Category Archives: Mystery
Thoughts on Crime Fiction
Here’s why the BBC is wrong in their current portrayal of Jane Marple. (For those who haven’t watched the new Miss Marple series, imagine a skinny Margaret Rutherford. No, I take that back; it’s a slander against Dame Margaret.) Their new actress has her loving murder mystery stories. Yes, that’s what turned me off about […]
Sara Paretsky has a way. She has a way of creating characters you enjoy being around, and a way of creating characters you want to avoid being around. She has a way of making them speak as if they were in the room with you. She has a way with plotting, and a way with […]
by Lev Grossman I really don’t remember when I’ve read a book that irritated me this much. I’m generally a sucker for old manuscript-based thrillers. Possibly it’s because I collect old books myself, but for whatever the reason, a search for old documents will generally find me coming along for the ride. So it’s no […]
A first novel from Christine Kling. Les Standiford, you should be ashamed of yourself. Mentioning Seychelle Sullivan in the same breath as John D [MacDonald] is a crime. I’ll admit I’m probably not a good judge of potential, and since it’s her first book maybe I should cut her some slack, but if John D […]
Double Sin, published in 1961, is a collection of stories written by Dame Agatha Christie. The publication date puts it toward the end of her “dry period” where her books were more automatic writing than inventiveness, but don’t let the timing put you off. Many of the stories come from the very fertile earlier periods […]