crime
When Characters Fake Their Own Deaths
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Pseudocide, or faking oneโs own death, offers a tantalizing escape from reality, and the possibility of starting fresh. Thereโs something thrilling about the idea of disappearing and starting over,…
A Haunting in Venice is the Best of Kenneth Branaghโs Poirot Adaptations, and an Engaging Film On Its Own
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I was impressed by A Haunting in Venice as much as I was relieved by it. I had always found it both delightful and intriguing that, of all the…
Jason Voorhees: Neurodivergent Icon?
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I was working the day that it happened, preparing meals. Jason shouldโve been watched every minute! He was โฆ he wasnโt a very good swimmer. โPamela Voorhees, Friday the…
Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place, and the Birth of the Modern Serial Killer Novel
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Published in 1947, Dorothy Hughesโ noir novel In a Lonely Place is a masterpiece of crime fiction whose influence has extended to both books and films, including a 1950…
โA Face in the Crowdโ Forecast Our Future โ If Weโd Only Been Paying Attention
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Itโs a clichรฉ to cite some decades-old book, movie or TV show and say, โThis is as relevant today as it was back then.โ That said, one 1957 film…
The Dark Humor of Millennial Crime Capers
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The millennial is a strange beast. Though โmillennialโ is factually the word to describe someone born between 1981 and 1996, hearing it conjures a number of confusing associations: weโre…
5 International Action Thrillers from Afghanistan to Shanghai
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I wrote my newly released Lily Wong novel, The Ninjaโs Oath, during the pandemic when my newborn granddaughter was in lockdown in Shanghai. Twenty-three months would pass before I…