SEVEN MYSTERIOUS TALES WITH SKEWED (& CONFUSED) NARRATION By Vivan Barz, author of Forgotten Bones Celebrating her debut novel, Forgotten Bones, a police procedural featuring a schizophrenic college professor who sees ghostly visions that mirror details of an open murder case, Vivian Barz creates a list of her favorite mysteries with skewed (and […]
Category Archives: Blog Article
CONFESSIONS OF A SCREENER: SIX THINGS WRITERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MYSTERY AWARDS
CONFESSIONS OF A SCREENER: SIX THINGS WRITERS SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MYSTERY AWARDS By Michael Bowen In early 1993 I got a message to return a call from someone at the Mystery Writers of America. Gut-flutter. A mystery of mine had come out the previous year. Could this possibly be . . . . ? Uh, […]
6 Books to Buddy-Read with your Teen or Twentyish Daughter
6 Books to Buddy-Read with your Teen or Twentyish Daughter by Kelly Simmons I have three daughters in their early twenties, and I honestly believe I’ve experienced every type of bored teenager and college student mood imaginable. There’s nothing to do, no one’s home, there’s nothing to eat, why couldn’t we go to Europe […]
From Mary Shelley to Horace Walpole, why Gothic novels have stood the test of time
From Mary Shelley to Horace Walpole, why Gothic novels have stood the test of time Crisp fall weather calls for chill-inducing reads, and there’s nothing better for that than a good gothic novel. In more than 250 years, the gothic has never been out of style, though it’s undergone transformations and has had more […]
Are you going to make me a character in your book?
Are you going to make me a character in your book? When people discover you’re a writer, there are a lot of reactions: Have I read you? Should I know you? And— Are you going to make me a character in your book? The answer: No. You’re not interesting enough. I know somewhere […]
Ten American Pirates You’d Best Have Avoided When They Were in Their Prime
Ten American Pirates You’d Best Have Avoided When They Were in Their Prime Most of us think of 17th Century pirates as swashbuckling outlaws that wore eyepatches, drank grog and buried their treasure on desert islands. And while some pirates probably did lose an eye and most definitely drank watered-down rum, outlaws they were […]
He wrote The Silent Patient, and now he tells us what he’s afraid of
He wrote The Silent Patient, and now he tells us what he’s afraid of… Almost every year, there is a crime novel or thriller that reaches so far and wide – frequently propelled by enthusiastic word of mouth – that it becomes a kind of phenomenon. And so, to the ranks of Before I Go […]
What are you afraid of as an adult?
What are you afraid of as adult? There are many things writers dream of – critical acclaim, perhaps, or an international bestseller – but for some of us, a nod from Stephen King will always be top of the wishlist. Well, C.J. Tudor has all three. “If you like my stuff, you’ll like this,” King […]
“There is one movie that scares the hell out of me.”
“There is one movie that scares the hell out of me.” For so much of the time, our lives progress in predictable ways. We have our routines and expectations, and we have people close to us – especially our families – whom we think we know. What could be more unnerving, then, than the sudden […]
Why do readers like to be frightened?
Why do readers like to be frightened? They say a good series detective needs a town, a city, a beat for them to walk. Rebus has Edinburgh, Morse has Oxford, and so on. But another way of looking at it might be that every place needs a detective. Bradford is an industrial city […]
What’s the scariest thing that happened to Ruth Ware?
What’s the scariest thing that happened to Ruth Ware? Ruth Ware began her writing career with a series of young adult fantasy novels, before moving on to the gripping, uneasy psychological thrillers that have made her an international bestseller. Her ingenious plots frequently play out in closed and claustrophobic settings, against an escalating […]
Are Villains Good Bad Guys? We have five of the best!
Are Villains Good Bad Guys? We have five of the best! It may sound like an oxymoron, but there’s something about a good bad guy that draws me into a story every time. Maybe it’s because a well-crafted villain often has some redeemable facets woven into their very fibers. Maybe it’s the morally gray […]