GUILTY PLEASURES by Steve Steinbock Welcome to the One-hundredth issue of Bandersnatches. I’m reporting from the fifth floor of Criminal Brief Corporate Headquarters. I’m using this celebratory column to share with you a few of my guilty pleasures as I take you around my office. As you come in the door, among the first things […]

THE LEGEND OF WASHINGTON IRVING by Steve Steinbock In my column a few weeks back I mentioned Washington Irving. The context was random and roundabout, and involved Irving’s story “The Devil and Tom Walker” and how may have inspired Benét’s “The Devil and Daniel Webster,” and how Noah Webster (no relation to Daniel) codified American […]

BOOKS R US by Steve Steinbock Behind the scenes here at Criminal Brief Headquarters, Leigh Lundin and I have exchanged a couple of observations about the mega-chain book stores. You know what I’m referring to: the one multinational online superstore and the two huge brick-and-mortar bookstore chains. I’m not going to bad-mouth any of them. […]

LADYBUGS ON PARADE by Steve Steinbock It must be spring. The annual infestation of Coccinellidae (Lady Bugs) has begun inside my house. Just like baseball and the thawing of the local skating pond, it happens every year around this time. As plagues go, this one is pretty benign. In fact, I enjoy it. The only […]

NINETY-SIX BRIEFS by Steve Steinbock In the early sixties, a young man named Rudy Martinez took on the moniker “Question Mark” and became the frontman for the Michigan rock band “Question Mark and the Mysterians.” Their name alone may warrant acknowledgement in the world of mystery. But I invoke them today, in this Bandersnatches column […]

LOVE AND THE MAD TEA PARTY by Steve Steinbock For those of you who didn’t visit me over in Murdurati-land last week, you can still take a look at the wild discussion there. At last count there were thirty-five comments. Can you imagine? Here at Criminal Brief, we get thirty-five comments in a good week! […]

CURRENTLY READING … by Steve Steinbock I refuse to let Facebook take over my life. Sure, I enjoy the social networking website. I’ve reconnected with old friends and old friends have reconnected with me. I’ve been able to keep up with the latest on current friends and have made a lot of new friends. But […]