DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME by John M. Floyd Rules — and warning signs — are a part of our lives. SLOW TO 45 MPH. NO PERSONAL CHECKS. THE RED ZONE IS FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING OF PASSENGERS ONLY. I especially like the note I saw on TV awhile back, before a documentary about daredevil […]

SHORT STORY ROUNDUP I have a lot of short stories on my nightstand this week. I’m enmeshed in — or have recently finished — several collections and anthologies. Since this is a blog about short mystery fiction, what better topic to discuss? Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine March/April 2009 The current issue is a fat “Double […]

IT’S ALL LIES by Deborah Elliott-Upton Every day criminals are caught and herded off in handcuffs past family and friends to a waiting patrol car amid cries of “You’ve got the wrong man!” And every day, people are proved wrong when police produce evidence with or without the aid of a confession. “Who knows what […]

THE FOUR SEASONS by Rob Lopresti Last month, in the midst of darkest, coldest December, spring broke out. I have to explain that the seasons of a writer’s life are not the ones you find on the calendar. They have to do with what is going on in his head or between his hand and […]

DOWNSIZING by Melodie Johnson Howe We are moving from a large property to a smaller one. When asked why we are moving, I hear myself say, “We’re downsizing.” I have grown to detest that word. And I keep singing the theme song from the TV show The Jeffersons. “We’re movin’ on up.” Only I sing, […]

W.I.P. by James Lincoln Warren I never read only one book at a time. There is always a stack on the floor next to my side of the bed and at bedtime—I always read at bedtime—I cherry-pick from among them. I wish I could say I only write one story at a time, that I […]

Lucy ebullient! DOGGED PURSUIT by Leigh Lundin Cats have come to dominate mystery cosies. Aficionados embrace multiple cat novel series, cat blogs, cat conference panels, and fans talk of a cat mystery convention. If cats symbolize the cosy, mutts must represent noir. Cats are feminine. Dogs are masculine. Cats are positive. The cat’s meow and […]