By now I believed I’d pretty much acquainted myself with all of the important Golden Age mystery authors, or at least up until the 50s. Even if never read, I recognize their names as ones that wrote classic or bad mysteries, or even mediocre ones. But the other day in trying to locate info about … Read more
Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin has graciously answered some questions regarding his experience during the Katrina hurricane catastrophe and the self publishing of his first book: Katrina’s Secrets: Storms After the Storm Q: My first question would be a general one-How is New Orleans and the people doing these years after Katrina? Has … Read more
My father didn’t read. Ok, he read the newspaper and model railroading magazines. But fiction? No. The exceptions were located at a shopping spot called the Mart, where stalls contained various low key vendors, meaning, most of the stuff in the place consisted of velvet Elvis paintings, soft pretzels, and troll dolls. One stall sold … Read more
Recently, an article highlighting prolific writer and fantastic sales person, James Patterson, brought to the forefront his foray into YA lit. I somehow missed the beginning of this venture. He apparently released his adult suspense novel on the same day a YA novel was also released. And critics find this to be a sales ploy … Read more
Jan Burke, one of the rare women who have succeeded in the usually male world of hardboiled suspense novels, has a new title out–a sequel to her Edgar Award winning novel, Bones, and the tenth in the Irene Kelly series. I was first aware of Ms. Burke back in the 90s when then President Bill … Read more
Each year the premier fan club for Rex Stout and his mystery series starring Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin, The Wolfe Pack, have a banquet honoring those who have written a crime novel most in the style and spirit as a Nero Wolfe title. The lucky winner receives the Wolfe Award. Here are this year’s … Read more
A dentist? Zane Grey gave up dentistry to become the most famous western pulp fiction author? I guess he just couldn’t sink his teeth into the profession. This interesting factoid and a couple of others highlight a look at the prolific output of Mr. Grey and his influence on our ideas of what the West … Read more
I don’t even know where to begin, the subject is so ridiculous, and yet brain boiling at the same time. Mr. Naipaul believes he is a better writer than Jane Austen, and that he can ‘sniff’ out whether a book has been penned by a woman. He believes he is a better writer than any … Read more
