The THIEF WHO STOLE KNOWLEDGE by Leigh Lundin Imagine a world where a cartel wants to publish your work, which may receive worldwide distribution and be archived for centuries. They may not pay a lot; they may not pay at all. They might charge you a nominal fee to cover expenses. But this is a […]

NEITHER NOIR NOR NEO-NOIR by John M. Floyd Even though this is a blog about mystery/crime/suspense short stories, I sometimes veer off into the area of mystery/crime/suspense fiction in general, which includes movies. Among those I have written about in the past are Double Indemnity, Witness, The Spanish Prisoner, Dial M for Murder, Blood Simple, […]

STARLIGHT BY COACH by Steven Steinbock This week’s Bandersnatch is coming to you from seat #22, car #14 of the Amtrak Coast Starlight. The old man in the seat kitty-corner to me is watching “Uncle Buck” on his little DVD player. I can’t help myself; I keep glancing over at the seven inch screen. I’m […]

SCATTERED THOUGHTS by Deborah Elliott-Upton Once I started reading mysteries regularly my mind began to think in a different vein. I started to find criminal elements everywhere. I’m not sure this is healthy, but it aids my writing, so I’m not complaining. Pouring milk into my breakfast cereal reminds me of missing children—and those who […]

PT CRUISING by Rob Lopresti I’m back from our vacation in Port Townsend, a Victorian seaport on the Olympic Peninsula. (I think there must be an obscure Washington state law requiring the town to be described as a Victorian seaport. . . . Nobody ever calls it a nineteenth-century harbor town, for instance.) The town’s […]

BYE-BYE BORDERS by Melodie Johnson Howe Borders is liquidating. Barnes & Noble survived, but not without closing down many of its stores. You could say B & N saw the future of eBooks and Borders didn’t. I remember the outcry when Borders first opened. This was the wholesaling of books, this was going to ruin […]

REMEMBRANCE OF CRIMES PAST by Janice Law I’ve just come back from a family visit to Chicago, the Windy City, Hog Butcher to the World, City of Broad Shoulders, etc., etc., a burg with more epithets than you can shake a stick at. One usually omitted from the list might be called “City Proud of […]