When asked about my Caitlin Strong series, I always describe them as modern-day westerns. And, in fact, the thriller form itself owes a great deal of its heritage to that genre. Having grown up with the films of Audie Murphy and Roy Rogers—not to mention classics like Shane, The Magnificent Seven, and High Noon along…
The famously acerbic author, poet, and alcoholic Charles Bukowski once said, “Without literature, life is hell.” Sure, he was likely drunk and didn’t remember saying it, but that doesn’t make the quote any less profound. Great works of fiction entertain and inspire. They educate and heal. Yes, even crime fiction. In fact, especially crime fiction.…
On November 17, 1920, two Chicago-based actresses, Marie Ramey and Lillian Thompson, were killed and thrown from a car after they had allegedly “indulged in an automobile flirtation with four young men.” While two of the men turned themselves into the police shortly afterward, they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) identify their companions. The investigation stalled until…
Our book, I Got A Monster: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Corrupt Police Squad, explores the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a gun-seizing unit praised for getting guns off the streets and supposedly stopping crime while simultaneously creating crime and running what one cop later called a “criminal enterprise” within…
Every book is a quotation; and every house is a quotation out of all forests, and mines, and stone quarries; and every man is a quotation from all his ancestors. —Ralph Waldo Emerson No matter the type of crime fiction, familial relationships are often the key factor in understanding why a bad deed is committed.…
Ever since I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs. When I was a child, you couldn’t enter our house without catching snippets of Michael Parkinson or Sue Lawley chatting to Joanna Lumley, Eric Clapton, or Princess Michael of Kent about their most treasured pieces of music. As…
My main character Van Shaw is a Seattle guy. Like Shaw, I’ve lived away from the city’s gray embrace for many years. When we return, we see its transformations through fresh eyes. During the pandemic, Seattle is undergoing its biggest sea change since a certain e-commerce giant bought most of South Lake Union and a…
Sure, I love me my Mitch Rapp and John Rain and Lucas Davenport and Jack Reacher and Charlie Parker and Bobby Lee Swagger, and I’ll continue reading each and every one of their books until I’m hauled out feet first. However, I’ve also found myself developing a deep and growing fondness for Domestic Thrillers. My…
Goodness knows how many writers have had their ideas dashed by that comment, which is unfortunate because literally everything has already been written about. Don’t believe me? Well then, let me give you a few bestselling examples, beginning with Lee Child’s Jack Reacher stories. Read the novel Shane (published in 1946) or watch the movies…
Inevitably, all authors get the same question about their book: How on earth did you come up with this idea? I can’t answer that question in a single sentence. My recent book, Opium and Absinthe, is the third historical medical mystery I’ve written. The creation of each novel has been like stitching together a monster…
