The eSKEPTIC by Leigh Lundin Our friend and self-confessed readaholic Louis has the jump on most of us when it comes to working with eReaders. Last September, Louis said he was seriously thinking of popping open his piggy bank and purchasing an iPad. What Louis says, Louis does. This time our favorite academic and reviewer […]

I’m giving up my Saturday slot today so we can include a guest column by my friend Fran Rizer, who joins Leigh and me in the current issue of the online magazine Pages of Stories. As you might already know, Fran is the South Carolina author of the delightful Callie Parrish mysteries, and (thank goodness) […]

THE SCRITIC by James Lincoln Warren Not for the first time, we Criminal Briefers have a hat trick on our hands: no fewer than three of us have stories in the current issues of magazines (four if you count John and Woman’s World and his ongoing book tour for his collection, Clockwork—and can Deborah be […]

I was out of town this weekend, but my absence was more than compensated by this timely essay by Ellery Queen Expert (and Author!), previous CB contributor Dale Andrews. —JLW THE ELLERY QUEEN MYSTERIES by Dale C. Andrews This week the December edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine hit my mail box on the same […]

As far as I know, Jeff Baker still lives and writes in Wichita, Kansas, just as he did last week. —JLW ROBERT ARTHUR: MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER by Jeff Baker His output was some 200 published stories of mystery, science fiction and fantasy. His admirers have included Anthony Boucher, Isaac Asimov and Joe R. Lansdale. An early […]

I am pleased beyond words to offer the following, the first unsolicited fan contribution to Criminal Brief, something I first invited way back in May of this year. It is only fitting that the inaugural column should be written by our faithful and constant friend, Jeff Baker, who offers the following as his biographical blurb: […]

OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY ON CD-ROM, v.4.0 by James Lincoln Warren In “A Scandal in Bohemia”, Sherlock Holmes informs Watson that he would be “lost without his Boswell.” For my part, I would be lost without my dictionaries, thesauri, and style manuals. The Gentle Reader will appreciate that I have a particular affection for lexical software, […]