Stephanie McCarthy, Author at Criminal Element

An excerpt of Murder, Actually by Stephanie McCarthy, a cozy mystery debut featuring a romance novelist who suddenly finds herself surrounded by bodies—and not the kind busting out of bodices (available February 14, 2013). Romance novelist Elspeth Gray doesn’t have time for mysteries. She’s too busy concocting the next sweet offering in her popular line…

Top Five Literary Mystery Novels

By Stephanie McCarthy

January 25, 2013

All too often, people assert that so-called “genre” fiction (a class that includes mystery fiction) is separate from “literary” fiction. I think not. Why should literary fiction and mystery fiction be mutually exclusive categories? Who makes such distinctions? If literary fiction is driven by plot, complex characters, serious tone, and elegant narration, then the subsequent…