ALWAYS THE FIRST TO DIE By R. J. Jacobs Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2022. $16.99 J. Jacobs may be an emerging name in the world of crime fiction, but he’s got the bona fides that make for a storied career. A practicing clinical psychologist for nearly twenty years, he completed a postdoctoral residency at Vanderbilt and […]
Strand Magazine Critics Awards Press Releases And the Nominees are… Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, from news venues such as The Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Sun Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, The Guardian, and several […]
The Queen of Mystery has come to Harper Collins! Agatha Christie, the acknowledged mistress of suspense—creator of indomitable sleuth Miss Marple, meticulous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and so many other unforgettable characters—brings her entire oeuvre of ingenious whodunits, locked room mysteries, and perplexing puzzles to Harper Paperbacks. Murder is part of the curriculum at an […]
Detective Stories – Edgar Alan Poe and the Origins of Mystery Fiction by Steven Rachman GO BACK TO ARTICLES MAIN PAGE “These tales of ratiocination,” Edgar Allan Poe explained to a correspondent in 1846, “owe most of their popularity to being something in a new key.” He was referring to the three stories he wrote […]
Useful Links • Lord Balderdash • Mystery File • Mystery News • Moby Dickens Bookstore • Audiomysteries.com • Agony Column of Book Reviews • Mysteries In Print • Tangled Web • Classic Mysteries • Verbolatry • Writer’s Beat • About.com Literature Page • Cluelass • The Chronicles of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle • Writewords • Murder One Bookshop • Moby Dickens Bookshop • Crippen and Landru Press • Gilbert Magazine • The Murder […]
Why I Write The first money I ever made was for playing trumpet in a polka band at a Polish picnic on the shores of Candlewood Lake in Connecticut. I was 12 years old and the accordionist and the drummer and the clarinetist and the tuba player were all grown men. At the end of […]
The Mysterious Chill of the Arctic In the popular kids’ story, honey-loving Winnie-the-Pooh bear asks Christopher Robin, “What is the North Pole?” Not quite sure of himself, Christopher Robin replies, “Just a thing you discover.”Maybe the most remarkable thing about the Arctic, topped by the North Pole, is precisely the way it has resisted discovery. […]
Joseph Finder on Suspicion (Joseph Finder’s latest novel Suspicion has received rave reviews from some of the toughest book critics in the business. Last week I had a chance to interview Joe, we spoke about his latest novel, the craft of writing and of course the Boston Red Sox.) TSM: Good to speak with […]
And the Nominees Are… Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction, the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and journalists, from news venues such as The Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Sun Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, CNN, The Guardian, and several other daily papers.This will mark the […]