THE MASTERMIND RECOMMENDS . . . by Steven Steinbock A few weeks ago here in the pages of Criminal Brief, I mentioned the Doubleday Crime Club (1928-1991). The word “club” in the name is misleading. The Crime Club was not a Book-of-the-Month type of mail order program, issuing inexpensive editions of bestsellers at a cut […]

BRAIN FREEZE by Deborah Elliott-Upton I check the thermostat and find is something less than freezing temperatures outside and we aren’t even talking about the wind chill index. Even though it is February and the groundhog promised us six more weeks of winter, I didn’t expect such a temperature shift overnight. I am wearing my […]

I wrote this column a month ago but I have been overtaken by events (as you can tell if you look at the subject of my last few entries). So I am discussing a magazine that is off the newsstands, but since all the stories I mention are part of series, you will be able […]

HOMELESS by Melodie Johnson Howe I walked into the kitchen to get my morning cup of coffee and my husband looked me up and down and said, “You’re dressed like a homeless person.” This coming from a man wearing his favorite sweatshirt that is frayed to shreds around the cuffs and neck. “I’m going to […]

REINVENTING THE INVESTIGATORS by James Lincoln Warren By now, regular visitors to Criminal Brief will certainly have learned that the current (April 2008) issue of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine contains stories by three Criminal Briefers, and that Robert Lopresti has the cover story, I have the lead story, and Leigh Lundin and I have both […]

BSP by Leigh Lundin New writers worry about becoming published. Seasoned writers fret about staying published. Among other concerns, I’m given to understand, promotion is up to the writer. Experienced writers use an acronym, BSP, meaning blatant self-promotion. Rob’s Story Makes the Cover! 8 Across art by Grant Newton [When I told an acquaintance Alfred […]

IN THE LAND OF COTTON by John M. Floyd Southern fiction. What’s the big deal about it? you might ask. Why in the world do so many readers seem to be fascinated by stories written, or set in locations, south of the Mason-Dixon? And why has this area of the country produced so many authors? […]