SEASONED CHARACTERS by Deborah Elliott-Upton The season of giving also brings out thieves in droves. Not just the burglars or pickpockets, but also those who are more covert in their actions. Is the man on the other end of the phone really collecting for the state troopers or is he “an army of one” out […]

THE MANY NAMES OF WESTLAKE by Rob Lopresti This is a bittersweet moment for me. I just finished Get Real, which was the last Donald Westlake book, unless there are some oddities lying around in the vault (lucky for us if there are). Dortmunder and the gang went out in style. At one point the […]

Our guest columnist today is John R. Corrigan, who teaches AP English and Mystery Literature at the Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut. A native of Augusta, Maine, he received an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso. John is an avid golfer, and from 2001 to 2005 was a columnist […]

REMEMBER by James Lincoln Warren I am sometimes asked why I write historicals. My mother-in-law Nadeshda (“Hope”) Dmitrievna Semyannikoff1 grew up in Rostov-on-the-Don, just to the northeast of the Crimean Peninsula, in the Soviet Union in the early 1920s. Her father, a local attorney who specialized in arbitration, was arrested by the OGPU, the precursor […]

NARY A CROSS WORD, I by Leigh Lundin We love words and word games. In that spirit, Criminal Brief will bring you our first ever contest starting December 13. (See below.) In the meantime, enjoy the following crossword puzzle inspired by one of our readers, Cate.   1 2 3 4 5       […]

IF I WERE A RITCHIE MAN by John M. Floyd Actually I am, and have been since I first read one of his stories. I believe I’ve heard my CB colleague Rob Lopresti say he’s a devoted fan as well. I’m referring to the late Jack Ritchie, one of America’s most prolific short story writers. […]

WHAT’S YOUR GENRE by Steve Steinbock My re-reading of Julian Symons’s Bloody Murder has gotten me thinking about all sorts of things. It’s a brilliant book. It’s short, and although it’s densely written, it’s easy to read. And it’s packed with things to think about. A word about Symons for those of you who haven’t […]