The list is finally done. Thanks to all those who encouraged me and stopped asking, "Is it done yet? LOL

101 Things to Do before You Die (for mystery writers)

1. Write a minimum of 500 words a day, every day of the year, every year, until you die.…

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I've always had a special place in my heart for murder by poison. But in the past couple of decades, poison seems to have fallen out of favor (except as a weapon of bioterrorism, involving mass deaths of hundreds or thousands).

 

I'm thinking more along the lines of the traditional mystery favored by writers like Agatha Christie where the victim was often a rich relative who had outlived their usefulness. The…

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When I started this list 3 1/2 years ago, I only had 30 items on it. I'm glad to say the list has grown quite a bit since then. Perhaps in 3 more years, it will be complete. Until then, here's the current list, updated with working links. Enjoy, and have fun with it!

101 74 Things to Do before You Die (for mystery writers)

1. Write a minimum of 500 words a day, every day of the year,…

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Where in the World is H.P. Lovecraft?

Dorchester Publishing, which recently sold it's list of book titles to Amazon.com, has a problem. They're trying to contact some of their authors so they can return the publishing rights. They've enlisted you, the reading public, to assist. So check out this link and review the list to see if anyone you know is on it. Among the authors who are missing in action are Robert Louis Stevenson and H. P. Lovecraft. I wish them luck in their…

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Today is the birthday of Dashiell Hammett, the father of the noir mystery novel and author of The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon. Read more about him here:



Hammett Bio





Also born today was Vincent Price, actor whose stage and movie performances will be forever linked with Edgar Allen Poe. His bio is here:… Continue

I attended my first writer's conference about a month ago, and I have to say, I'm really glad I did. I met a lot of writers whose books and stories I have read for the first time in the past year, as well as publishers and editors. They were all friendly and willing to answer questions from a newbie like myself, and I'm sure some of my questions were dumb. But no one let on. They were a lot of fun. I don't know what I expected, since I was pretty nervous. Tess Gerritsen, Joe Konrath, Alison… Continue