

writers are now writing novels. It's an… Continue