The annual Edgar Allan Poe Awards dinner, hosted by the Mystery Writers of America, was a night of milestones—starting with the Edgars themselves, which turned 70 this year. That’s 70 years of celebrating the best of mystery fiction, crime fiction, suspense, thrillers, and true crime—all the stuff we love to read and watch, all the…
Night Life by David C. Taylor is the 1st Michael Cassidy novel. It is nominated for the Edgar Award for “Best Novel.” The Cold War is heating up. Senator Joe McCarthy is running a witch hunt for Communists in America. The newly formed CIA is fighting a turf battle with the FBI to see who…
The Edgar Award, in honor of the great Edgar Allan Poe, is presented by The Mystery Writers of America to the best in mystery fiction & nonfiction that was produced during the previous year. All month long, we’ve been covering the Edgar Award nominees—reviewing all of the books up for “Best Novel” and “Best First…
The Edgar Award, in honor of the great Edgar Allan Poe, is presented by The Mystery Writers of America to the best in mystery fiction & nonfiction that was produced during the previous year. All month long, we’ve been covering the Edgar Award nominees—reviewing all of the books up for “Best Novel” and “Best First…
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll is a psychological thriller about a hot shot NYC socialite and magazine writer with a disturbing past. Luckiest Girl Alive is nominated for the 2016 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. It took me forever to figure out how to start this thing. I’m supposed to be reviewing Luckiest…
Where All Light Tends to Go by David Joy is a southern coming-of-age thriller, set in the mountains of Cashiers, NC, which follows young Jacob McNeely as he struggles to decide on whether to continue helping his father and his meth business or leave town and build a new life with the girl he loves. …
Susanna Calkins, author of A Death Along the River Fleet — the 4th Lucy Campion Mystery — was kind enough to answer some of Criminal Element's questions about her love for the mystery genre, writing about 17th century England, and being nominated for this year's Mary Higgin's Clark Award. What authors have inspired your writing? Like most…
Forensics: What Bugs, Burns, Prints, DNA, and More Tell Us About Crime by Val McDermid is a sprawling history of forensic science that utilizes first-hand accounts and interviews from experts in the field, and is the perfect reference guide for anyone interested in forensics. Forensics is nominated for the 2016 Edgar Award for Best Fact…
The Strangler Vine by M.J. Carter is the 1st Blake and Avery Mystery, set in the untamed wilds of nineteenth-century colonial India. It is nominated for an Edgar Award for “Best Novel.” “You’re a better man than, I, Gunga Din.” That’s one of the most famous lines in cinematic history, from the movie Gunga Din,…
Life or Death by Michael Robotham is a standalone thriller about an honorable criminal, shrouded in mystery, that escapes from prison a day before his release. It is nominated for the Edgar Award for “Best Novel.” In Life or Death, Michael Robotham’s new standalone thriller, Audie Palmer—a man thought to have been involved in an…
