HALLOWEEN CRIMES by Leigh Lundin What better time to catch up with weird crime news than Halloween? Read on! Carpooling Corpse (click to read) As disturbing as this story is, it’s difficult not to feel sympathy for two women in dire distress. Still, it’s not a place to trick-or-treat. Dangerous Drugs It seems the US […]

BEFORE THE SHOOTING STARTS by John M. Floyd I watched a documentary the other day called Tales From the Script, a collection of interviews with dozens of Hollywood screenwriters. Since I’m both a writer and a movie fan, I loved it. I am not, however, a screenwriter. I’ve tried my hand at it, as have […]

TOUGH GUYS AND THE GREAT DETECTIVE by Steven Steinbock I’ve had tough guys and The Great Detective on my mind. The tough guys are because of a project I’m doing with Audiofile Magazine. We’re doing a celebration of hard-boiled audiobooks, and I was asked to come up with a list of great detectives (and other […]

’TIS THE SEASON by Deborah Elliott-Upton The best part of October is looking forward to the masquerade at the end of the month. For one night everyone can be who or what they wish without fear. You always thought yourself a bit of a witch or a ghoul? It’s okay. You’re leaning more to Jean […]

SUSPENDING DISBELIEF . . . BY A THREAD by Rob Lopresti Adapted from my column in Murderous Intent, Winter 1997. Alas, some things don’t change. Happy Halloween to you and yours and the broomstick you rode in on. I had a spooky experience today on the subject of . . . well, spookiness. Mystery writer […]

IS IT LITERATURE, YET? by Melodie Johnson Howe At Bouchercon I went to a panel I had not intended to go to, don’t ask, and found myself listening to writers telling very funny horror stories of trying to sell their books and dealing with wacky fans. The authors and the audience were having a jolly […]

GARDEN PLOT by James Lincoln Warren A couple weeks ago Rob gave us an insight into how his creativity gets kick-started. I guess it’s fair to say that the concept for a story has a point of inception from which it subsequently germinates. Planting the seed, though, is not enough to make sure that an […]