GENERATION GAFFS by Steve Steinbock All writers and most non-writers know the old adage, write what you know.  Most writers are smart enough to ignore it. But when trying to write faithful to a particular age or generation that is not one’s own, that foul old rule often hits us right where it hurts.  Good […]

TIME IS ALL WE HAVE by Deborah Elliott-Upton “Use your time.” – Jack London Recently I heard Michael Blake, author of Dances with Wolves, speak. He said, “Don’t stop writing through rejection or through distraction.” In truth, a writer’s life is often filled with distractions and rejections, even when he’s already been published. Blake said […]

DIGGING CRIME by Rob Lopresti A year ago this week I was volunteering on an archaeological dig in Israel. Naturally I am feeling nostalgic, wondering how my buddies at Ramat Rachel are coping without me this season. («Lopresti? Was he the fat guy who hogged popsicles at breaktime?»)  In honor of them I will tell you […]

DON’T INSULT the DAME Welcome back our irrepressible friend, Yoshinori ‘Todo, a regular on Dell Magazine’s web site, The Mystery Place, whom you’ll spot under the name Josh. He’s impossible not to like: He’s trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, cheerful, kind, and the rest of the Boy Scout Law. He’s also knowledgable and chivalrous and […]

COMMANDER’S LOG by James Lincoln Warren The day this article is scheduled to appear is the day I return to California from a 19-day tour of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Namibia (with a brief visit to the Zambia side of the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls). Some of you have asked for an account […]

BAD, BAD CRIMINALS, part III– JAPAN by Leigh Lundin After last week’s Chinese crime news, our friend Yoshinori Todo said he hoped we wouldn’t follow up with weird crime news from Japan. If I hadn’t been thinking about it before, naturally I turned my attention to that topic. We’ve written about odd crimes in North […]

THIRTY PAIRS of SHORTS by John M. Floyd A couple weeks ago, my friend Leigh Lundin (who’s been appointed head fred[1] of our Criminal Brief band while JLW is globetrotting) suggested I do a column about my own two collections of short mystery fiction. At first I was reluctant, since that sounds a lot like […]