AUGUST DERLETH and SOLAR PONS by Leigh Lundin Why isn’t the great detective Solar Pons better known? Pons strikes me as the friend you loved in school but were afraid to like too much lest your own popularity suffer. After all, what could Derleth, a North American Midwesterner who’d never been to England know about [...]

4th of July by Leigh Lundin The rockets red glare… The bombs bursting in air… What a tempting backdrop for a crime story! As I started a very different column for today, my mind switched to another track: I realized I couldn’t identify a single Fourth of July mystery story, not one. I could think [...]

NARY A CROSS WORD, II by Leigh Lundin Last December, Criminal Brief brought you a crossword puzzle inspired by one of our readers, Cate. I know at least one person solved that puzzle.[1] Following is the original wicked puzzle Cate submitted:   1 2 3 4 5       6       7 [...]

SPEECH IS FREE Recording it isn’t. by Leigh Lundin In the early dawn, police burst into the home of Maryland Air National Guard Staff Sergeant Anthony Graber, frightening his parents, his wife, and his two young children. In the course of the hour and a half raid, authorities detained Graber’s mother and sister, preventing them [...]

NEWSWORTHY (Update) by Leigh Lundin An earlier article about the temporary loss of Apple’s latest iPhone focused on legal efforts to weaken freedom of the press. The so-called democratization of news is poised to leave reporters and even crime writers with fewer civil liberties rather than more. As newspapers around the nation wither into ashes [...]

BLACKOUT by Leigh Lundin Among many mystery writers, realism is important. Stories have been written involving events going awry when authors try to simulate similitude. Wednesday, I entered the ranks of those writers, albeit unintentionally. My contribution to research realism was to pass out on a restroom floor. And– it wasn’t anything like I’d been [...]

POLITICAL HACKING by Leigh Lundin While much attention has been given to the end of the series Lost and Law & Order, another wildly popular award-winning television show wound down as well. Born of the rage and pain and fear of 9/11, 24 burst onto the small screen with innovative visuals and a countdown clock, [...]