WHAT YOU SAY? by Deborah Elliott-Upton Today’s article continues from last Thursday’s with more slang words that interest our readers to a certain time period within our stories. Next Thursday, I’ll complete the trilogy. From the Roaring ’20’s: All wet — an idea or person as not one well received Applesauce — an expletive when […]

THE YOUNG AND THE CANCELLED by Rob Lopresti I have been busy at my VCR lately, eliminating this season’s bright hopefuls, new TV shows that I have decided after a few episodes, or a few seconds, that I never want to see again. For the record, the only new show I am still watching is […]

NOIR TO THE RESCUE by Melodie Johnson Howe Last week I left out the most important element in my column. Hollywood turned Mildred Pierce into a noir mystery, which the book was not. This is why the film worked so beautifully. Monte Beragon (Zackary Scott) wasn’t just a once wealthy man, a user and a […]

MODERATION IN ALL THINGS by James Lincoln Warren It looks like I’m the only member of the CB crew who will be heading off to Malice Domestic in Bethesda, Maryland, at the end of next month. For those of you unfamiliar with this particular fan convention, it is dedicated to the “traditional mystery,” and its […]

WHERE THERE’s a WILL by Leigh Lundin Before you continue, listen to this. Really. I’m not sure how I missed the June 2008 Alfred Hitchcock, but I’m glad I did, because I stumbled across the AHMM podcasts. Their introductory offering was a little recording called ‘In Search Of’. For a bachelor, solitary meals are more […]

CHAPTER AND VERSE by John M. Floyd My friend Carolyn Haines, one of the most talented and prolific mystery authors around, once said to me that when she started writing novels she tried to avoid short chapters. Her reason was that she’d always heard a writer should never give the reader an opportunity to put […]

FACTS, FICTIONS, AND OTHER BUBBE MAISAS by Steven Steinbock Spring is nearly upon us. Where I live, that means that I can see my driveway and the rooftop of my house, but my lawn is still enshrouded in a cocoon of snow. I’ve kept myself in a similar cocoon these last few months. Fortunately there […]