More than 30 years ago, unhappy with my job as a lawyer, I read four books that changed my life. No, they weren’t self-help books. They didn’t advise me to take up meditation or yoga or psychedelic drugs. They were novels with flawed protagonists. I’ll tell you about them in a moment, but first, let…
If you are wondering why crime is such a big genre that doesn’t appeal to you because you prefer fantasy, romance, period drama or because you tried a Poirot once and didn’t get it (this was me, too), these might change your mind. They’re not just crime books—they’re good books. Best Book for Romance Readers…
My love of both humor and illicit behavior started at a very young age, ignited by watching my two older brothers try to kill one another over the rights to whatever toy came in the box of Trix breakfast cereal my mother had just bought. Silly rabbit, bloodlust is for kids. As I grew up,…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week saw the release of a new Hercule Poirot from Sophie Hannah as well as a new entry in the…
The golden sands, verdant hills, and crystalline waters of the Caribbean Sea have called to authors since the age of piracy ended. Indeed, one of the first works set there, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, was about that most Caribbean of occupations. Following Stevenson’s path, the greats (Ernest Hemingway, Islands in the Stream), the near-greats…
I can’t read a book of any kind—thriller, literary fiction, memoir, biography, even history—unless the setting speaks to me. I need to feel, with all my senses, the physical world in which the writer is trying to involve me. Often, that’s what I’m left with years later when I think of the work: not the…
Diane Kelly, author of the Paw Enforcement series—the latest of which, Against the Paw, is available now!—was kind enough to answer some of CrimeHQ's questions about her writing, what she's reading now, and what kind of dog would Sherlock Holmes be! See also: Against the Paw: New Excerpt What mystery/crime authors inspired your writing? I’m…
The upcoming CrimeFest convention (May 15-18th, Bristol, U.K.) and the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Awards (June 5th, Toronto) have both announced their nominees, and we're thrilled to share these shortlists! (Also, once you get to the bottom of all these wonderful titles and authors, you'll see the an extra reason for our beaming,…
Snowing? Sleeting? Has it warmed up to the the upper thirties? (Or, you know, not-quite-four degrees for you Celsius types.) Wearing a scarf? Wearing pants? You need to get in a Florida state of mind. (Seriously, we could use the tourist dollars.) But, if you don’t have the money to fly to Miami, you can…
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…
