Interviews
The Backlist: Alex Finlay and Polly Stewart Revisit ‘I Am Pilgrim,’ by Terry Hayes
.
Everyone who has ever tried to write crime fiction understands the importance of pacing. It’s not enough to have a plot that sounds exciting on the jacket copy—getting the…
How Max Marshall Wrote a College Fraternity Crime Epic
.
Halfway through Among the Bros: A Fraternity Crime Story, investigative reporter Max Marshall recounts his meeting with a man who used to sell illegally sourced prescription drugs to fellow…
My First Thriller: Joseph Finder
.
Joe Finder must have thought he knew the secrets to selling a book. His first, a work of nonfiction, Red Carpet: The Connection Between the Kremlin and America’s Most Powerful…
Elizabeth Hand on Playwriting, Haunted Houses, and Shirley Jackson
.
This interview has been edited for clarity and concision. A Haunting on the Hill is now available from Mulholland Books. Olivia Rutigliano: I’m so excited because this is the…
Vanessa Lillie on Writing a Thriller That Explores Native American Issues and Environmental Injustice
.
Vanessa Lillie says she’s “an impatient reader,” a trait that influences her writing: “I really like to create characters who are aggressively seeking justice, even when it puts their…
Dann McDorman on Exploring Literary Hijinks and Meta Mystery
.
While mysteries can usually be trusted to compel the reader within the first chapter or even the first few pages, it’s rare for them to hook us from the…
James Reich on Indie Publishing, Taking Risks, and the Beauty of Melancholy
.
In 2017, I read the novel Patricide, by D. Foy. It’s a brutal and challenging book, full of ungodly sorrow and heartbreak. It’s the kind of book you can’t…