mystery
When Contemporary Fiction Ages Into the Historical
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I find myself reflecting on my own teen years as I tackle Frankenstein-author Mary Shelley and her step-sister at age sixteen years for my new series, which begins with…
Five Novels About War That Bear Re/Reading
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A crime as large as a war may exceed the definition of crime in the usual sense. Crime is bad enough when it’s one or a few victims and…
Spenser at 50: The Evolution of Robert B. Parker’s Iconic Character
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From where he sits and writes in his Long Island home – in longhand, 10 pages a day – Mike Lupica can see a framed photograph of Robert B….
The Art of Writing Mysteries Featuring Real-Life Figures
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My objective is to list the six best mysteries that feature real people. Quite a challenge given all the published stories meeting this criterion. There are, for example, several…
The Albatross of Smartphones in Young Adult Mysteries
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There’s a joke among millennials that our favorite childhood television shows would have sucked if the characters had owned smartphones. Videos of Buffy fighting vampires would have been uploaded…
Bloodstock Sales: The Biggest Gambles in Horseracing
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Horse racing and gambling are intertwined – always have been, and always will be. But the biggest gambles in racing are not made at the races or with a…
Shop Talk: Nina Simon Tells the Incredible Story Behind Her Breakout Debut Novel
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I met Nina Simon shortly after I read her beautiful, heartfelt debut, Mother Daughter Murder Night. If there were ever an author whose persona perfectly captures the verve of…
How Subplots and Plot Filaments Lend Texture and Depth to Any Novel
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More than any other variant included under the umbrella of “crime fiction,” mystery novels embody a straightforward setup of the conflict-and-resolution components of storytelling. The conflict is murder. The…