“Going down the steps with a gun in his hands” Our family’s criminal history used to be a secret. Before Google, it was easy to hide your past. When my grandmother Effie Satterwhite was 17, she had a boyfriend named Jim. According to her brother’s court testimony, he once caught … | Continue reading
“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” ― Anne Lamott, BIRD BY BIRD I first heard this quote while listening to Anne Lamott’s inspirational TED Talk. As a writer, her words mad … | Continue reading
“See, these ones fit together.” Senem grabs hold of some vertebrae, “Look, the bones tell us about themselves.” She assembles the skeleton like a puzzle, her hands rapid and precise, using practiced movements: large leg bones arranged next to a pelvis, ribs around vertebrae, a lo … | Continue reading
Arthur Barry was a precocious and versatile lawbreaker. As Dean Jobb tells it in his brisk, beautifully written new book, Barry was a beer-drinker at seven and a safecracker’s errand boy at 13. He made his first theft at 15, breaking into a house and stealing some cash. In time, … | Continue reading
It was another era. Not easier, but maybe not quite so crazy hectic at today. The stakes were still high, and in their day—the early 1980s—getting your first book published was still hard work. In many ways, harder. Bestselling crime author Heather Graham knows. She lived it back … | Continue reading
Montevideo – the capital and largest city of Uruguay. Home to a million and a half people – about a third of Uruguay’s total population. Sitting majestically on the southern coast of the country, on the northeastern bank of the Rio de la Plata – the River Plate. So often overlook … | Continue reading
Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Eli Cranor, Broiler (Soho) “Eli Cranor is one of the new big ‘uns. I don’t have the proper term for what he does with words, calm but knowing prose, and nearly Steinbeckian concern for his characters, … | Continue reading
I’m tired of hearing about good detectives. Sometimes, nothing is better… or FUNNIER… than a bad detective. I don’t mean just a bumbling detective or a certain goofy deputy of the Mayberry Sheriff’s department. I mean detectives (police detectives and PIs alike) who are pretty in … | Continue reading
In early 1966, a midair crash involving two U.S. Air Force planes set loose an unexploded hydrogen bomb somewhere near the coast of Spain. For the next several weeks, the U.S. military’s all-out search for the nuclear device was the subject of constant press coverage. But it was … | Continue reading
A look at the best reviewed crime fiction, nonfiction, mysteries, and thrillers, from Book Marks. * Nicola Yoon, One of Our Kind (Knopf) “Warm … The affection and care she has for all her characters and the reasons that have taken them to Liberty deepen the novel’s stakes and hei … | Continue reading
So here I am, walking down the Champs-Élysées in the midst of 300,000 rowdy strangers, everyone singing the same two songs over and over, one of which is the national anthem, the other is a battle chant, while high above us in the classic Haussmann-style apartments, residents lea … | Continue reading
There is a scene in Steven Zillian’s Netflix series Ripley where Tom Ripley and Dickie Greenleaf come upon an Italian woman sitting on the ground, rubbing her ankle. “Are you ok?” Dickie asks in Italian, crouching next to her. She explains that she has just been robbed and though … | Continue reading
I recently read an old handbook from the Metropolitan Police that advises its undercover officers to avoid suspicion by entering into “fleeting, disastrous relationships.” I have so many questions about this advice. How disastrous are we talking here? How long is fleeting? And wh … | Continue reading
One of the dark pleasures of the assassin genre is watching the protagonist prepare the hit. Whether it’s the titular killer in “Day of the Jackal” meticulously securing the supplies he’ll use to assassinate Charles de Gaulle, or John Wick figuring out which rifle will allow him … | Continue reading
CrimeReads has already had a couple interesting articles on Sherlock Holmes and Arsène Lupin written by Olivia Rutigliano, but I thought I would further discuss the topic. As an author with a recent crossover novel involving Holmes and Lupin, The Gentleman Burglar, I have my own … | Continue reading
I’m always intrigued by the dissonance inherent in the ubiquitous detective-show conceit which features a well-read or know-it-all genius detective with an impressive academic pedigree and a strong humanities background. This dissonance lies in the notion that someone with humani … | Continue reading
All good things come in moderation. There is evil in excess. Surrealism is one of my favorite modes of artistic expression, but it’s no different than anything else; too much of it is gross. A book that’s overladen with surreal elements stops being surreal and starts being weird … | Continue reading
Even before I was out of high school, I was working in a law office. My Home Economic teacher’s husband hired me as his legal secretary right after graduation and it was a great introduction to office life. One where I would stay for the next thirty-some years! There’s something … | Continue reading
As the authors of The Science of Women in Horror, as well as lifelong fans of the genre, and yes, as women, we believe it’s our duty to let you know how you can support female-identifying horror creators. Here are some ways we believe you can celebrate women in horror all year ro … | Continue reading
The CrimeReads editors make their selections for the month’s best debut novels in crime, mystery, and thrillers. Monika Kim, The Eyes are the Best Part (Erewhon Books) In this darkly funny psychological horror, a college student must protect her mother and her sister from her mot … | Continue reading
It’s a trope that women love bad boys. In third grade, my friends and I were obsessed with the movie Grease where good girl Sandy falls in love with bad boy Danny Zuko. We watched the film again and again, memorizing the songs. I learned something else too, that even good girls d … | Continue reading
Long Island and Manhattan • 1924 A man in a tuxedo and winged collar navigated a room filled with black-clad men and elegant women in Parisian gowns, sparkling with jewels. He docked alongside a group of guests who had formed a cordon around a punch bowl. Someone offered him a dr … | Continue reading
My protagonist in the Countess of Harleigh mysteries, Frances Hazelton, generally takes on crime in late Victorian London. She’s an amateur sleuth, so police procedures don’t take on a huge role in the story, but even if I don’t show them to the reader, I need to know what those … | Continue reading
It’s hot Wet Bulb summer! So pick up a psychological thriller and read it next to the pool, close to the fan, and late into the night. June’s best suspenseful tales feature delightfully unreliable narrators, wickedly funny skewerings, and intricately plotted reversals. Thanks, as … | Continue reading
Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Ace Atkins, Don’t Let the Devil Ride (William Morrow) “Ace Atkins’s killing honesty sets a new standard for Southern crime fiction.” –New York Times Book Review Joseph Kanon, Shanghai (Scribner) “As i … | Continue reading
To read a Peter Swanson book is to become immersed in a slightly askew world – people are still people, yes, but many of these individuals inhabit their own tangled realms, not the least of which is the scheming, cheating, lying one where said people frequently make bad decisions … | Continue reading
In our new mystery The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby, the vastly wealthy aristocrat father of runaway heiress and artist Juliette is obsessed with all things Egyptian, and this obsession influences her own paintings. This is inspired by real events—the symbolism of Ancient Egy … | Continue reading
The first time I read American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, I abandoned it two-thirds finished. Listen, I was a freshman in college. Very fresh into college, actually—it was orientation week. With a few empty days of freedom before classes started, on my first week away from home … | Continue reading
In our recent trilogy of quizzes on this site, this one going to be the most challenging. Ain’t it just like a dame. Like the quizes that came before it, this one is part quiz, part trivia. Under “questions” I have listed many descriptions of femme fatales from crime novels. And … | Continue reading
The 1970s was an odd decade for movies. Following the late 1960s counterculture movement and consciousness-raising that translated into films like 1969’s “Easy Rider,” the 1970s were a time of great artistic merit, as exemplified by the “Godfather” films, huge box-office blockbus … | Continue reading
The third book of my ‘Hooke & Hunt’ series, The Bedlam Cadaver, includes a building designed by Robert Hooke. And, indeed, includes the shortened version of its name in the title. The Priory of the New Order of our Lady of Bethlehem was founded in 1247, its main purpose to collec … | Continue reading
· They called me a femme fatale in the media, back when that Jesse Black fiasco went down. Most people have no idea what it really means. Most people think it means badass with tits, but that’s not it at all. A real femme fatale is a villain, and I always thought of myself as […] | Continue reading
We’re halfway through 2024, but in these books, we’re still in the (generally terrible) past! Its been, as usual, a great year for historical fiction, and I’ve assembled the best historical fiction of the year so far. The following books are as great as the history they depict is … | Continue reading
In Holy City, Henry Wise honors the Southern gothic tradition with a captivating and lyrical debut rooted in rural Virginia. At the heart of this gritty thriller, deputy sheriff Will Seems returns home after a decade in Richmond, Virginia, to restore his dilapidated family estate … | Continue reading
Rachel Howzell Hall had what can only be described as an annus horribilis while writing What Fire Brings, which was published on June 11, 2024. Her father, both her in-laws, and her dog all passed away during that year. But, like the protagonists who persevere in her novels, Rach … | Continue reading
The diamond world was stunned when De Beers, the storied diamond miner, announced this month it was ditching its lab-grown diamond business. De Beers had been selling lab-grown gems online through its Lightbox brand for six years, at prices its competitors found hard to beat. But … | Continue reading
Part One: The Passion of Aline and Henry— A True Tale of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous between the Two World Wars The headline was horrific. “Wife, Beaten for 6 Years, Can’t Take It Anymore,” blared the title to the story about Aline (Stumer) von Rhau’s divorce suit again … | Continue reading
“Everything is true here, even if it’s not.” With over 17 million members, NoSleep is a subreddit dedicated to horror stories that may or may not be based in reality. I’ve been reading and writing NoSleep stories for over a decade, but it wasn’t until 2021 that my series ‘We Used … | Continue reading
The heat and haze of summer days holds the power to rekindle memories of sacred childhood rituals—beaches and bicycles, playdates and popsicles, sandcastles and swimming pools—with all the urgency and unpredictability of a weather front. Such remembrances are often amplified by s … | Continue reading
When you don’t remember what you had for lunch two days ago, it’s easy to imagine that bringing back characters from a book written seven years ago would be a challenge. This might be true for authors who write solo, but for us as collaborators it’s a little different. When you w … | Continue reading
Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Ram Murali, Death in the Air (Harper) “An old-fashioned mystery in the model of Agatha Christie . . . . A frothy, fun, truly escapist read—offering perspective on a certain echelon that feels both hyp … | Continue reading
I’m not sure when the folk horror (or folk horror “adjacent”!) element of my new thriller, The Midnight Feast first came to me. Perhaps it was researching the area in which the book is set, the West Country: think Stonehenge, Glastonbury, Arthurian legend and Thomas Hardy. This p … | Continue reading
Emiko Jean, who already has a devoted following for her well-crafted ya fiction, released her debut novel for adult audiences, The Return of Ellie Black, this past month to wide acclaim. In the novel, also set in the Pacific Northwest and also featuring an intersectional explorat … | Continue reading
What kind of city is this Denver, Colorado we hear reports of? To those of us who inhabit distinctly grimier, grittier cities, far off Denver can appear dreamlike, pristine, virginal. Clear blue skies, fresh crisp air, the Rocky Mountains just over there in full view! You can’t m … | Continue reading
One night in the rainy summer of 1816, at Lord Byron’s summer estate, Villa Diodati, in Cologny, near Geneva, Switzerland, Byron, and his friends Percy and Mary Shelley passed the time by telling ghost stories. The stories they created would lay the groundwork for future, publish … | Continue reading
For a long time, if someone would have asked me how I decide which parts of my life and work to share on the internet, I would have responded with a shrug. I don’t think about it too much, I might have said, or maybe: I just try to be honest. I genuinely thought I […] | Continue reading
I was sitting in the back of an auditorium two years ago, listening to S.A. Cosby ruminate on the beginnings of his since gone thermonuclear writing career, when he mentioned a magazine that had escaped my mind for too long. Cosby was heaping praise on one of the first places he … | Continue reading
When I started writing The Wilderness of Girls—a young adult novel about a pack of feral girls thrust into civilization and the troubled teenager who rescues them—I told myself this book isn’t going to include sexual assault. I knew in my gut, my feral girls wouldn’t have to deal … | Continue reading