FAVORITE TEXAS CRIME NOVELS TEXAS: FAR MORE THAN A LONE STAR BACKDROP FOR GRITTY CRIME NOVELS When I was a journalist, I roved the border between Texas and Mexico in search of stories about a rugged region that is really a land and culture unto itself, not truly a part of the countries on either […]
Top Ten Horror Stories of all Time Growing up in the 1980s in a remote sixteenth-century farmhouse in deepest, darkest Somerset, England, did wonders for my imagination and interest in the macabre. There were always these rumors that someone had been murdered by musket shot in one of the lower rooms of the house, […]
Ten Mystery Novels which were SO Well Researched… Research Between the Covers I’ve found that, for the most part, when doing extensive research for a novel perhaps 10% of that research makes it into the book. But, it’s that 10% that brings the story to life for the readers. I love to read books where […]
Ten Mysterious Facts Americans Need To Know About America’s Largest Ancient City We are W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O’Neal Gear, archaeologists and anthropologists by academic training and professional inclination. That we are New York Times and international bestselling authors with fifty-six books in print is almost incidental. We’re best known for writing about […]
The Top 5 Literary Investigators Everyone Should Know As a prolific writer of more than fifty novels, I’ve been inspired by many mystery writers, from Georges Simenon to Agatha Christie, who’ve created indelible detectives that every mystery lover should know. These writers constructed complex, nuanced, and intelligent investigators who have influenced my own Fiona […]
5 Great Detective Stories Set In Foreign, Uber-Corrupt Cities In The Simple Art of Murder, Raymond Chandler famously distilled the hard-boiled mystery story to its most essential ingredient: “Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean.” The Chandleresque detective is a heroic figure in a deeply corrupt world. He fights […]
The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes: 50 Tantalizing Problems of Chess DetectionJoin the master sleuth as he and Dr. Watson examine interrupted chess matches at clubs and country homes, examining the pieces’ current positions to identify previous moves. Rather than predicting the outcome of these games, the Baker Street duo focus on past events, using […]
The president of the American Writers Museum Malcolm O’Hagan with the inside scoop on this year’s major literary event… AFG: Tell us about the American Writers Museum? MO: The American Writers Museum will be a place where visitors enjoy an intimate encounter with our greatest writers and their works. The multimedia interactive exhibits will draw […]
Putting this list together got me thinking about why readers love a good spy story. Is it the intrigue? The suspense? The action? I think it’s some or all of that. But mostly I think it’s because they give us a peek into the dark world of espionage and double agents and counterterrorism. There is […]