DOPPELGÄNGER! by James Lincoln Warren It’s been over two years since I wrote about our having adopted two cats who are sisters, Emma and Lizzie. A week ago last Friday, while Lizzie was sitting in Margaret’s lap, Margaret felt three small bumps or welts on the skin of Lizzie’s left foreleg below her fur. Benign […]

FREE AUDIOBOOKS by Leigh Lundin Enter "Nick Carter" in the CB search box to the right and you’ll find all the clues: Deborah has been having a love affair with this guy. Scandalous! But that’s okay: Nick Carter is a noir detective who’s been recreated so many times, only his name remains the same. Mentioning […]

A DARK AND STORMY BRAIN by John M. Floyd I’ve heard a lot of authors, among them Lawrence Block and Harlan Coben, say that there’s one question they always get, sooner or later, whenever they’re introduced as an writer—and it’s often the first question they get. We’ve talked about it a lot at this blog, […]

THE SHADOW KNOWS by Steven Steinbock There is hope for the future. As part of the Career Exploration Program (CEP) of my local school disctrict, all high school Sophomores and Juniors take part in a three-day job-shadowing. A month or so back, I was contacted by a tenth grader. He is interested in writing, and […]

SING ME A STORY by Deborah Elliott-Upton With the exception of math story problems, I love almost any kind of story. I’m not a snob to genre, although I do prefer mysteries. In listening to my personal music collection, I thought about how I am drawn to songs that tell a story. I can hear […]

THE UNFINISHED MAN by Rob Lopresti A couple of weeks ago I attended a concert and happened to sit next to my friend Jane. We were talking about books and she told me that she had tried reading my story in the book Seattle Noir and had stopped halfway through. I was reminded of a […]

CB x 3 by James Lincoln Warren, Rob Lopresti, Deborah Elliott-Upton, Steve Steinbock, John M. Floyd, and Leigh Lundin Preface Friday marked Criminal Brief‘s third anniversary. Leigh had the idea of doing a commemorative column, John suggested that we each write a paragraph, and Rob suggested that it be retrospective, including one link to our […]