I’d read Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I knew my first draft should be shitty.

It was. Three-quarters of the way through that effort, intoxicated with my prose and attending my first Edgar Symposium, I was certain I was a

mere three months away from The End. I had the gall to attempt pitching

that “novel,” I shudder to recall, to a number of commendably patient

agents.

Once again, it's Edgar time. Forever…

,,,and boy do my legs ache! Seriously! I walked, stood, ran, and/or shuffled for three days. My legs will never feel like a part of my body again, and I simply couldn't care less! I had a BLAST! Malice was amazing!!

Funny story here. I'm sitting outside one of the panel rooms, getting my day in order, checking the mini guide book they handed out, making sure I'm in the right spot and trying to decide what to do next, when this sweet lady walks up and sits down with me and we start to…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

Last week I went to jail.

No, I wasn't arrested. Me? Law-biding, virtuous, upright citizen me? I went because the local chapter of Mystery Writers of America arranged for a tour of a county correctional facility, and I thought I needed to know what a jail was really like.

Not that I write about jails, or even violent crimes. As I've said before, in cozies the violence happens off-stage somewhere. And–funny thing–so does the aftermath, once the…

Guest Blogger Jim C. Hines

Hello, all! My name is Jim, and I'll be your guest blogger for today. Huge thanks to Lorraine for the invitation.

I asked Lorraine a bit about her readers, and if there were any guidelines for what I wrote about. She told me to avoid religion and politics, and no blatant commercials.

No commercials. But . . . but my second book just came out three days ago! I've spent the past week doing nothing but book promo and networking and…

Over the past week I’ve been reading The Edge, a splendid novel by the rather neglected Clare Curzon. It combines many elements of a traditional British mystery novel, a murder taking place at a country house, spooky goings on in the woods and dark family…

Elena Speaks of the City, Under Siege…

In 1928 Ronald Knox, who was tired of some of the detective story trends of the day, laid down his rules for detective fiction. Some of them sound really

strange to today's reader. I had a quiet lunchbreak at work one day so I

thought I would try and write a story that included all the elements you're not

supposed to have. First,…

I read. A lot. I have all my life. I always have a book or three going - generally mysteries. And since joining Crimespace I've got a huge stack of new books and authors to dive into. But ever since my brush with real life crime a few weeks, reading about crime doesn't seem so entertaining.

I don't know, maybe what I need is a funny crime story - but does such a thing even exist?

Greeneville, Tennessee Courthouse 1979

I had just been allowed back in the courtroom during my son’s murder trial, and as I listened to the lies the Prosecution was saying, I jumped up in my seat and

screamed,

""He’s innocent and you know it. You lie. You know he didn’t do it. He wouldn’t

have come back if he were guilty."

THE COURT: Sheriff, take the Jurors out

Again I screamed as Nelson’s hands were trying to…

How far would you go to save your child’s life? Would you write hot checks to pay attorney fees, sell your home, attempt a-jail break as a last resort and, - be on the run for a year with two young children? This mother did.

"I was eleven years old when I heard the judge exclaim, "Jeffrey Dicks, you are to be executed by electrocution until you are pronounced

Dead, Dead, Dead!"

It was at that moment life as I knew it would never be the same..."

My first eleven years started in the peaceful New England village of Concord, NH in 1967. I…

As threatened, I popped into Guildford today with Lord H to face the irritating Nationwide people - but even though I had to queue for twenty minutes to see a real person, I have to say that the real person I saw was utterly charming, efficient and sorted me out (or mostly) in no time. If only I'd done that rather than attempt to call yesterday, I could have saved myself all that angst. I shall remember for next time: never use the phone; just go see a person. Always the best…