reading
Wildlife and Wonderlands in Mysteries
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I’m a city girl, but I really enjoy reading stories set in state parks and forests and islands and other areas where there is less population, and the environment…
The Importance of the Plot Twist
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Who doesn’t love a superbly executed plot twist? One that completely takes you by surprise and turns the story on its head. One that makes you gasp out loud…
The Amish Fence
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You’ve seen the Amish culture in books, movies and even in exaggerated “reality shows.” Without electricity, automobiles, TV, radio or other modern conveniences, the Amish drive horse drawn buggies,…
What Makes a Forest Such a Seductive Setting for Fiction?
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The woods have been a popular setting in literature for centuries, from the Grimm Brothers to today’s bestsellers, but what makes a forest such a seductive setting for fiction?…
How to Write Fiction about True Crime
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If you are going to write a sensational, news-worthy crime story into your fiction, you have a few models for how to proceed. First, there is the Gone Girl…
The Rise of “Mom-Noir”
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It was a few weeks in that I realized why I was finding motherhood such a shock to the system. As I leaned over the sink to tearfully rinse…
How to Corral Your Nightmares for Use in Your Next Novel
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Will robots dream of us in the same way that we dream about them? They say that AI can “hallucinate”, right? Hadn’t Philip K. Dick warned us about all…
10 Crime Movies Set at New Year’s Eve
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You might remember our series “10 Crime Movies You Forgot Take Place During Christmas.” We have six installments: one from 2018, one from 2019, one from 2020, one from…
The Best Traditional Mysteries of 2023
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For me, there are few things more enjoyable than a good, old-fashioned whodunnit. Or a good, new-fashioned whodunnit. I say it a lot on this website, but, to me,…