Hugo Gernsback is famous as the inventor of the science fiction pulp magazine. The most coveted award in science fiction, the “Hugo”, is named in his honor. But the Gentle Reader may be unaware that Mr. Gernsback also published a magazine dedicated to forensic mysteries. He wrote an article for the February 1930 issue of […]

THUMPING THE GOOD BOOK by James Lincoln Warren 1 According to Technorati, the website that tracks blogs, Criminal Brief is ranked 237,453rd among about 7.3 million blogs on the web. Not bad … except that when you consider that Sarah Weinman’s Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, perhaps the premiere mystery blog on the net, rates […]

L’OULIPO by Leigh Lundin Thursday at 6p, or as the French write it, 18h, on a small stage within sight of the pond of the Villette in Paris’ 19e arrondissement, the poet and novelist Jacques Jouet put on his glasses and settled down in front of his computer. He’s chosen to participate in France’s literary […]

ENGLISH COMP-LICATIONS by John M. Floyd A month ago my CB column discussed what I consider to be the ten most irritating grammar errors. As a followup, I’d like to cover some ways that might help us (they certainly help me) avoid other easy-to-make mistakes in grammar and word usage. The key, I think, is […]

PLUM PUDDING by Steve Steinbock I’ve been on a “Plum” kick lately. Not the purple fruit with all the juice inside, although I like that kind of plum, too. I refer to Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE, known to his readers as P.G. Wodehouse (pronounced “wood-house”), and to his friends as “Plum” (which is how […]

Deborah’s stand-in this week is the inimitable Sunny Frazier, specializing in mysteries with an astrological bent, and a fellow contributor along with our own John M. Floyd and Deborah Elliott-Upton to the flash anthology, Seven by Seven. She writes of herself: “Sunny Frazier’s short mystery fiction has won over 30 awards and trophies, as well […]

STARK CONTRASTS by Rob Lopresti If a book is written in third person, who is the narrator? Nobody? Or is it supposed to be the author? I tend to think it is intended to be no one, an empty neutral personality. But if that’s the case, shouldn’t they all sound more or less the same? […]