Reading Lists
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 …
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…
Sinking Into the Gothic Gloom: My Favourite Worksย
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Iโve always struggled with some of the prevailing definitions of โgothicโ fiction. Tradition dictates there should be elements of fear, threat, woe, that hauntings should occur and vile things…
Crime and the City: Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight
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Portsmouth โ known to the locals as โPompeyโ โ is, and has been for centuries, Englandโs largest Royal Navy base, 75 miles south of London in the country of…
Troubled Teens in Crime Fiction
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Teenagers donโt have it easy. On top of navigating a microculture rife with veiled rules and unspoken expectationsโalso known as high schoolโthey often get a bad rap. Adults tend…
Tis the Season to be (Fictionally) Murdered
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Iโve never been one for a beach read at the beach. Recently in Ventura and Monterey, I read a New-Jersey-set legal thriller (Robyn Giglโs Survivor Guilt), a desert-set horror…
Beyond Treasure Island: A Brief Introduction to Pirates in Fiction
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Not too long ago I found myself nearly alone in the Maritime wing of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. The Peabody Essex was formed from the gradual merging…