Read this exclusive guest post from John Keyse-Walker about the second novels of six of the greatest crime writers ever, then make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of Keyse-Walker's second novel, Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed! I am in the happy position… Read more
A drink order says a lot about a person—that’s maybe why there are approximately a zillion online quizzes promising to reveal the secret of our personalities based on our drink of choice. And in mystery novels, a character’s favorite drink is equally as telling. A fun way to get into… Read more
I didn’t even know who Rory Gallagher was until I got a postcard from Ken Bruen. To my shame, my knowledge of Irish music is limited. I loved the Pogues but didn’t realize Van Morrison and Thin Lizzy came from the Emerald Isle until I should’ve known better. I lived… Read more
If you’re a regular visitor of Criminal Element, then you’re probably more than a little bit familiar with film noir. But if not, then let’s give you the basic rundown. From the French term meaning “black cinema,” film noir was coined to describe a specific type of Hollywood film that… Read more
Noir is the punk rock of the book world. It’s a niche genre that has been exploited to the point that the term it is meant to describe has been so watered down as to be unrecognizable and indistinguishable from the mainstream it rebels against. And, if Noir is punk… Read more
Read this exclusive guest post from Max Allan Collins, author of Better Dead, comparing his own Nate Heller series to finishing Mickey Spillane's posthumous Mike Hammer manuscripts, and then make sure you're signed in and comment for a chance to win a copy of his newest Nate Heller thriller! I have been… Read more
In the late 1960s, Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, the most popular science fiction writers in Russia, decided to write a mystery novel. The Dead Mountaineer's Inn was published in 1970, and its creation may have been motivated in part by the weariness they felt struggling with the Soviet authorities. Once writers… Read more
Martin Amis hails from distinguished literary stock, his father being Kingsley Amis (Lucky Jim), and his stepmother Elizabeth Jane Howard (The Cazalet Chronicle). A writer himself since the 1970s, he’s noted for The Rachel Papers (1973), Money (1984), and London Fields (1989). He won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize… Read more
Ah, to be a mystery fan in the 1930s… Pulp fiction was rife with the jaded private eye. Magazines like Black Mask brimmed with femme fatales. Cigarette smoke filled rooms dimly lit and latticed by half-opened blinds. Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe and Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade stalked the crime-ridden alleys… Read more
My TBR Confessions include a smoking beagle, a wizard cop, and “ghosts” who aren't by Stephen Dobyns, Ben Aaronovitch, and Mary Roberts Rinehart. CURRENTLY READING: Is Fat Bob Dead Yet? by Stephen Dobyns, which comes out September 1st. The novel begins with a shocking motorcycle accident in downtown New London,… Read more
