reading
The Seeds of a Pharmaceutical Thriller: A Conversation Between Co-Authors
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Many thanks to Jyoti Guptara and Thomas Locke for kindly offering a conversation about their new thriller, Roulette. Jyoti Guptara: Thomas, remember when you visited me at the UN in Geneva? You arrived with this brilliant story seed: “What appears to be a simple case of overdose turns into an ER nightmare. Patients seem…
What Makes a Novel Unique? On Retellings and Plagiarism
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My latest novel, The Fiction Writer, is a modern-day gothic mystery that explore the boundaries of creative freedom. It asks questions about writing and ownership and who owns the right to tell any story. My main character, Olivia, is a writer, whose most recent novel, a retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca was a flop.…
Farewell, Amethystine: Excerpt and Cover Reveal
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“Mr. Rawlins?” Niska Redman, our office manager, was standing at the door. “Yeah?” “That woman, Miss Stoller, the one Mrs. Blue wanted you to talk to. She’s here.” Niska was tallish for a woman at that time, maybe five nine, and brown like the lighter version of Sees caramel candy. She usually tried to be…
Mr. Monk’s Last Case is a Sweet and Thoughtful Return to the Classic Series
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It’s been fourteen years since we last saw Adrian Monk. Monk, the anxious, observant detective protagonist of the USA Network series of the same name, which ran eight seasons from 2002 to 2009, was a prime-time treasure, one of the greatest detectives in the annals of TV. Played to gentle, humorous (but never mocking) pathos…
Remembering Tim Dorsey and His Wild Florida Stories
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I am sad to report that we lost author Tim Dorsey at the end of November. He died at his home in Islamorada in the Florida Keys at age 62 – far too young, if you ask me. Tim, a bear-sized guy who frequently wore colorful tropical shirts, was the rare writer who was as…
My First Thriller: Patricia Cornwell
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“There was no call for him to be as unkind as he was,” says famed author Patricia Cornwell, who single handedly created the forensic science crime fiction genre. Robert Merritt, the theater and arts critic for the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1989, trashed his fellow Richmonder’s first crime novel, Postmortem, calling her protagonist, Medical Examiner Dr.…
The Best Young Adult Mysteries, Thriller and Horror Novels of 2023
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The young adult mystery continues to thrive, along with plenty of YA horror thrillers, and this year was distinguished by quality storytelling, careful constructions, and social justice elements placed front and center. Whether you want to defeat the monsters or be the monster, solve the murder or get your own deadly vengeance, 2023 has an…
Historical Mysteries Set in Early America
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I’ve always been passionate about American history, especially the Revolution and founding of the United States. When I think of what immigrants endured just to travel to our shores, it gives me chills and waves of gratitude at the same time. When I was about 13, the John Jakes Bicentennial Series was published, and I…
Fictional Versus Real Settings: A Writer’s Dilemma
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Every story has to start somewhere. And be somewhere. Take Dennis Lehane’s 2003 novel, Mystic River. Its setting is so pivotal to the plot that you can find it right there in the title. As it happens, Mystic River is a real river in Massachusetts, coursing seven miles through the towns of Arlington, Somerville, Everett,…