WEATHER OR NOT by Deborah Elliott-Upton As nice as it is to find a brand new calendar with a brand new year to begin (once more) anew with perhaps not-so-brand new resolutions, sometimes inclement weather accompanies January like unexpected guests at a designated seating wedding reception. Unfortunately, good weather or not, there seem to be […]

LAST RITES by Rob Lopresti When you leave the house in the morning do you go through a mental checklist? Turn off coffeepot. Glance in mirror. Set door alarm. Wipe fingerprints off axe handle. And so on. I do the same thing when I am ready to send something out to a publisher. Before the […]

I HATE ENDINGS/ I LOVE ENDINGS by Melodie Johnson Howe The dénouement or the denouncement. In whatever language you say it, the summing up in the mystery novel has always bothered me. I think it’s the weakest part of the genre. Even my favorite writers (do I dare say the name Rex Stout?) leave me […]

THE ORIGIN OF FECES by James Lincoln Warren In the current climate of pervasive argument — endemic, I know, in an election year — it is appropriate to examine some of the schools of critical thought that are shaping the future. I am fortunate in being married to a critical theorist, M. P. Warren, who […]

STORY TELLING by Leigh Lundin Growing up, I was surrounded by books from my ancestors, novels from post-Civil War through the 1950s. The art in these books lent a romantic immersion to the works, art from McGuffey Readers, Little Nemo, the Leyendecker brothers, and Maxfield Parrish. This YouTube video caught my eye, telling a story […]

IT’S A MYSTERY TO ME by John M. Floyd Like all writers, I often get questions from folks at meetings and conferences and signings. Questions like “Where do you get your ideas?” and “Do you write at a certain time every day?“ and “Do you outline your plots beforehand?” Those are pretty common, but since […]

MWA Historian Barry T. Zeman returns with another installment elucidating Queen’s Quorum, a list of the most important anthologies and collections of mystery short stories. BANDERSNATCHES will return next week after Steve Steinbock recovers from his intemperate New Year’s Eve celebration. I have it on good authority that he actually had two glasses of champagne […]