Halloween: The Other Family Holiday by Stand Staff “What are you going to be for Halloween?”My eight-year-old niece called to ask me that question this morning, and it made me remember the way I used to interrogate people on the same topic every October when I was a kid. In my niece’s case, the question […]

Tartan Crime “Where were you last weekend?”“Bloody Scotland.”Look of surprise. “I thought you liked your native land?” “It’s a festival, not an epithet.” Yes, that’s right. Scottish crime fiction—or tartan noir, as it has been dubbed—has come of age. There are now enough of us and a big enough body of work to sustain a […]