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Ellis Peters

The Edgar Awards Revisited: Death and the Joyful Woman by Ellis Peters (Best Novel; 1963)

By Susanna Calkins

March 8, 2019

In 1963, Ellis Peters’ Death and the Joyful Woman was awarded the Edgar for Best Novel, edging out Dell Shannon’s Knave of Hearts, Mark McShane’s Séance, Shelley Smith’s The Ballad of the Running Man, Jean Potts’ The Evil Wish, and Ross Macdonald’s The Zebra-Striped Hearse. I’d never read any novels by Ellis Peters, one of…

Top Female Crime and Mystery Authors

By Marianne Delacourt

January 26, 2017

Crime and mystery fiction’s diversity attracts a broad readership. For instance, I prefer the soft stuff and am attracted to the puzzle rather than grizzly details, while many of my friends enjoy peeled skin and body parts. Knowing that, it seems immensely impertinent for me to try to compile a “best of” list on my…

History as Mystery: Part I

By Jeannette de Beauvoir

February 10, 2016

What’s so great about the past? It’s true that historical mysteries are rarely the most popular crime fiction sub-genre, but I’m a dreamer—I’d like to change all that. There are amazing mysteries to be plumbed; stories already pre-assembled and ready to be told. When you read a historical mystery, you’re not just looking into the…

CSI Shrewsbury: Brother Cadfael’s Medieval Mysteries

By Angie Barry

October 2, 2015

Brother Cadfael came before fingerprinting and DNA testing, before security cameras and GPS phone tracking, back when detectives had their work cut out for them when it came to solving murders. Barring a confession or finding the bloody dagger on a suspect, it was difficult to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that someone…

Joan Hickson as Miss Marple

Casting TV Crime with Rhys Bowen and Tasha Alexander

By Rhys Bowen

March 5, 2015

Join Rhys Bowen and Tasha Alexander as they discuss their favorite (and least) crime televison series, casting decisions, and ponder the perfect actors to play their own leading characters! Rhys Bowen: Tasha, do you watch many mysteries/crime shows on TV? I am not a huge TV viewer and I find that most of the shows…

Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog by Boris Akunin

Give Us This Day, Our Daily Sleuth: Clerical Sleuths, Part 2

By Kerry Hammond

November 28, 2012

When it comes to law and order in mysteries, the first thing I think of are police officers and private detectives. However, there are a number of professions that amateur sleuths claim as day jobs; from crafters to retirees to little old ladies in St. Mary Mead.  One group of people who are out there…

The Father Brown Mysteries by G. K. Chesterton

So Help Me God: Clergy as Amateur Sleuths

By Terrie Farley Moran

November 16, 2012

A little more than a year ago, I talked about the enduring Father Brown mystery stories by G.K. Chesterton. I was delighted so many Criminal Element readers admitted that they, too, were lifelong fans. For a while now I’ve been thinking about how fictional clergy/spiritual leaders couple their ecclesiastic training with their personal curiosity to…

The Somme Stations by Andrew Martin

CWA’s Ellis Peter Award Winner Announced

By Crime HQ

December 2, 2011

The Crime Writers Association announced today that the 2011 Ellis Peters Award has been given to Andrew Martin for The Somme Stations. It is the seventh mystery in the series to feature railway detective Jim Stringer and is set during the period of The Great War. The award is given to the best crime novel…

Bimbos of the Death Sun by Sharyn McCrumb

Titles that Beg To Be Picked Up

By Cindy Harkness

August 4, 2011

Do you ever get bookstore whiplash? You’re walking casually down the aisle, scanning the titles, when you stop dead in your tracks and whip your head around, thinking, Did I really just see that? Or possibly just What the…? After all, it’s the combination of the title and cover art that attracts the casual browser…

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