I had a copy of this book, however I never tried to figure out the clues and find the treasure–I was more interested in the artwork, and sadly, I’ve never been good at those kind of games. The illustrations are quite beautiful, and for that reason alone the book should get a second look. Fascinating … Read more
All Carved Up: Performing Autopsies on the Great Bodies of Crime Fiction When I first decided to write an article about this short-lived publishing house I believed that reading the 30 titles published between 1930 and 1933 would be an easy, delightful task. After trudging through about five, I amended my expectations to scanning all … Read more
Murder in Retrospect–Reviews of classic crime fiction Murder With Your Malted–Jerome Barry, Doubleday, 1941 Now for something entirely different, and. . .well, frothy! A Doubleday Crime Club of yore delivers the goods, including; limeades; grilled sandwiches; and a bicarb to wash it all down. What a goofy locale for murder–a drugstore in Times Square, … Read more
In the 1950’s Jack Kerouac coined the phrase “Beat Generation” – for the group he co-founded with poet Alan Ginsberg and others. The “Beats” held a philosophy based on of the rejection of formalized conventions of art and literature, which they felt suffocated creativity. In 1957, Kerouac achieved critical and popular success with his novel, … Read more
– Self Publishing, Print-on-Demand and How Bookstores Fit In Earlier today I finished an amazing book. The Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis, is a Canadian book about Canadian politics. Now I’m sure for most people this sounds boring, boring2, even. But it’s not, I assure you. The Best Laid Plans is an amazing book. … Read more
If you are in the virtual world, you can join a book club! Mystery Loves Company, physically in Oxford MD, has a online discussion each month. From their facebook page: Our books club books for May are James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice and Julia Spencer-Fleming’s All Mortal Flesh. Join in the … Read more
I don’t read Stephen King. Not because I don’t think he’s an excellent writer. He is. Too too good of a writer. I am one of those people who loves fictional murder because there is a structure, foul play occurs; clues abound; are investigated; characters throw around red herrings; the detective investigates and the murderer … Read more
Is it possible that alcohol helps the creative juices flow? Another fab ABE article asks this question and gives a nice look at those writers who for better or worse used liquor and various drugs while at their craft. I’ve asked the rhetorical question–if Van Gough had anti-depression drugs in his day would he have … Read more
