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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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 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…
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…
