THINKING LIKE A WRITER by Deborah Elliott-Upton High above the clear water of Lake Tahoe, the blue sky echoed the startling hue making both appear infinite. Evergreens packed the surrounding landscape like sardines in a tin. My brother-in-law, Charlie, had boned up on the history of the area and knew the lake’s depth and when […]

OSCAR SCHMIDT IS GUILTY! By Robert Lopresti The scene is the signing room at a mystery convention. At the north end sits the author of this year’s big thriller, signing copy after copy like an automaton for a never-ending assembly line of fans. At the south end is the beloved author of fifty cozies, coping […]

LEOPARD SHOES by Melodie Johnson Howe I bought a pair of leopard shoes. I thought at the time that this was either a fashion statement or a cry for help. The shoes sat on a shelf in my closet for weeks, saucily taunting me. Glaring at them one morning as I put on my tennis […]

GOING TO ANY LENGTH by James Lincoln Warren What makes a short story, well, short? The, uh, short answer is word count. We can learn a little about how word counts, uh, count, by taking a look at the awards that are given for short genre fiction. Mystery Writers of America offers two annual awards […]

CRITICISMS by Leigh Lundin As a new writer speaking to new writers, this particular column is of critical importance. In Deborah Elliott-Upton’s first column, she wrote about deducing how well students would do in class by where they sat. While that part of the article was intriguing, at the heart of the article was how […]

We are pleased to offer this piece by the Dean of mystery short story writers, 2001 MWA Grand Master and 1968 Edgar Award for Short Story winner Edward D. Hoch, probably the most admired short crime fiction author alive–certainly by all of us! WHY THE SHORT STORY? by Edward D. Hoch Happily, people don’t often […]

TEACHING WITH POE by Steven Steinbock I came home from the Edgars this year with a lot of excitement, and with an Edgar Allan Poe bobble-head. (The box actually refers to it as a “nodder”). Since my classroom mascot, a Shreck Chia© Pet, had recently died, I decided to bring my Poe “nodder” to school. […]