History, Mystery, and Joy When planning a murder, the first thing you need is a time machine. No DNA evidence to convict, if you go back three decades. No fingerprint evidence if you go back 150 years. Of course, no insanity plea either. No psychiatry, no killer profiling, no rehabilitation, and precious little mercy. All […]
He Said, He Said by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child Linc: We’ve noticed over the years that certain people have a variety of preconceptions when it comes to two writers working jointly on a novel. Some think that the work is doled out in drill-sergeant fashion: Writer A does the first chapter, Writer B does […]
Years ago when I was squeaking through high school, I went with friends to see the movie the whole world was talking about: The Exorcist. As a former altar boy who’d been taught by nuns, the story jolted me. I squirmed in my seat each time we were taken into Regan’s bedroom where “that […]
Witches, Burning, Butties, and Beer Normally, I have no idea where that first elusive spark for a novel comes from. Sometimes a scene just pops into my head, sometimes it’s a title, but for Close To The Bone it happened in a borrowed estate car driving around the South Island of New Zealand in 2009. […]
Jodi Arias and the Dilemma of Beautiful Killers One of the more interesting visuals in any criminal trial is how the defendant presents himself. As a prosecutor, I saw countless defense makeovers: brutish thugs who walked into the courtroom almost unrecognizable in pressed khakis, a neat haircut, and fake glasses plucked from a bin in […]
Genius of James McClure South Africa has a stellar group of crime writers at the moment, including Wessel Ebersohn, Joanne Hichens, Meshack Masondo, Deon Meyer, Jassy Mackenzie, Sifiso Mzobe, Mike Nicol, Margie Orford, and Roger Smith. One could also include Richard Kunzmann, Chris Marnewick, Malla Nunn, and Peter Temple in this list—writers born in southern […]
Film Review: Doors Open Adapted from Ian Rankin’s 2008 stand-alone novel of the same name, this made-for-television movie remains faithful to the original darkly humorous caper. The title relates to a day-long festival in which Scottish art displays between Edinburgh and Glasgow are open for free admission to the general public.Local businessman Mike Mackenzie […]
Notes from Abroad by Peter James This has been somewhat of a week of contrasts.I delivered the manuscript for my ninth Roy Grace novel, Dead Man’s Time, to my UK and US publishers—only a little late (!)—had tea with my delightful namesake, P.D. James, in her London home, and went hunting wild boar in Russia […]
May the Earth Not Receive Him One of the beauties of writing my kind of mysteries is that not all that happens between the book covers need be explained. I’m drawn to the paranormal, and I like to hint at it in my work, so I was happy to discover when I lived in Greece […]
“For a quarter of a century, The Strand has not only been bringing fabulous contemporary mystery and thriller stories to readers—but it has also managed, on an astonishingly regular basis, to dig up unpublished and long-lost stories by the titans of the past, including James M. Cain, Shirley Jackson, Raymond Chandler…” —Douglas Preston (New York Times Bestselling […]