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Drink On, Drinkers!Available wherever fine anthologies are sold. (Booze not included.) Some years ago, I had this brilliant idea for a...
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The Summer That Almost Was, and Definitely Wasn'tObie looked around. From his perch overlooking the stage from the sound platform he could easily see out over the heads of the rapidly dwindling...
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Betwixt Cup and LipYears ago, I lived in the Berkshires out in western Massachusetts, which was pretty much a stone’s throw from the New York state line. And we...
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Raise a Glass for Our First Anthology: Murder, Neat!An author, an author, and an author walk into a bar, along with twenty-one more of their colleagues. The bartender serves 'em all. In...
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Solitary confinement.Novels, short stories and poetry may be the last bastions of solitary writerly...
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Why Y: Connecting chromosomes and surnamesThere have been many articles discussing the difference between men and women but this one is all about differences in chromosomes - men...
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Fun Crime Movies I (Kinda) Forgot AboutAs 2023 wrapped up, I had this sinking feeling I hadn't watched many crime movies lately. It was late December. A guy likes to tally up the year....
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Opening Lines (Again)A recent SleuthSayers posting by Barb Goffman about good first lines, drew me back to my previous postings (and others) about opening lines....
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Ghost Dancers and Other Voicesby Eve Fisher Governor Kristi Noem was back in the news last week with her trip to the Texas border, her promise to stand tall with Gov....
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The Name of the BeastI just want to make a weird little observation about that group of characters Earl Emerson once eloquently described as the...
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A Farewell SongAs I mentioned in my last blog, the end of January marked the last day of my service as a magistrate judge. When I cleared...
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The Fine Art of CollaborationFor some writers, collaboration is a fact of life; for others, it's a rare gift. I’m in the second category. I’m awestruck at the harmonious...
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Une Humeur NoireMatches with Patches On a September Friday in 1984, a new crime series debuted on NBC. The plot of the program was subordinate to its glossy...
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Waiting Is Another StoryThis past week I got an acceptance from Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine , which of course made my day. (The knowledge...
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The Second Murderer by Denise MinaFor the first time since Poodle Springs , Philip Marlowe shows up in a Philip Marlowe novel and manages to stay well past...
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James Cathcart & the Vicissitudes of Character PortrayalThis guy. Hail and well met again, fellow Sleuthsayers! Sorry for the brief hiatus, our old friend COVID-19 chose to...
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BSF (Best Stories Forever)This is my fifteenth annual review of the best short stories of the year, selected from my weekly-best choices...
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Guest Post: The Short and the Long of ItJoseph S Walker I read my first Joseph S. Walker story when I found “Riptish Reds” in the slush pile for Mickey Finn, 21st...
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Made by hand.I never learned how to create on a typewriter. I tried, but I just...
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The Road to Perdition1913 New Year's resolution postcard Everyone who made a New Year's resolution, singular or plural, raise your hand. Okay, you can...
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Five Ways to Rock Characterization in the Mystery NovelI've taught fiction writing at college for over 20 years. If I had to drill it down to one sentence, the number one thing I've learned is...
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The Successful Writer’s Guide to a Guilt- and Success-Free New Year!You're a winner, dude! Photo by Japheth Mast on Unsplash If you’re me (and I sincerely...
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Where's the Stuff?by Eve Fisher and Leigh Lundin My SleuthSayers compadre Leigh Lundin sent me the following email the other day:...
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VernacularAnthony Burgess once remarked that the Elizabethan Age was word-drunk – Shakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, Thomas...
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I Have First-Line EnvyI've written before about a Facebook group I belong to in which we celebrate good first lines (sometimes first paragraphs) in books and...
