Top Mystery Novels Blogs
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Freedom From The Mundane
Image: Seattle Municipal Archives It’s definitely getting milder. The wearing of my bunnet is now becoming an unnecessary addition to my daily attire, although we’re not quite at the stage I can safely leave the house with it and risk freezing my napper to the bone. Still, it’s a sign that...
New Issue of The Scruffy Dog Review
Image: thescruffydogreview.com I missed Groundhog Day on Tuesday. I only know about it because of the Bill Murray film of the same title. I love that film—think I’ll have to get a copy and watch it soon. As it turns out in real life, Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of...
Image: bbc.co.uk Being a St. Mirren fan doesn’t usually give one anything much to ever shout about. It sort of comes with the territory. Today, however, all that is different. Being a west-coaster in the land of mainly Hearts and Hibernian fans is usually a bit of a pain, as they try...
Image: bized.co.uk It’s Monday morning, it’s cold outside, I’m leaving for work and I’m sore from the weekend. But best of all, I’m happy. The last three days had much of what we have come to love about a Diners’ trip; endless laughter, non-stop slagging, ridiculous behaviour and an aperitif or two...
Image: Super Woman I’ve been right under the cosh this week at work. Boring stuff so I won’t go on about it, needless to say it involved some late night shifts, one which saw me start at 8am and not get to my bed until 4am the following morning. Oh, what...
Image: Binny’s Phone Yesterday saw my little sister move gently from innocent child to middle age in the blink of an eye. Yes, it was her birthday. I spoke to her on the phone a couple of times—she’s taken the WHOLE week off work to spend time chilling, which includes massages,...
Getting Medieval
I wrote a little piece for The RapSheet on Dorothy B. Hughes' novel The Body on the Bench. She's one of my fav noir authors, so do check out what I had to say....
Okay. Now it's personal. Amazon has been in a pricing war for a while by charging their e-books at the rock-bottom price of $9.99. And some of you have loved it. Who wouldn't? Buying books by your favorite authors for......
Literary Salon with Janet Rudolph
I feel a little like I've made it. I was invited to Janet Rudolph's Literary Salon. Janet is the head honcho for the Mystery Reader's Journal. Many mystery readers read her journal for articles by mystery authors and if they......
I usually don't do this on this blog, but since I'm on a little vacation I want to share some of the highlights with you. In the last post we had a shot of the house used in the Alfred......
Book Tour in Northern California
So I'm doing a little traveling just when California decides to have some rain. The trip up was a little wet as we white-knuckled it towards parts north, but the rain also creates a delightful landscape where everything is green......
Hey! I'm very excited. Serpent in the Thorns, my second Crispin Guest Medieval Noir, is nominated for the Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award. Here is the list: The Bruce Alexander … a historical mystery set before 1950, given at every......
What Fresh Hell...?
Trying to figure out a way to rectify the inequity of contest entries being dumped due to contact form issues with "non-conforming" addresses. Have a headache unrelated to this issue that is making the problem more complex. Don't worry, I'll figure something out.For now, the contact form on the website...
To kick off my new site, I'm having a contest: it's a scavenger hunt!I have a list of twelve questions for you at the Greywalker forum. All the answers to all the questions on the list are on my website somewhere, no need to look anywhere else. Send in the...
Wow, this is the day for relaunches. My website, katrichardson.com (also greywalker.com) has finally relaunched with new content and new art. Coming later today, there will also be a new contest, so keep an eye out for that because the prizes are really fabulous!AND Mark Henry's irreverent, snarky, filthy, funny...
With all the current kerfuffle about Amazon's removal of Macmillan books from their virtual sales "floor" (they aren't refusing to list the books offered by their associates, only to list Macmillian in their own sales space which is their right,) I'm amused as all hell that I pulled Amazon links...
A Drop o' the Crature, and some critters, too.
Been an odd few days here in Katlandia. Lots of laundry, lots of mind-changing about short stories I need to write, lots of updates and changes to the upcoming site relaunch...Yesterday, I stepped out to deal with laundry and saw a lot of wave-rings on the water. Turned out to...
Nifty stuff has been lying around in Poland... My Polish publisher's site has some kind of Flash thing here that pops up a gigantic, cropped version of their cover art from Greywalker. I can't figure out what it's for though. Anyone who reads Polish: could you take a look at...
The Graveyard Shift
Friday’s Heroes: Remembering The Fallen
Lieutenant Eric Lewis Shuhandle, 42 Gilbert Arizona Police Department Lieutenant Eric Shuhandle was shot and killed on January 28, 2010, as he approached a vehicle he’d stopped while on patrol. Lt. Schuhandle is survived by his two daughters, a sister, and his parents. Speaking of the two criminals who murdered Lt. Schuhandle, Sgt....
Don’t Call A Plumber If You Don’t Want Your Leak Fixed
Have you ever called a plumber to fix a leaky pipe, and then when he arrived you told him not to use his tools and training to fix the problem? Instead, saying, “I know it’s the worst leak you’ve ever seen, dangerous, actually,” batting your eyelashes, “but can’t you just...
Many readers of this blog think I’m pretty hard on the TV show Castle. I’m not, really. I just use the show as a tool for teaching you guys how it’s really done. Seeing the flaws in the show’s police procedure is a great way to learn the correct way...
Castle: The Double Down - A Review (of the police procedure)
*This week’s show was a repeat of an earlier broadcast. Let’s just skip the preliminary fluff and get down to business. After watching this episode I’m in no mood for making nice. The title of this week’s episode is Double Down. Perhaps the network should have opted for calling it Double Trouble....
Paul Beecroft: Extract From The Diary Of A Coroner’s Officer
My friend, Paul Beecroft, has spent a good deal of his life in law enforcement, in England. He’s worked Foot Patrol, Area Car, Instant Response Car and also as a Police Motorcyclist. He’s currently a coroner’s investigator and has traveled all over England, Wales, Scotland and even Germany to investigate...
Forget The Cold and Snow, Let’s Go Sand Sculpting!
We’re currently digging out from the results of a major snowstorm here in the suburbs of Mayberry and Mt. Pilot. So, instead of shivering and blowing our noses, let’s go to the beach! Each year, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire hosts a sand sculpting championship that attracts master sand artists from all...
Books, Boys, Buzz...
I was in Barnes & Noble last week digging through the bargain books when I found an absolute gem for $4.98. I still feel guilty that I didn't have to pay the full price for the amount of entertainment I got out of this book. Seriously people, you can't even...
One of the best things about loving books is that you have friends who also love to read. I’m always getting cool suggestions for what to read next from them. This week, my author friend Liz Gallagher, insisted I head on down to University Village Barnes and Noble...
School Visit, New Photo, and Help for Haiti
I have been a buzy bee, let me tell you what. I have spoken at several high schools and libraries and have been having an awesome time. I went back to the "homeland" of Pike County, Alabama, and spoke at six different schools.I was in front of three...
Icicle Art, originally uploaded by Tera Lynn Childs.After being snowed in for a few days and then venturing out (only to find the roads outside our neighborhood had been cleared all along) the snow and ice are finally melting in Oklahoma City. This is not my favorite part of winter,...
Piggybacking on Dona's post about celebrity doppelgangers this weekend, I present my own. Here's me: And here's the one I choose as my celeb look-alike:It's actress Mary Kay Place, who has an impressive resume of film and tv roles, but who is probably best known at present for playing...
Immortality is such an intriguing notion: Living Forever and Ever and Ever. It's a characteristic you'll find in many myths and legends, whether a mythological god/goddess, vampire, faerie or other creature who never dies. It's a theme that shows up in a plethora of literature, whether ancient, like the...
Reading Proust In Foxborough
Here is a review of the Proust movie, Time Regained. I actually saw this movie a few years ago in Harvard Square and thought that they did an excellent job considering how notoriously difficult filming Proust's work must be.Read on.http://moviesuntildeath.blogspot.com/2010/01/time-regained-1999.htmlOdette...
I really like The Cork-Lined Room. The discussion of Proust is excellent with its use of quotes and detail and yet is something every reader can follow--in other words its not too "academic." Small confession: I used to be in the academic camp and somehow migrated to genre fiction where I'm...
Resolved: Finish the second volume
"Odette" contemplating a New Year's resolution In the course of things, I don't generally do New Year's Resolutions. Stopped smoking years ago after several NYR's had failed me. I did lose 5 pounds last year and kept it off. And this year I want to finish Proust again. If I...
It's a sad commentary when one reads a single page of Proust and falls asleep. Of course, it was late and I am pretty tired these days from the holiday tasks along with the household tasks, getting regular exercise, writing, editing, more writing, volunteer work for writing orgs, and keeping...
On Safari and Other Adventures in Blogging
This blog doesn't like my new MAC and it sure doesn't like Safari. A day wasted in computer hell, and the formatting really stunk. My most was totally hosed, first with Technorati going crazy and now with the links, etc. Way too much time debugging stuff, when I could have...
Thankful for Proust and Proust Bloggers
Bookishness continues his Proust blog. Sue Grafton advises writers to pay attention to minor characters, as Proust does in spades. http://charlesmatthews.blogspot.com/2009/11/proust-project-day-5.html Th Cork-lined Room also keeps Proust blogging on a high level: http://thecorklinedroom.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/the-desires-that-had-surrounded-me-a-short-time-ago-to-go-to-guermantes-to-travel-to-be-happy-were-so-far-behind-me-now-that-their-fulfillment-would-not-have-brought-me-any-pleasure/ Moi? I'm organizing for Thanksgiving. Need a Francoise of my own. ...
Ellen Byerrum
Seasonal Apparel Disorder Strikes Again!
An epic snowstorm has started and is expected to once again pound the mid-Atlantic region into submission. The weathercasters are tying themselves into knots trying to capture each and every snowflake and predict the exact amount of white stuff. Will it be 20 inches or 30 inches? Will we be...
I'm in The New York Times. Well, sort of. A Sunday New York Times article in the Arts & Leisure Section (Jan. 31, 2010) mentioned the Hostile Makeover computer game, but we almost missed it. The article, "Damsels in Distress, Bozos in Heat," compared and contrasted cable television stations for...
Maintaining the Mystery-- Random Thoughts
J.D. Salinger died today after keeping his legend alive for nearly fifty years. How did he do it? By hiding away and never again speaking publicly. Never giving interviews or doing book tours. Never again publishing. Did he keep writing, locking novels away in a safe? No one knows. He...
Hey, You Look Exactly Like. . .
It happened again. A complete stranger asked me if I was someone else, someone she knew, someone named Rosemary. “No? Are you sure? You look exactly like Rosemary!” The woman based her identification on the resemblance of the back of my head in the movie theater to that...
Congratulations to Helen Kiker, the winner of my book giveaway, which I held this past weekend in conjunction with the Stiletto Gang’s Hallopalooza Scavenger Hunt. Helen won signed copies of Killer Hair and Hostile Makeover, the first and third books in my Crime of Fashion mystery series, which were filmed...
Your Hallopalooza Scavenger Hunt Clue
Ellen Byerrum - Post #9 http://ellenbyerrum.livejournal.com/ The mayor and his wife were dressed as a Hispanic version of George and Martha Washington. Juan Reyes still had the chiseled good looks of the television star he'd been fifteen years earlier. He smelled of...
POE'S DEADLY DAUGHTERS
A library, how do I love thee, let me count the ways
By Lonnie CruseI love buying books, both print versions and e-books for my Kindle. I love holding and reading both. However, it gets expensive, and print versions take up room on my shelves. There is always the library for books I want to read but probably won't want to keep....
Elizabeth ZelvinThe guest at a recent MWA NY dinner was acclaimed literary novelist Joyce Carol Oates (every possible award and 56 novels, of which 39 were NY Times Notable Books of the Year, along with a larger body of work that includes multiple collections of poetry and short stories as...
The Life of an Audiobooks Narrator
Interviewed by Sandra ParshallI couldn’t live without audiobooks, and one of my dreams has been to have my own work recorded. That dream has come true with the Blackstone Audio edition of my new mystery, Broken Places, narrated by Tavia Gilbert. Tavia is a stage and voice actress who also...
Sharon WildwindMonday evening some of our collection of stuffed animals left for Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania. This is their year to be part of the International Monitoring Committee for the Fair Treatment of Marmota monax, also knows as the ground hog.As they explained it to me, their functions are to ensure...
by Julia BuckleyImages taken by the Hubble Telescope might render one speechless. They remind the viewer of her smallness in the universe while providing visuals that seem to originate in a celestial kaleidscope.According to a 2009 article in Science News, a revamped Hubble has discovered a whole new set...
Mark L. Van Name (guest blogger)
Mark L. Van Name has worked in the high-tech industry for over thirty years and today runs a technology assessment company in the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. He has published over a thousand computer-related articles and multiple science fiction stories in a variety of magazines and anthologies,...
Myth & Mystery
Congratulations to Peter Lerangis, whose new volume in the 39 Clues saga, The Viper's Nest, comes out today! Ooh, I can't wait to see what Dan and Amy are up to. Well...I know what they're up to, because I sketched out the story arc, but I'm always surprised and delighted...
Becky happened across a cool interview in School Library Journal with author George O'Connor, who has launched a new series of graphic novels about the Olympian gods. I haven't read them yet, but they look amazing. Check out his website, too! Fantastic resource for the gods. I especially like the...
In case you haven't seen it yet, above is the cover for the Red Pyramid, first book in the Kane Chronicles, which will be released May 4. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks. On February 8, the first chapter will be posted on Disney's Kane Chronicles website. More...
Thanks to Christine of Blue Trident who alerted me to this contest on PercyQuest. How cool would it be to win a spot at BookPeople's sold-out Camp Half-Blood in Austin, Texas, this summer? I am not affiliated with the site or the contest, so contact the folks at PercyQuest if...
Thanks to Ms. Riehm's middle school class at Our Lady of Peace School in Minneapolis, who sent me this picture. The students have been reading Percy Jackson and decided to make their own Camp Half-Blood T-shirts. They did a great job! People often ask me where to get the shirts....
Breaking news: this morning the Wall Street Journal blog revealed the cover for The Red Pyramid, first book in the Kane Chronicles, plus an excerpt from the first chapter! You can also see an animated version of the cover on the new website: thekanechronicles.com. More will be added soon!...
Kooky Scam Stories
Blanket emails are sent allegedly from a company's Customer Support office. The wording of the first sentence of the email are meant to hook the reader.We recorded a payment request from "Office Max" to enable the charge of $28.80 on your account.Here's another similar hookWe recorded a payment request from...
I found this email in my inbox: We recorded a payment request from "Tesla Motors" to enable the charge of $980.72 on your account. The payment is pending for the moment. If you made this transaction or if you just authorize...
Another SPAM email to look out for
Another SPAM example:This is a message from the Online Webmaster Center for Communication to all of our Webmail owners/users.We are currently working on our database e-mail users and we are delecting all old unused E-mail for more space for new users. To prevent your account not be delected from our...
Did I order a computer and not remember doing so?
I received the email below today iforming me that I ordered the Acer TravelMate 4233WLMi notebook computer. This was news to me, and attached to the email was a ZIP file. I wonder what would have happened if I clicked on the attachment?Dear Customer!Thank you for ordering at our online...
Email Forgery -- Email Spoofing Technique
No doubt all of us have experienced receiving an email message bearing a genuine sender's address. But in reality the address of the sender turns out to be phony. This is known as Email Spoofing, and Spammers use this technique to get recipients to open, and possibly even respond to...
Although you may have received this email many times before, it's been out for a few years, the M.O. is is still being practiced by scammers according to Snopes.Com: The technique is pretty slick since the scammers provide YOU with all the information, except the one piece they want....
Type M for Murder
Last night at an author event at the George Eastman House, Jared Case, Head of Cataloging for the museum, asked a good question that I can’t get out of my head: Is your writing more influenced by the films you’ve seen or the books you’ve read? I had an answer...
Rick’s Tuesday post “Making Sense of it All” spoke to me and probably many other writers as well. After all, his comments had me asking a lot of questions about where the industry is headed and wondering if I’ll have a place in it. Scary questions to say the least....
There is something very big brewing in the publishing industry, and I feel like I’m missing something. In fact, I’m sure I’m missing something, but I doubt I’m alone. One thing we can be sure of—follow the money! Crime Fiction Writing 101, remember? We authors are...
It used to be that an author only needed to write the best book he/she could. That’s a tough enough job right there, isn’t it? Write a good book, find a publisher and the rest would follow.Over the years — and accelerating as we move into the future — technology,...
I recently read an interesting article on the value of book trailers. The author basically said, there isn’t any.Salon.com: Book TrailersI had a book trailer done for Valley of the Lost, the second Constable Smith book. The trailer, done by a professional advertising agency, is first class. It is...
Today we are very happy to welcome Kelli Stanley whose next book, City of Dragons, will be released this week. First, great thanks to Vicki and everyone on Type M for Murder for having me over today! It’s very cool to get to hang out with you all! City...
Lisa's Words at Play
Book chaos as of January 2008 Oh dear. My previous post stood as my latest installment for FAR too long. As an emotional barometer, it’s misleading. Have I been morbidly depressed since October 20th? Is this why I haven’t posted? My friends tell me to quit being so hard on myself, so...
The Autumn of My Discontent, Revised
Addendum: For the first time, I’m revising one of my blog posts. It struck me a few hours after writing this post (now cut drastically) that I’ve had a tough year. If I’m a little down, well, okay. Well, not really okay, but all-righty then. I do know that I haven’t...
Channeling Novelist Diana Abu-Jaber
I’m highly frustrated right now. I’m supposed to be having fun, experimenting, if you will, with a thriller-ish kind of story so I can improve my plotting and pacing skills. Well this you-know-what’s hard! I feel like I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe I haven’t mastered as much writing craft as I thought,...
I wrestled with whether to reveal the depths of my neuroticism on this blog and decided that monkey mind comes with my writing life. I’d like to think I’m not the only one who suffers from this silly malady. Earlier today, monkey mind went something like this: After a decade practicing the...
I call this doing the Hemingway. Need I say anything more on a glorious TGIF afternoon, lounging in my favorite open-air bistro, Capitol Hill Coffee House, and starting the development process for Act II? Floating out there beyond the headlights awaits the plot point that signals the end of Act II. I...
I passed a quiet weekend with my writing. This morning, it occured to me that I experienced my writer’s life from three distinct vantage points. As Lisa the Writer, I, as you might expect, wrote. In fact, on Saturday I officially finished Act I of the new novel. I call it a step...
John Baker's Blog
Historian and political activist Howard Zinn died of a heart attack on Wednesday in Santa Monica, California. He was 87 years old. “What does it take to bring a turnaround in social consciousness – from being a racist to being in favor of racial equality, from being in favor of Bush’s...
We were called to Boleslaw’s Saw Mill just after lunch on Monday. I was the patrol-woman assigned to the area, accompanied by rookie cop, Billy Kristian. We were first on the scene. The lawyer woman’s leg was trapped under a huge rectangular stone. I spoke to her briefly but she...
All Characters are Entirely Fictitious
It usually goes something like this: All characters in this publication are entirely fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. And it’s nearly always a lie. Robert Liddell suggests that the passage deceives nobody and would be no protection in a libel action, and, he continues,...
Most writers who appear on a platform, giving a reading or a talk, will come across the naïve question: What comes first for you, character or plot? The question is unsophisticated, because in reality it is not possible to separate the two. Character is plot. Character, in any sense in which we...
Roberto Bolaño’s novella By Night In Chile is a slim volume, 130 pages in the English translation by Chris Andrews, and is a narrative comprised of only two paragraphs. It reads like this: In the fifth class I talked about Wages, Price and Profits and discussed the (Communist) Manifesto again. After an...
The ten awful truths about book publishing. Enough to make you think again about writing that book....
Wendy Roberts
It's all those little things that tend to get in your way.For example, this weekend I was all set to host a double-header sleepover party for two of my boys but things did not run as smoothly as planned. Let's just say that when you find yourself standing in line...
Cemeteries and other fun stuff
My trip to Seattle was great fun! I signed a stack of books at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop. There are many fabulous things about this gem of a book store in Seattle. For example, it's haunted. That's a bonus when you write about ghosts. Also, the staff are fabulous. Every...
I'm heading down to Seattle to do a little research. Looking for a few new nooks and crannies to kill a person or two :)On Saturday I'll be signing books at the wonderful Seattle Mystery Bookshop. Come by if you get a chance!...
I'm blogging over at MUSE INTERRUPTED today about pesky New Year's resolutions. Come over and visit. You might win some books :)...
Things are not moving as quickly as I'd like this week. Kids are back at school but it seems to be taking me longer than usual to hit my groove. Things on my 'Must Do' list today:* Walk the dog. Not a whimpy little walk that I've done lately but...
Did you stay up late and celebrate the coming of 2010?Are you happy to see that old, dusty 2009 gone, or was it a good year for you?In my case, 2009 wasn't so great so I'm hoping for good things in the new year to chase away some not-so-good feelings...
225batonrouge.com stories
After six years of being one half of a gas station, Couyon's Bar-B-Que is ready to move on....
Du Jour: Joe Dobie, Briarhill Farms
With the Super Bowl situated smack in the middle of Carnival season, this weekend is lining up as a perfect storm for partying, and few cultures do it better than Louisiana’s....
You may think mixing trends is hard to pull off. Au contraire!...
Ultimate Head 2 Toe Makeover terms and conditions
terms and conditions...
Remember when your parents warned marijuana and alcohol were the gateway to hell, or at least to hard drugs that would ruin your life?...
Who abuses prescription drugs?
Based on statistics, the volume of prescription-strength medicine racing out of local pharmacy pick-up windows should be enough to place an addict on every street corner....
Equus caballus
Equine artist Tom Chapman . . .
There’s so much I love about writing, but an unexpected bonus has been that writing has allowed me to meet a bunch of wonderful people whom I never would have met otherwise.One person I’m privileged to have met (via e-mail) is ex-jockey and marvelously talented artist Tom Chapman. I was...
As we deal with our horses, both as caretakers and trainers, I think it’s important that we not lose sight of equine emotions. They may run deeper than we suspect. A case in point:Many years ago, when my boys were small, my good friend and neighbor asked if I would...
It’s no surprise that most people readily assume that I love horseracing. After all, my last mystery, TRIPLE CROSS, took place at the Kentucky Derby.I do love watching horses run, but I don’t love horseracing. I love horses, and there’s the difference. In my opinion, any equine sport, whether it...
Sadly, I’ve been offblog for a while. My husband and I are trying to sell our house, and it’s been frustrating and hectic and time consuming. I believe this will be our twelfth move. Except for the townhouse we rented when we first got married (and our current house) we’ve...
Michael Barisone, con't. . . .
The following text consists of the rest of my notes taken during a clinic given by Michael Barisone in 1995. I had the privilege of not only listening to Michael teach but of watching him ride his beloved horse, Comanche, during the lunch break.From HorseDaily.com:Michael Barisone has been a part...
I have to admit, the day kind of got away from me. I’d think about what I might write in the blog and never came up with a topic I liked, so I’m turning to the past. After I stopped riding my horses over fences, I switched to dressage and...
Mystery Trivia
This is good. Hope the employee got a big, fat bonus! Swiss police: quick-thinking Zurich officials trap would-be robber at city treasury Published: Monday, January 25, 2010 | 9:04 AM ...
“There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Walter ‘Red’ Smith The same could be said about blogging, at least in my particular case. It shouldn’t be so hard to have an opinion about anything and everything but to me it is...
Crash Cow – not to be mistaken for a Cash Cow
A couple of years back there was a series of ‘cow incidents’ covered in the newpapers (is that still a real word, newspaper?). Anyways, my favorite one was of a cow that fell from the sky (sort of) and through the windshield of a car driving down the road. (For...
SMILE – You’re on Candid Camera
Even before Youtube people were inevitably caught with their pants down; metaphorically speaking. Hidden cameras provided us with some great moments in television. While setting up for a “Candid Camera” segment in a bank one day, Allan Funt (the show’s host) was astonished to find himself in the middle of an...
It’s important to think ahead; even just a little. Let’s say it’s been snowing and you’re heading out to rob something or someone. Do you think that leaving a trail of footprints in the fresh snow is a good way to escape, or should you, um, maybe, loose your footprints in...
Serious stuff here. It seems that the loop at the end of Roman style shades and pull up blinds have been injuring or strangling little necks. I wonder if the blinds would still work if you cut the loops so you just had two loose ends - maybe if your...