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
I’ve been pondering and concentrating upon what I used to do all day as a bookseller. That aside, there was the slight difficulty of deciding which place of employment to remember–there were a few over the years, and each individual shop had its quirks and perks. Foul Play, a small well established mystery bookstore in … Read more
Mystery Scene Magazine, a great source for all things crime fiction, and more, recently interviewed Augie Aleksy owner of Centuries and Sleuths. A combination of history, crime fiction, and biographies are the focus of his store, and he’s been successful at it since 1989. How he does it, his innovative ideas, and the bottom line, … Read more
Freedom of speech. This phrase is bandied about by politicians, on the left or right; singers; bloggers; TV talking heads; everyone is using the first amendment as a jumping point into other arguments. What *is* the first amendment of the constitution? What did the framers write that is continuously argued about ? “Congress shall make no … 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
Attendees at the 2011 Left Coast Conference in Santa Fe voted for the following winners. The Lefty Award for the Best Humorous Mystery Novel: The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein—J. Michael Orenduff The Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery Award for the Best Historical Mystery Novel, Events pre-1950–The Mapping of Love and Death–Jacqueline Winspear The Hillerman … Read more
