What books should you be recommending to your customers? We’ll try and help.
A road trip mystery book, what could be better for someone as I, who travels every year to various and sundry locations, just to take pictures of huge muffler men, buildings in the shape of coffee pots, and deserted former Mother Goose parks with discarded dwarfs littering the land? If a Body, by George Worthing … Read more
I was starting to research an article about Valentine Day mysteries, and began with looking up a title by Dorothy Cannell. I’ve sold the lovely Ms. Cannell’s books, and always had the impression her work was enjoyed by most. Well, if you were to go by reviews up on amazon, you’d think she’d written the … Read more
2012 Left Coast Crime, a convention for fans and writers of crime fiction will meet March 29–April 1st in Sacramento, CA for Mining For Murder. As I mentioned in my post about the Lefty Award, which is bestowed during the convention, there are a couple other awards besides the Lefty that are also given out. … Read more
My dad loved model railroading. The HO models–not the big antique things that are so valuable today, such as Lionel etc. He built his own layout in the basement, designed a coal chute, and a bridge that crossed the bottom of the stairs that could be raised for people to enter and leave. He belonged … Read more
I was flabbergasted. I thought I was the only human alive that could possibly know who Scarlet O’Neill was. After all, the book I own was printed during WWII with substandard paper which crumbles to the touch. Each time I turn a page, the corner clips itself off. Even if people had some how heard … Read more
I’ve always heard this expression as: Dead as a door-nail. A rather odd expression to begin with. So I checked on its origins. Apparently no one is absolutely sure of whence the simile came. The best scholars can theorize it is a reference to the nails used on large wooden doors back in the middle … Read more
I’ve revamped, redone, reorganized and generally changed the way I’m going about listing and writing up the Best 100 Mysteries of All Time. Although these titles are still in the list–they no longer are numbered. I have put the entire list up, in alphabetical order, thereby keeping what book comes in at what number, undisclosed, … Read more
Fright George Hopley 1950-IP It’s no secret that I love Cornell Woolrich. There are several entries on this list of his work. Fright is a latecomer to me. Under the pen name of George Hopley, Woolrich wrote a book that I literally could not put down. I was riveted, horrified, wondering if the protagonist would … Read more
