BOOKEXPO REPORT by James Lincoln Warren Today is the final day of BookExpo America 2008, the American Booksellers Association’s annual trade show and convention. BEA is held in several different cities on a rotating basis, and this year was in Los Angeles. Mystery Writers of America always have a presence, and so this year, I […]

TWO KINDS OF STORIES by James Lincoln Warren There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t. —Robert Benchley’s “Law of Distinction” I was at a cocktail party some time ago and was in conversation with someone I had […]

Here’s an essay I wrote a couple of years ago, but which is immortal. All right, I admit it, I lied—it’s not immortal, merely undead. SO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT VAMPIRES by James Lincoln Warren AMERICAN FASCINATION WITH VAMPIRES Americans have shown a significantly increased interest in vampirism over the last twenty years […]

SECOND RATE THE GREAT by James Lincoln Warren What do you call a restaurant that gets three stars out of four, the term paper that gets a B, the novel that climbs as high as Number 11 on the bestseller list? How do you describe the near miss, how do you characterize the act of […]

A SHORT YEAR AFTER by James Lincoln Warren Pop open a piccolo of champers, unscrew the lid off a tiny tin of caviar, and help yourself to some baby brie on a water cracker. Today marks the beginning of Criminal Brief‘s 53rd week; by the lunar calendar it’s our first birthday. Our solar birthday is […]

Some of you have had trouble posting in the last week for various reasons. Some replies were caught in the spam filter and not retrieved (Terrie and Dale, this means you — I don’t know why), while we also seemed to be having a little trouble with new registrations (everybody please welcome Marianne Logan). The […]

COWBOY SONG by James Lincoln Warren There’s an ancient joke that was told back in the bronze age when I was in high school. “I don’t care what kind of music the band plays,” says the joker. “I like both Country and Western.” Like millions of teenagers, I played in a succession of lousy garage […]