Samuel Dashiell Hammett was born in Maryland in 1894. In his early teens, he left school and worked at various jobs. Finally at age twenty-one he took a job as an operative with the Pinkerton Detective Agency.

After World War I began, Hammett signed up to serve in the Motor Ambulance Service, but during the war he contracted tuberculosis, an illness that was to give him problems for the rest of his life. While he was undergoing treatment he met Josephine Dolan, a nurse. They married and had two children. The marriage unraveled fairly quickly due to Hammett’s alcohol abuse and womanizing.

After Hammett’s release from the Army, he went back to his job at Pinkerton. The work he did clearly stirred his imagination. Popular mystery fiction in the early 1920s was reasonably genteel and the solution to a crime was reached through the intellectual endeavors of the sleuth. Hammett developed a much grittier type of story, engendering what is now commonly known as “hard-boiled” crime fiction.

[How do you want your fiction? Hard-boiled please...]

The best way to review a children’s book is to take it to the kids themselves! Blogger Terrie Farley Moran asked her grandchildren to review the graphic novels Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Secret Sand Sleuths by Sarah Kinney and Stan Goldberg, and The Secret of Whale Island by Thea Stilton. Here’s what they had to say (with a little help from their grandma).

I can easily trace my own love of reading to a batch of secondhand comic books my father brought home one day when I was in third grade. Beetle Bailey, Little Lulu, Nancy and Sluggo and, of course, everything Archie.

Finding “the book” that makes reading fun is like giving the child the key to a magic world. So when I had the opportunity to ask two of my granddaughters to each read a book and share what they thought, I jumped at the chance. I was curious to see how they would react to reading a book and telling us about it.

Madeline read Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew: Secret Sand Sleuths a graphic novel by Sarah Kinney and Stan Goldberg based on the series by Carolyn Keene. Here is what Madeline had to say:

[Let”s hear it...]

Black Sheep by CJ Lyons is the sequel to Blind Faith featuring FBI agent Caitlyn Tierney (available February 26, 2013).

As a thriller writer, CJ Lyons has a stellar reputation, but I must confess that I was never a loyal follower—until now. Oh sure, I’d heard lots of noise among readers about how they simply could not put down an Angels of Mercy medical thriller or how they got lost in one of the sexy and forceful Shadow Ops books and could barely come up for air, but I tend to prefer cozies and just didn’t think CJ Lyons wrote her stories with me in mind.

So I bypassed Blind Faith, the first book in Lyons’s new series featuring FBI Agent Caitlyn Tierney, but when I heard about the second book, Black Sheep, the plotline intrigued me and I decided it was time to give CJ Lyons a try.

[Two keys to life: an open mind and an open book...]

Brooklyn Bones by Triss Stein is a traditional mystery involving a crime from the 1960s (available February 5, 2013).

I am a huge mystery fan, no surprise there, and I especially love mysteries that have their roots in the past. Triss Stein has a real knack for melding the present and the past in her writing. How am I so sure? Well, a few years ago I edited an anthology, Murder New York Style: Fresh Slices, and it included a wonderful short story that tied together odd bits of Brooklyn history as time weaved its way in and out of one man’s life. Because that story, “The Greenmarket Violinist,” was written by Triss Stein, I was anxious to see how Triss would present Brooklyn to us in her new novel, Brooklyn Bones.

Once again the protagonist is history Ph.D. candidate Erica Donato who is also an intern at a small Brooklyn museum. In the course of remodeling her “edge of Park Slope” home, Erica’s biking buddy/contractor friend Joe and Erica’s daughter, fifteen-year-old Chris have found a skeleton. When Erica hopes out loud that the bones are animal, Joe quickly points her to the hole that “Chris had smashed in the wall.”

[What’s behind the bricks?]

Miss Dimple Suspects by Mignon F. Ballard is the third book in the traditional mystery series set in Georgia during World War II (available January 22, 2013).

Author Mignon F. Ballard has written nearly twenty books, including a number of stand-alones, seven books in the highly entertaining Augusta Goodnight series and, to my great joy, a third book in the Miss Dimple Kilpatrick series set in the small town of Elderberry, Georgia, during World War II.

Just last year I talked about how much I loved the second book, Miss Dimple Rallies to the Cause. Well here’s the good news: book number three, Miss Dimple Suspects, is another delightful and engaging story.

Miss Dimple is part of a search party looking for a little girl named Peggy Ashcroft. The situation reminds Miss Dimple of another little girl who went missing many years before, one she hasn’t thought of in a long time. Dimple is separated from the other searchers and it is dark when she finds the sick and feverish child and is not sure how the two of them can get down the hillside and safely back to town.

[The search might be over, but the mystery is about to begin!]

Recently I wrote about Roman Catholic priests and nuns who entertain us as amateur sleuths. And I freely admitted that my favorite clergy/sleuth of all fictiondom is Father John Blackwood Ryan, of “Call Me Blackie” fame. I have always believed that Blackie Ryan is the alter ego of his creator, Roman Catholic priest and sociologist, Father Andrew M. Greeley.

What’s so special about Greeley? I’m glad you asked. Andrew Greeley was ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1954. While working as an associate pastor (parish priest), he continued his education and received his PhD in sociology in 1962. A prolific writer, Greeley published nonfiction books regularly while also writing columns for secular and religious newspapers on topics similar to the subjects of his books: religion, ethnicity, modern American culture, and, yes, sex.

[And then came the novels...]

Recently I talked about some of the clergy sleuths, I’ve read avidly through the years, and since Criminal Element folks are always ready to share, the comments of that post introduced some new-to-me clergy who are inclined to solve mysteries. At the time I said I’d come back and talk about some of my favorite Roman Catholic priests and nuns who solve murders as a sideline, so here I am.

In her wonderful post Kerry Hammond talks about many a superstar clergy sleuth, including Father Dowling. Still, I feel compelled to add a few words of my own about the highly entertaining priest/sleuth created by Ralph M. McInerny.

[And we say Amen to that!]

A little more than a year ago, I talked about the enduring Father Brown mystery stories by G.K. Chesterton. I was delighted so many Criminal Element readers admitted that they, too, were lifelong fans.

For a while now I’ve been thinking about how fictional clergy/spiritual leaders couple their ecclesiastic training with their personal curiosity to solve the occasional crime that just happens to pop up.

When written, the Father Brown stories were contemporary but the first story, “The Blue Cross,” was published more than one hundred years ago, so now they have a great appeal to fans of historical mysteries. The same can be said for the Sister Fidelma mysteries by Peter Tremayne. Set in the 7th century, most of the novels take place in Ireland, with Fidelma making some journeys to other parts of Western Europe. Tremayne uses Fidelma’s role as both a lawyer and a religious figure to contrast the relatively unrestricted position of women in Irish society with the status of women in other European societies of the time.

[Enlighten us further!]

A Small Hill to Die On by Elizabeth J. Duncan is the fourth book in the Penny Brannigan traditional mystery series (available October 30, 2012).

Was it just a year ago that I was fortunate enough to read Elizabeth J. Duncan’s third book in the Penny Brannigan series A Killer’s Christmas in Wales?

That was when I discovered that in 2008  Ms. Duncan became the first Canadian writer to win the St. Martins/Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Novel competition. The winning book, The Cold Light of Mourning, is the first of the Penny Brannigan books set in Llanelen, Wales. I must confess that I liked Penny right away. She is a strong and independent woman who has joined with business partner Victoria Hopkirk to renovate a decrepit old building and turn it into a thriving business as a very modern spa catering to the women of the village.

[That doesn’t sound so bad...]

Rest for the Wicked by Ellen Hart is the twentieth Jane Lawless, restaurateur and Private Eye traditional mystery (available October 2, 2012).

I have been reading books written by Ellen Hart for—can it be?—twenty years. I started off in the early nineties when I came across a copy of Hallowed Murder on a library shelf. Written in classic fair-play murder mystery style, the novel introduced Minneapolis restaurateur Jane Lawless and her irrepressible sidekick Cordelia Thorn. I so enjoyed their company that each year I mark my calendar, waiting for their next adventure. Along the way, Ms. Hart introduced us to another series filled with bright and energetic Minnesota residents beginning in 1994 with her first Sophie Greenway novel, This Little Piggy Went to Murder.

Apparently the years have flown and here in my hand is the twentieth Jane Lawless mystery, Rest for the Wicked. Although she still owns two restaurants, Jane has entered into a formal business partnership with Private Detective Alf Nolan and has a brand new Private Investigator’s license all her own. She’s feeling decidedly edgy and thinks the professional change will help her refocus.

[No rest for anyone here . . .]

First, I need to tell you that John D. MacDonald has left us a huge legacy of pulp, hardboiled fiction, and thrillers written in both novel and short story form. The scope of his work is nothing short of amazing. (You did know that Cape Fear was based on his novel The Executioners, right?)

But I think MacDonald is most widely remembered as the author who introduced Florida in all its vivid flashes of color to millions of readers when he created Travis McGee, a cool guy, who lived on an even cooler boat, The Busted Flush. The twenty-one Travis McGee novels ran the gamut of hues from The Deep Blue Goodbye (1964) to The Lonely Silver Rain (1985).

Florida is a fabulous location for any and all fiction, but especially for crime fiction. The state has a reputation for reflecting “summer time and the living is easy” twelve months a year. And while it attracts earnest citizens looking for a better life, it also attracts grifters, con artists, and ne’er-do-wells bent on creating their own brand of the high life by fleecing, threatening, or even killing the earnest citizens. And there was Travis McGee, ready and more than able, to help the earnest citizen and take out the bad guys.

[Only in Florida . . .]

Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen is the 19th book in the Dan Rhodes detective mystery series by Bill Crider (available August 21, 2012).

Nearly two decades ago, the first book in the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series by Bill Crider, Too Late To Die, won the Anthony Award for best first novel. Now in the 19th book of the series, Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen, Sheriff Dan is back. (Read an excerpt of the previous book in the series, The Wild Hog Murders.) Once again readers can enjoy his quirky brand of crime solving, always sprinkled with wry humor, while he methodically dredges up clues. Not for the first time Dan Rhodes pulled me along the dusty, and sometimes, dilapidated streets of Clearview in Blacklin County, Texas.

The owner of The Beauty Shack, Sandra Wiley, opens the shop one morning, and finds one of her employees, a young, pretty hair stylist named Lynn Ashton, lying dead on the floor. I must admit that when Rhodes arrived on the scene, I was more startled by the fact that the witness called the sheriff, “Danny” than I’d been by the victim’s murder. The reason, we find out immediately, is that absolute fact of small town life—everybody knows everybody.

[Somebody thought it was to dye for . . .]

Each Monday evening brings us one episode nearer to the finale of The Closer. Last night’s episode, “Last Rites,” was third from the end. So the 3-2-1 countdown has begun. The story opens with a phone call to the rectory from a doctor requesting that Father Adam Gray perform Last Rites for a dying man. In the Roman Catholic Church, Last Rites is the combination of prayers and administering of sacraments by a priest to a dying person. The three sacraments that together comprise Last Rites include Penance, (confession) Anointing of the Sick, and distribution of the Holy Eucharist (communion). The Last Rites theme is repeated throughout this episode.

When Father Adam arrives at the “sick call” address, he is murdered and his body is dumped in the schoolyard of the Saint Angelo’s Catholic School, where Father Adam was a teacher. Brenda’s team arrives and begins working the crime scene, but it appears the Archbishop has other ideas and that Chief Pope will clearly side with the Archbishop.

NOTE: We’re in the last-ever episodes after seven seasons. Recaps are bound to be spoiler-filled! If you’re sensitive to that, don’t plow ahead until you’ve watched. Then please come back and let us all know what you thought!

[A Pope and an Archbishop walk into a police station . . .]

Death of a Schoolgirl by Joanna Campbell Slan is the first in the historical cozy mystery series featuring Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth (available August 7, 2012).

Come on, confess. When you see the name Joanna Campbell Slan, your first thought is the highly entertaining mystery series featuring Kiki Lowenstein, a spunky scrapbooker who manages to get involved in murder no matter where she turns. Who will ever forget Kiki’s dumpster dive for a lost paycheck that turned up a severed human body part?

Well, today’s joyful news is that Slan is introducing a new series featuring Charlotte Bronte’s classic heroine Jane Eyre as an amateur sleuth. Death of a Schoolgirl is set in 1820. Jane is happily married to her beloved Edward Rochester and they have an adorable son called Ned. They now live in Ferndean Manor and Mrs. Fairfax has agreed to return as their housekeeper.

[Jane . . . Rochester?]

Death Makes the Cut by Janice Hamrick is the second in the Jocelyn Shores cozy mystery series (available July 17, 2012).

Janice Hamrick won the 2010 Mystery Writers of America/Minotaur Books First Crime Novel competition for her novel Death on Tour, which featured teacher Jocelyn Shores on vacation in Egypt.

In this follow-up, amid all the craziness that comes with the start of the school year, Jocelyn intervenes in a fight between Fred Argus, a fellow teacher who is also the tennis coach, and an outraged parent. Then she discovers that her cousin and best friend Kyla has been sentenced to community service (the “why” will be important to the story later on) teaching a six-week seminar about girls in technology. And what better place to teach it, than in Jocelyn’s very own Bonham High School?

[Cousin Kyla dishes up drama . . .]

Rarely does anyone think of The New Yorker magazine as a place to go to get a quick fix of horror fiction. And yet in 1948 that well-respected magazine published just such a story, which caused great controversy and stirred up a tremendous amount of hate mail. It also was the cause of numerous readers cancelling subscriptions.

The story was published during a time when many town governments across America sponsored weekly cash-prize lotteries as a means of bringing people into town from the surrounding farms to stimulate the postwar economy for the local merchants. The name of the story was, of course, “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson. You may read (or more likely re-read) it here.

[But she did more than “The Lottery”. . .]

Bonefire of the Vanities by Carolyn Haines is the 12th mystery in the highly enjoyable Sarah Booth Delaney series (available June 19, 2012).

Engaged to the handsome, dashing and overprotective actor Graf Milieu, Sarah Booth is determined not to give up her work as a private investigator in partnership with her best friend, Tinkie Bellcase Richmond. But Graf has given her an ultimatum. Now, Graf is off in Hollywood making a film, and he won’t return her calls. Glum and wallowing in Emmylou Harris music, Sarah Booth moons around her Mississippi homestead, Dahlia House. Her pity party is interrupted by Jitty, the ghost of Sarah Booth’s great-great-great grandmother’s nanny. The relationship between woman and haint has had clear boundaries since they met a few years back.

[Even death won’t stop her meddling . . .]

This post has been reposted with permission from the wonderful (if now defunct) blog, Criminal Brief. It has been slightly edited as changes have occured on the site since its original writing.

Thank you, Leigh [Lundin, of Criminal Brief], for inviting me to talk about Criminal Element, a publisher-neutral site with lots of great material written by crime/mystery fans especially for crime/mystery fans. So now we have a place for fans to gather, share news and information, banter with other fans or roam the links and investigate on their own. There is no limit to subgenre, era, or medium. Criminal Element covers dark noir to light, comedic cozies and everything in between. It’s boiled to your taste.

In a recent email exchange, Leigh mentioned that although he spends time at Criminal Element, he feels that he may only be scratching the surface of what is available to site users. Naturally, I volunteered to do a guided tour and I invite you all to come along.

[The magical mystery tour, aka the FAQ]

Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder by Catriona McPherson is an historical mystery set in Scotland after WWI (available May 22, 2012).

Upper-class Scottish socialite Dandy Gilver’s sleuthing adventures begin in earnest in 1923, when she starts out to recover some stolen diamonds and is confronted by a suspicious death in After The Armistice Ball, the first of this series. Fast forward to 1927 and we find book number six, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for Murder. Dandy receives a note requesting her services as a detective in order to find a missing young woman. When she arrives at the appointed place and time, Dandy finds that she is not expected, and there a verbal brawl going on among the women of the house. In this passage we get the tenor of Dandy’s reaction.

In times gone by, I should not have known—as my maid Grant says—‘where to put myself’. Things being what they were these days, of course I watched all three with my piercing detective’s eye, wondering how the disappearance of a girl could produce three such very different reactions among a mother and two grandmothers, one fondly exasperated, one faint with terror and one so angry that I almost expected steam to hiss from her ears.

[It’s just not done . . .]