I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR THIS by Rob Lopresti I don’t have time to be writing this. Just got back from Bouchercon. Got a million things to do. At Bouchercon they give you a big pile of books to take home. I left half of them in a pile there. Don’t have time to read […]

STOUT-HEARTED MAN by Rob Lopresti In response to James’ recent column about phoning it in, which is to say, telling the same story in book after book, I said that I would get around some time to writing about how Rex Stout handled that problem by using plot devices exactly twice. But before we go […]

THE LONG RED LIGHT by Rob Lopresti So, I am bicycling home. I reach the busiest corner on the trip, one of the busiest intersections in this small city. There are three lanes in each direction. I arrive just as the light is turning yellow, a little too late to go through, so I know […]

KEEPING IT UNREAL by Rob Lopresti A few months ago I was driving around on Saturday morning. listening to This American Life on NPR. The show always features three or four essays or reports on some theme. That week the subject was true crime. At some point, as a narrator was discussing a murder that […]

THIS IS NOT A RIP-OFF by Rob Lopresti I recently read “Shell Game” by Neil Schofield in the November issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and I recommend it, but that’s not why I bring it up. You see, as I read it I had a nagging sense of familiarity. I guessed— correctly, as it […]

BEAUTIFUL DAY by Rob Lopresti Walked into the kitchen and stepped in something one of the cats had apparently coughed up last night. No problem. There’s lots more socks where that one came from. Opened the fridge. No yogurt left for breakfast. Okay, toast will be a nice change. I look out the window at […]

POP QUIZ 3: A WORD TO THE WISE by Robert Lopresti It’s the end of summer, so let’s not get too heavy. Here are a few word games. 1. What do these words have in common? abuse combat convict desert house produce rebel subject wind Hint: These words do not belong in the above group: […]