KID STUFF by John M. Floyd I’ve always been impressed by the way some authors can write successfully in different genres: Nora Roberts, James Rollins, Margaret Atwood, Larry McMurtry, Joyce Carol Oates, and many others. But what impresses me the most is when I find out that an author I already enjoy reading, like James […]

DRIED FRUIT by Steven Steinbock It’s a frabjous Friday, and today your beamish correspondent is in the company of James Lincoln Warren, traveling by train from New York’s Penn Station to Washington’s Union Station. Last night members of the Mystery Writers of America gathered in the Grand Hyatt Ballroom above Grand Central Station for the […]

THE MYSTERY OF LIFE by Deborah Elliott-Upton Yesterday, I spent most of the day/evening at the hospital. No one was ill. In fact, the doctor delivered good news, along with our granddaughter, Francesca Deborah Suzanne. She’s quite precious and beautiful and just about everything we could have ordered if there were such a catalog. Whenever […]

CRUEL TO BE CRUEL by Rob Lopresti The other day I was looking at Improbable Research, a website dedicated to some of the more unusual accomplishments in the field of science. (They give out the Ig Nobel Prizes to honor “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think.”) To my surprise […]

FIRST DRAFTS by Melodie Johnson Howe I am packing to go off to the Edgar Awards dinner in New York. I have paired down my closet to one color: black. This way I decided I would never get a clothes attack and have a tizzy about what to wear. Also, I’ve discovered that the older […]

AMAZING! BRILLIANT! ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! by Janice Law Short mystery fiction may represent the absolutely last frontier of hype, a lonely headland free from multiple adjectives and dangling participles. Consider novels which in the bad old days were considered good, bad or indifferent, pleasant or stimulating or boring things to read. Now no novel worth an […]

DAY of the GOOD BOOK by Leigh Lundin Maundy, Maundy Today is Easter Sunday when people relax and celebrate one way or another. Scholars may be nearing resolution regarding a discrepancy when the events actually occurred, arguing the date should be fixed on the first Sunday in April. Apparently the problem is that the Gospels […]