Good crime-fiction writers don’t learn their craft in school or via online programs. We learn from other good crime-fiction writers—that is, from their books and public comments. We learn to write fiction the way we learned to tie our shoes: by watching and then doing. It’s always more difficult than we expect, but there’s no…
I was loading a week’s worth of water, energy bars, and fatty snacks into the trunk of my car when Battlin’ Bob Blazinsky, a small-time thug with a plus-sized appetite, phoned me with a last-minute request to break someone’s legs. I still wasn’t used to taking requests from a tiny fish like Bob, whose criminal…
Crime fiction is kinder than most genres to older women. Where they can be a little harder to find in other genres, mysteries and thrillers like to give the woman of mature years some time in the spotlight. She may be a sleuth or—less common but perhaps more interesting—a villain. Either way, the woman over…
