My favorite crime stories always involve the application of justice, and the more ironic it is, the better I like it. This little gem was written by the creator of Jeeves and Wooster in 1910. —JLW MISUNDERSTOOD by P. G. Wodehouse       The profession of Mr. James (“Spider1”) Buffin was pocket-picking. His hobby was revenge. […]

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN by James Lincoln Warren All crime fiction depends on a central fact of human nature: people behaving badly. Back in the 6th century, Pope Gregory the Great codified the Official Roman Catholic List of Cardinal Sins, based on earlier work by theologians and references in scripture. Dante made a couple other adjustments […]

LAST WORDS by Leigh Lundin I was mulling over notes and web addresses for today’s column when I realized I could juxtapose a couple of early ideas, both related to the last words of condemned prisoners. The result is an article that affects different people in different ways. Texas Hold’em The Texas Department of Criminal […]

ZAPPED by John M. Floyd Like Leigh and Rob and JLW, I’ve had computer problems recently, and was even reduced to typing and sending in my last two columns via my wife’s laptop. In my case, though, it was more of a disaster than a problem: my main computer was so ill it was in […]

WRITER’S CHOPS by Steven Steinbock I’ve spent the summer building up my writing chops: the muscles required to squeeze creative juice out of the brain, through the fingers, and onto the keys. I’ve been a professional writer for more than a decade and a half, but I’ve never had terribly good writing habits. Driven by […]

SHOW ME A STORY by Deborah Elliott-Upton If one picture is worth a thousand words, how many pictures would one short story be worth? I was thumbing through an art book and stumbled upon a painting by Jacques-Louis David, La Mort de Marat (The Death of Marat), that had always fascinated me. When I was […]

SHERLOCK HOLMES vs THE FAIRIES by Rob Lopresti (This is my vacation, sort of. I am recycling a column that appeared in MURDEROUS INTENT MYSTERY MAGAZINE in 1997. I hope you can cope.) Playing detective must be one of the biggest temptations for a successful mystery writer. If you can make up puzzles and solve […]