YOU DID A BAD, BAD THING by Deborah Elliott-Upton Left on my front door were a bundle of pamphlets published and distributed by a religious sect (you can guess which one). The cover caught my attention with the words Why Do People Do Bad Things? Being a mystery/crime story lover, I decided to see what […]

POP QUIZ 3: A WORD TO THE WISE by Robert Lopresti It’s the end of summer, so let’s not get too heavy. Here are a few word games. 1. What do these words have in common? abuse combat convict desert house produce rebel subject wind Hint: These words do not belong in the above group: […]

Here’s the surprise I promised. Rejoice! —JLW THE GOOD-BYE TOUR ENDS; Melodie Returns by Melodie Johnson Howe When I wrote my last column I was leaving CB. In order to mark my departure I listed some wonderful, “Good-bye” book titles such as The Long Goodbye. So I thought I would like to begin my returning […]

DO TELL by James Lincoln Warren I have three busts of famous people, heroes of mine, sitting on top of one of my bookshelves. One of them is of William Shakespeare, perhaps the greatest story teller of all time. Shakespeare’s genius did not lie in his plots, which he almost always cribbed from some other […]

CRIME & FICTION by Leigh Lundin If you’re like me, you receive a lot of ‘fiction’ in your eMail, no-longer-thinly disguised diatribes about someone else’s race or religion. These rants pretend toward ‘truth’, which make them worse than fiction, since the best fiction opens a window upon truth itself. At the last moment last week, […]

IF YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR BURRO FROM A BURROW by John M. Floyd Two guys are sitting in a tavern, sipping their beers. One says to the other, “See that girl at the end of the bar? I think I’ll ask her for a date.” The second guy takes a look, then says, “Forget it. […]

Yesterday (Thursday) afternoon I met with an English teacher from the local high school who was developing a curriculum on mystery fiction. She was looking for a short, simple introduction to the genre that would provide a definition and would give kids a framework to begin reading mysteries with a critical eye. I couldn’t find […]