Login / Register
Criminal Element
  • Read
    • Excerpts
    • Reviews
  • Author Spotlight
    • Essays
    • Interviews
  • On-Screen
    • Television
    • Film
    • Trailers
  • Weekly Features
    • This Week’s New Reads
    • GIFnotes
    • Pick Your Poison
    • Cooking the Books
    • True Crime Thursday
    • Perp Derp
  • Cozy Corner
  • Newsletter
  • Login / Register

Stephen Erickson

Stephen Erickson works in marketing at St. Martin's Publishing Group and writes and edits for Criminal Element. Follow Stephen on Twitter @takeitorsteveit.

Book Review: Killing Quarry by Max Allan Collins

By Stephen Erickson

November 18, 2019

Killing Quarry is the newest book in the Quarry series by Max Allan Collins. Collins has written several other Quarry novels for Hard Case Crime, a Quarry graphic novel, and his Quarry character was the focal point of Cinemax’s eponymous series. It is not the most recent novel, in terms of series chronology, as Collins…

The Edgar Awards Revisited: The Sculptress by Minette Walters (Best Novel; 1994)

By Stephen Erickson

October 11, 2019

The Sculptress is the first book I’ve read by Minette Walters, but it certainly won’t be the last. I was surprised to learn that it’s only the second book she’d written, quickly following on the tail of her 1992 debut novel, The Ice House. Walters’ writing draws you in at once. It’s clear when you…

The Edgar Awards Revisited: Billingsgate Shoal by Rick Boyer (Best Novel; 1983)

By Stephen Erickson

July 26, 2019

Billingsgate Shoal launches out of the gates from the first page with one of the best hooks I’ve read in a while. Charles “Doc” Adams introduces himself as a doctor and dental surgeon, with a wife and two college-aged sons. He immediately offers up a juicy tidbit: My most interesting recent operation was quick, spontaneous,…

A Bird in the Hand: Bird Smuggler Caught in JFK

By Stephen Erickson

June 21, 2019

As the old proverb goes, “A bird in the hand is worth 34 in hair curlers.” Wait, isn’t that how it goes? If you ask Francis Gurahoo, he’d probably say so—even if his feathers are a bit ruffled at the moment. According to KRON4, Gurahoo was arrested after arriving at JFK International Airport from a…

Book Review: Trace: Who Killed Maria James? by Rachael Brown

By Stephen Erickson

June 13, 2019

Trace by investigative reporter and journalist Rachael Brown tells the story of Brown’s internationally acclaimed true crime podcast which reexamines the cold case murder of Maria James in Australia in 1980 and the potential foul-play of major institutions that disrupted progress. Maria James, a 38-year-old mother of two boys, was brutally murdered in her bookstore…

Driver Busted In HOV Lane With Dummy In The Passenger Seat

By Stephen Erickson

May 10, 2019

“One is the loneliest number.” I can only imagine that was Long Island driver James Britt’s initial excuse when Suffolk County Police Department busted him using the HOV lane of the Long Island Expressway with no other passengers in his vehicle (you know, except for the mannequin that he dressed and propped up in the…

Dial ‘B’ for Butt-Dialing Burglar

By Stephen Erickson

May 3, 2019

Aren’t smartphones supposed to make life easier? Not so for this week’s bungling bad guys. According to KPRC News, police were tipped off to an on-going burglary at a Best Buy in Sugar Land, Texas when one of the alleged burglars butt-dialed 911. Police received a cellphone call at 3 AM, and—when no one responded…

Nobody Puts Baby Behind Bars

By Stephen Erickson

March 22, 2019

A car chase earlier this week in the San Fernando Valley, California culminated in a shocking, albeit, wildly entertaining end. According to ABC7, a reckless driver refused to pull over when police cruisers attempted to apprehend him. Evading police from Calabasas to Laurel Canyon Boulevard, the driver was eventually stopped when California Highway Patrol performed…

Nailbiter: Outraged Bar Patron Bites Off Bouncer’s Pinky

By Stephen Erickson

March 15, 2019

A fine night was cut short when a man assaulted a bouncer in Jackson Heights, Queens. According to NY Daily News, when refused entry to El California sports bar in Jackson Heights shortly after 4 AM on February 16, the assailant was angered and a skirmish ensued. Strangely, no hands were thrown . . .  After…

  • About
  • Advertise With Us
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Notice
  • Contact Us
Site Powered by Supadü