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How the Soldier-Readers of World War II Were Swept Up in the Paperback Revolution
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The Penguin contract with the army for the Forces Book Club was a coup Allen Lane plotted with long-time crony Bill Williams, now comfortably installed at the Army Bureau…
Never Vacation With Old Friends: The Locked-Room Thriller Problem
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People love to share vacation photos on social media. Some try to act nonchalant about their expensive getaways. Others aim to impress. The more remote the location, the better.ย …
The Bane and Boon of an Unreliable Narrator
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There has long been a discussion of whether or not a reliable narrator in fiction is something that truly exists. Since humans are prone to biases and judgment, a…
Crime Novels About Cursed Films
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In 2023, two new novels, and one older title, were published in a niche of the detective/thriller genre concerning, to coin a term of art, โsinister ๏ฌlms:โ ๏ฌlmsโoften lost,…
The Enduring Appeal of Murder and Mystery: A Brief History
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โThou shalt not kill,โ commands the King James Bibleโ without, as opponents of capital punishment like to point out, riders or qualifiers. Curiously, this translation of an injunction in…
Who Was Benedict Arnold, Before He Became Americaโs Most Notorious Traitor
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The sudden arrival of a horseman on a Friday afternoon electrified New Haven. Israel Bissell leapt from his saddle and shouted for the village selectmen. His eyes bulged with…
Cats and Cozies, Cozies and Cats
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Cats and cozies go together like Romeo and Juliet. Mac and cheese. Ernie and Bert. The term cozies was coined in the 1990โs for mysteries that take place in…
Silver Scream: Excerpt with Audio
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Excerpt begins: With everyone gone into the yard, or upstairs, the Shadow Man enters the house. He glides into the kitchen, quickly spotting the large knife set on top…
Stephen Spotswood On โQueering the Narrative of the Golden Age of Americaโ
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When things seem to be going badly in a society, people sympathize with characters who distrust or operate outside of that societyโs governing systemsโฆIn eras tinged with chaos in…
Femi Kayode Considers Groups, Belief Systems, and the Village of Readers
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When I am asked if my new novel, Gaslight, was inspired by real events, I answer no. But while the events themselves didnโt happen; the emotional center of the…